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England thrash Scotland

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A dominant England steamrollered an abject Scotland to retain the Calcutta Cup and get their Six Nations campaign back on track in impressive style.

Tries from Luther Burrell and Mike Brown – a second for both in two championship matches – were the reward for an assured performance as Scotland failed to score a single point.

Owen Farrell could afford to miss three kickable penalties and his side fail to convert several other alluring opportunities as their forwards bossed a contest that only rarely felt like one.

While England can look forward with relish to the visit of unbeaten Ireland in a fortnight’s time, Scotland have now failed to beat their great rivals in any of their last seven meetings.

“It was very good from England, another advance from last week’s performance against France. They lost concentration in key areas against France but today they just kept it simple. They knew it was a game of territory and possession in conditions like that. Everything they did was spot on, though Scotland really didn’t test them.”

Poor in defeat in Dublin last week, they were worse six days on, and the capacity crowd at Murrayfield were disconsolate long before the end.

The expected passion play never materialized, the basic mistakes starting early and seldom relenting as England were allowed to take control from the opening exchanges.

Farrell slipped on the treacherous pitch to hook a straightforward penalty in the first five minutes, but Danny Care banged over a drop-goal with another penalty coming as Scotland persistently infringed.

Another penalty was kicked to the corner, and from the subsequent drive off the line-out Care’s quick burst and pass found Burrell crashing through on a sweet line to score his second try in only his second international appearance.

Official match statseng_logo

Scotland England

42%

Possession

58%

34%

Territory

66%

5 (0)

Scrums won (lost)

6 (0)

7 (5)

Line-outs won (lost)

22 (2)

16

Pens conceded

7

72 (1)

Rucks & Mauls won (lost)

80 (6)

31

Possession kicked

36

111 (27)

Tackles made (missed)

109 (11)

3

Offloads

10

3

Line breaks

9

(provided by Accenture)

Farrell’s conversion made it 10-0, Greig Laidlaw missing from out wide with his first two penalties before Farrell dragged another attempt across the posts.

England’s forwards were in the easy ascendant, the Scots in the crowd silenced as the home side were driven back in possession and plagued by indiscipline in defence.

Farrell’s first successful penalty from close in extended the lead to 13-0, and a slicing break from the fly-half almost brought another score on the stroke of half-time as he stepped inside prop Ryan Grant and found Burrell on his shoulder, only for the centre to be hauled down by Sean Lamont inches from the try-line.

The one-sided breakdown contest rendered the decision from Scotland coach Scott Johnson to drop his captain Kelly Brown for debutant Chris Fusaro far from justified, and if it was hooker Ross Ford who was the first forward to be replaced just two minutes into the second half it could equally have been several of his team-mates in the pack.

The home errors kept coming. After a jinking run off his left wing from Jonny May took England deep into the Scotland 22, Farrell pulled another penalty, but the pressure kept coming.

May escaped down the left again off a fast flat pass from Billy Twelvetrees and only foul play from Alex Dunbar kept England at bay, the centre sent to the sin-bin as England kicked the penalty to the corner.

Scotland survived, and while it seemed remarkable that England had gone 25 minutes without scoring, the traffic was one-way and heavy.

When Scotland did have possession in the England half their decision-making was poor. Man of the match Brown easily gathered one kick ahead and then gathered another to slalom away in buccaneering fashion, and his reward came with 20 minutes to go when Jack Nowell wriggled free of two feeble tackles to send him down the left touchline and away under the posts.

At 20-0 the scoreboard at last reflected the balance of play.

It could have been far worse for the weary men in blue as both sides threw their replacements onto a muddy pitch, but despite camping out in the opposition 22 for much of the final quarter England could not add to their tally.

But coach Stuart Lancaster will be delighted with the display of his emerging team, the blend of power up front and dash out wide boding well for the sterner tests that lie ahead.

SCOTLAND (0) 0

ENGLAND (13) 20

  • Tries: Burrell, Brown
  • Cons: Farrell 2
  • Pen: Farrell
  • Dropgoal: Care

TEAMS:

Scotland : 15-Stuart Hogg, 14-Tommy Seymour, 13-Alex Dunbar, 12-Matt Scott, 11-Sean Lamont, 10-Duncan Weir, 9-Greig Laidlaw; 1-Ryan Grant, 2-Ross Ford, 3-Moray Low, 4-Tim Swinson, 5-Jim Hamilton, 6-Ryan Wilson, 7-Chris Fusaro, 8- David Denton

Replacements: 16-Scott Lawson (for Ford, 43) , 17-Alasdair Dickinson (for Grant, 43) 18-Geoff Cross, 19-Jonny Gray, 20-Johnnie Beattie (for Denton, 53), 21-Chris Cusiter (for Laidlaw, 65), 22-Duncan Taylor, 23-Max Evans (for Seymour, 65)

Yellow card: Dunbar (51)

England : 15-Mike Brown, 14-Jack Nowell, 13-Luther Burrell, 12-Billy Twelvetrees, 11-Jonny May, 10-Owen Farrell, 9-Danny Care;-; 1-Joe Marler. 2-Dylan Hartley, 3-Dan Cole, 4-Joe Launchbury, 5-Courtney Lawes, 6-Tom Wood, 7-Chris Robshaw (captain), 8-Billy Vunipola

Replacements: 16-Tom Youngs (for Hartley, 70), 17-Mako Vunipola (for Marler, 65), 18-Henry Thomas (for Cole, 76), 19-Dave Attwood (for Launchbury, 63), 20-Ben Morgan (for B Vunipola, 70), 21-Lee Dickson (for Care, 74), 22-Brad Barritt (for Burrell, 74) , 23-Alex Goode (for May, 74).

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee : Jérôme Garces (Fra)

Touch judges : George Clancy (Ire) & Mike Fraser (NZL)

TV : Eric Gauzins (Fra)

Full Match Data / Stats available Click Here

Source : RugbyRedefined.com & http://www.rbs6nations.com/


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