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England battle past Scotland and Storm Ciara

By Online Editors
(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

England defied the treacherous conditions brought to Murrayfield by Storm Ciara to edge Scotland 13-6 and relaunch their Guinness Six Nations title quest.

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Swirling wind and driving rain turned the round two contest into a lottery as points became a precious commodity that were fought over ferociously in a dreadful spectacle beyond the tension created.

Penalties by Owen Farrell and Adam Hastings produced a scoreline of 3-3 entering the final quarter and it took until the 70th minute for England to engineer the decisive moment and lift the Calcutta Cup for the first time since 2017.

They thought they had scored moments earlier when Owen Farrell appeared to have capitalised on Stuart Hogg’s hesitation under the posts, but the ensuing five-metre scrum began a barrage on the line that ended when Ellis Genge powered over.

Scotland started the second-half like a freight train but the collapse of their set-piece stripped away their foundations and England were ruthless in exploiting their weakness. The victory ended the two-match losing run that was placing pressure on Eddie Jones while the Scots were at least able to secure a bonus point through a late penalty by Hastings.

(Continue reading below…)

Andy Farrell and Johnny Sexton react to Ireland’s win over Wales

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Apart from an ill-advised up and under into the wind, England’s early kicking was smart with Farrell drilling the ball low to prevent it being blown off course, although the captain was beaten by a gust as he
attempted his first penalty.

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A second attempt soon after was nailed and when Scotland applied pressure with the help of a George Ford clearance that was swept sideways, they escaped from their 22 as they continued to fall on the right side of referee Pascal Gauzere’s whistle.

Chances to attack continued to fall the Scots’ way but they yielded the ball repeatedly, albeit against English forwards who were jacking hard with Tom Curry and Sam Underhill producing steals on the ground.

The unpredictable conditions played their part again as a second Farrell penalty was dragged wide and, although Hogg was making huge ground with each clearance, his team persevered in inviting pressure on to
themselves despite generally having the wind at their backs.

Hastings kicked the ball straight into touch and Jamie George was wayward with a line-out throw as both sides made errors in filthy weather that destroyed the game as a spectacle. Pulses finally quickened as the second half got underway with a dummy by Rory Sutherland parting the white shirts and inviting the prop to make a marauding run downfield.

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A sustained onslaught advancing towards the line failed to pierce the defence but Scotland were given a penalty for offside that allowed Hastings to kick three priceless points. Knowing the difficulty of kicking into the wind, Hogg darted his way out of his 22 and when his run was coming to an end he sent the ball into touch to launch another wave of forward-led attacks.

Just as England appeared to have escaped the siege through a scrum penalty and rolling mauling, Ford sent the ball straight into touch once more and then Elliot Daly followed suit. Scotland’s set-piece had ceased functioning but Farrell, who had Genge holding the ball upright, could not make them pay from a penalty.

The pendulum swung when Hogg lacked conviction as he looked to gather a kick and, although a try was averted, he had conceded a five-metre scrum that allowed Genge to storm over with Farrell converting.

– Press Association

WATCH: How Jim Hamilton previewed Scotland’s clash with England

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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