Joseph's technicolour display seals England's Six Nations glory and equals All Blacks' record
England secured the Six Nations title and matched New Zealand’s record of 18 consecutive Test wins with a dazzling 61-21 thrashing of Scotland at Twickenham on Saturday.
Ireland’s defeat against Wales on Friday meant the door to a second successive crown was left open and Eddie Jones’ side burst through it, Jonathan Joseph scoring three of their seven tries in a resounding Calcutta Cup success.
Joseph – recalled after being left out against Italy last time out – scored two excellent first-half tries and set up Anthony Watson for a third as England took a 30-7 lead into the interval.
Watson was on the field as a replacement for Elliot Daly, who sustained a head injury in a dangerous tip-tackle from Fraser Brown as early as the second minute – the hooker perhaps fortunate to only see yellow.
Scotland’s nightmare first half saw star full-back Stuart Hogg suffer a head injury before his replacement Mark Bennett twisted his knee and had to be taken from the field on a stretcher.
Gordon Reid’s try and Huw Jones’ brace were rare bright spots for Scotland but the day belonged to England, Joseph completing his treble early in the second period before Billy Vunipola marked his return from a knee injury with a try.
Danny Care scored twice late on while Owen Farrell, a doubt to start after suffering a leg injury in training, kicked 26 points in an imperious display and England will head to Ireland next week in search of a record-breaking 19th straight win and a second consecutive Grand Slam.
Your #MOTM…@Jonathanjoseph0 #CarryThemHome pic.twitter.com/rVVxIFdIVR
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) March 11, 2017
The tone was set early on following Brown’s ill-discipline as Joseph burst past Alex Dunbar and raced clear to score, Farrell adding the extras before kicking three more as Scotland transgressed again.
Another Farrell penalty made it 13-0 by the quarter-hour and, after Hogg and Bennett departed injured, Joseph raced through for his second on the end of another slick England move in the 25th minute.
But, just when it seemed Scotland were wobbling, they got themselves on the board shortly afterwards as Reid barged over from close range.
However, Farrell added three more and then another fine move involving Joseph and Watson culminated in the latter surging over.
England picked up where they left off early in the second half as Joseph walked in for his hat-trick but Scotland gave their travelling fans something to cheer with Jones’ two scores – either side of Vunipola crashing over at the back of a rolling maul.
Care darted over for a trademark score with eight minutes remaining and the scrum-half had a second with the last move of the game after relentless pressure at the line, and Farrell added the extras with the final act with England’s celebrations soon to give way to thoughts of Grand-Slam glory in Dublin next week.
CHAMPIONS
It’s FT at Twickenham and England have beaten Scotland to win the 2017 RBS 6 Nations pic.twitter.com/BElRBtBAf0
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) March 11, 2017
Comments on RugbyPass
Havili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
61 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to comments