Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Scotland hold off sorry England
Scotland repeated their victory over England in
2006 with another courageous defensive performance to regain the
Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield.
Chris Paterson kicked four penalties and Dan Parks
added one for Frank Hadden’s side, who claimed their first win of this
year’s RBS 6 Nations Championship.
Jonny Wilkinson replied with three for England – the first of which
made him the highest points scorer in Test history - in a scrappy match
in Edinburgh.
Iain Balshaw knew he was in for an aerial bombardment and it took
little more than 90 seconds for Paterson to test the Gloucester man who
dealt with it competently.
Scotland took the lead when Nick Easter was adjudged to have joined a
maul from the side - and Paterson landed his 27th consecutive
successful kick for Scotland to give his side a 3-0 lead in the ninth
minute.
Just after the midway point in the half Scotland were forced into a
substitution when Rory Lamont was carried off after a six-minute delay
for treatment following a nasty collision with Balshaw and was replaced
by Parks who slotted in at fly-half.
Scotland hooker Ross Ford limped off to be replaced by Fergus Thomson
who was straight into the action with a scrum in his own 22 at which
Jonathan Kaplan penalised the Scotland front row to hand Wilkinson his
first kick at goal in the 27th minute.
The Newcastle stand-off made no mistake to overtake Neil Jenkins of Wales on 1,093 points.
Scotland were back ahead three minutes later though, Paterson knocking
over a simple penalty after prop Andrew Sheridan encroached at a ruck
in front of his own posts.
Wilkinson missed the chance to reply a minute before half-time when his effort landed short of the posts.
Paterson then increased Scotland's lead with the last action of the
half after Simon Shaw was penalised as Hadden's men closed the first
period with a slender 9-3 advantage.
Paterson increased Scotland’s lead in the first minute of the second
half with a simple penalty, after England were penalised for not
releasing the ball in the ruck which formed following the restart.
Parks took over the kicking duties in the 48th minute and landed another penalty to make it 15-3.
Scotland were caught offside at a ruck less than a minute later though
and this time Wilkinson made the home side pay to draw his team to
within nine points of the hosts.
Wilkinson slotted over his third penalty when Scotland’s forwards were penalised for joining a ruck from the side.
In the most surprising of a flurry of substitutions Wilkinson was taken
off with Charlie Hodgson – only in the matchday 22 as a result of Danny
Cipriani’s demotion – entering the fray.
Scotland substitute Jason White’s first significant contribution was a
wonderful tackle on Paul Sackey in the 74th minute which led to a
turnover and an attacking scrum for the home side.
Another substitute Matt Stevens was penalised for holding on with three
minutes remaining and Parks found touch on the edge of England’s 22 and
Scotland’s forwards kept the ball impressively to effectively close out
a much-needed victory.
Match report by PA Sport
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