Six Nations - England edge past Scotland
England withstood all that Scotland had to throw at them to win 13-6 at Murrayfield on Saturday, as the defending Six Nations Champions got their 2012 campaign off to a victorious start.
Charlie Hodgson's try at the very start of the second half, which came after he charged down Dan Parks' kick, was the decisive score and the only try in a close game which Scotland had the better of in terms of both possession and territory.
The first half was a somewhat scrappy affair with plenty of broken play and loose kicks meaning that neither side was able to really establish a regular pattern.
Scotland just about enjoyed the better of the opening 40 minutes and came closest to their opponents' try-line, although any threat of crossing remained minimal on the part of both teams.
It took 23 minutes for the first points of the game to be registered when England debutant Owen Farrell - one of three players handed their first cap by coach Stuart Lancaster - slotted over a penalty, but shortly afterwards some applied pressure from Scotland allowed Parks a penalty attempt which he was successful with to level the score.
Scotland's fly-half made Chris Ashton pay for holding onto the ball after being tackled as he put over another penalty seven minutes before half time, and the hosts went into the interval with a slender lead having shown the slightly more adventurous approach.
The second half was a far livelier affair, and the tone was set immediately after England kicked off. Parks' kick was charged by Hodgson, who dived on the ball to give England the lead. Farrell converted to extend the visitors' lead to a slim four points.
Scotland's number eight David Denton impressed for the duration and was the leading charge in the majority of his team's attacks, but some poor handling and decision making from his team-mates meant that nothing came of Scotland's persistent pushes.
David Strettle nearly went over in a rare attack when he collected a cross-field kick from Hodgson, but it was Scotland who went even closer when Greig Laidlaw and Ben Youngs both got to the replacement's grubber kick at the same time. After an agonising wait the video referee deemed that it was not a try.
Scotland could have scored again when Ross Rennie broke down the middle, but he was unable to find an offload which would have sent either Mike Blair or Laidlaw straight through.
With five minutes to go Farrell put the game beyond the hosts with a penalty, which marked the final score as 13-6 and gave England their first win at Murrayfield since 2004.
Comment 228 - 247 of 247
The England team played well considering they were a new young team what I saw was a team with discipline and effort it is a great start. In the world cup the then team made so many errors and gave so many penalty's away they threw away games that they should of won. I like the look of the current team and could be a great team good work lads
Richard so now your hiding in Ireland, and what virtues do you proclaim for your Nation is it Irish terrorism or American Napalming of women and children..........As we used to say when you Yanks would winge about us not being in Vietnam - why bother the Vietcong are trashing you without our help............just stick to being a country of big bwave lickle soldiers of freedom hiding bombs where women and children gather or just burning whole villages to the ground to prove a point..........
all the chaps were bloody brilliant, lets face it it looked like a whole lot of drunk slags trying to get into the january sales, medals for eveyone and lets have the chaps visit the queen
hey Jim, i can not remember talking about pooh, oh yes i did sorry i did mention WayneRooneyswig and peter c quite a few times.
My my, some real strange charactors have crawled out from their stones this wk. Shame they are never around talking rugby when there is no international on. Say what you like about Terry/Howard T etc, they might talk pooh sometimes but at least they want to talk about real rugby.
Lets get this into perspective, a very new England side beat a very poor scotland. Neither side will trouble wales/ireland/france this year but you have to start somewhere.
Acorns and oaks etc.
neil p, Also note the british army e.t.c is also made up of scots/welsh and the irish not just the english.....
THE PROBLEM IS THE BRITISH ARMY IS RUN BY AN ENGLISH PARLIAMENT IN POXY LONDON
BUT WHAT THE HELL HAS THAT GOT TO DO WITH ENGLISH RUGBY BEING SO BAD.
Talk about sour grapes, we won fair and square. Think of how many times we've played Scotland off the park and lost.
231 how can you call us cowards? More sour grapes? How many times have you won the World Cup? Beaten by Wales once again which means you'll win nothing again this year.
At least Scotland will have a big wooden spoon (again) to stir their porridge with.
england won nothing , Scotland lost this game all on their own ,
Cold freezing Murrifield and England won. I would take that any time, or any day of the week, as I am sure the scots would if they had won.
Comment 244, Thaddeus - you MUST be Aussie, making such nonsense comments!!!!
post 244
I rest me case,but you also for got to mention how much aid we have given around the world and still do so ,but hey lets forget about that.
Also note the british army e.t.c is also made up of scots/welsh and the irish not just the english.....
Do the English realise just how hated they are around the world?? lol... Everyone cheers for the other team playing you poms, whatever the sport. That's what happens when you inflict 1000 years of rape, pillage, slaughter and meddling on the planet!
Dean you should do what most of us these forums do when we see the name of Pink Pig or any of his many other aliases, we don't even read his comment, because we have learnt over the past year that he spouts the most imbecilic rubbish ever written!! Lets face it, England were their normal BORING selves, COMPLETELY LACKING IN ANY KIND OF DRIVE OR AMBITION and tess I have to agree , it WASa cowardly performance , against a clueless Scottish team who actually deserved to win!! No Worries for Wales with either of those teams, and with France at hone I am even more sure that Wales will win the grand slam and England will come LAST!!!
Robert jardine what do you think about your comment 208 now PMSL your right not big boys but big men
Hey MURRAY your the man here,it was good first win for England and hard luck on Scotland.Time will tell my friend.Enjoy the next game.
Neutrality is Irelands choice .Dont YOU ever call the English cowards we dont mention it but we have long memories
Richard 233, you say England are cowards but your the 1 saying it from behind a computor screen!!!!!! man up tough guy!
Dean, they probably never believed anything you have ever said anyway, people on here certainly dont. If you had any idea of rugby you would know that this England has many new faces and nearly all new coaches so cant be compared to former England set ups. Also England are the current 6 nations champions and lost 1 game at the world cup at the quarter final stage. Not bad for a team in the worst shape for a generation as you put it. If you are indeed a teacher i hope you are not teaching rugby!
The Nation that stood against proud Edward's army and sent him homeward to think again.....
England team is going to be hammered in Italy next week,good luck England/South African players not good enough to get in the Springboks team.
Had a radical idea to improve englands threequarter play,coach them to catch and pass the ball,when they have mastered those skills,get them to do it while they are running rather than standing still.
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