England’s three try winning show ensure they head into the final weekend of the RBS 6 Nations with fragile control of the Championship – but this was a far from vintage display at Twickenham.
Tries from Jonathan Joseph, George Ford and Jack Nowell secured the win but coach Stuart Lancaster, while doing his best to accentuate the positives will have to concede much more is needed.
This was England’s 73rd Calcutta Cup victory over Scotland in 133 matches stretching back to 1871 but it won’t certainly won’t merit much more than a footnote in the history books of such a fabled rivalry.
Statistics will point to England’s domination in all departments but statistics won’t tell the story of a match, only the scoreboard does that – and England should have done more considering the chances they created.
Captain Chris Robshaw hoisted the famous Calcutta Cup trophy without a smile, perhaps knowing the chance to build a solid points advantage had been wasted – as England, Wales and Ireland head into the final weekend with claims on the title.
Rugby’s oldest and most enduring rivalry has always been passionately fought but, in recent years, it’s been anything but closely fought.
England won 20-0 12 months ago, the first time they’d kept Scotland pointless in 36 years, and had emerged victorious in the previous five encounters.
Indeed they hadn’t lost to their auld rivals, heading south after three straight defeats, at their Twickenham base since 1983.
England should have taken the lead inside 60 seconds – Northampton centre Luther Burrell going for the line when he had a wide open man to pass to – but it only took four more minutes to break the visitors’ resolve.
Joseph scored three tries in England’s opening wins over Wales and Italy but struggled to make the same impact in the 19-9 defeat to Ireland that ended Grand Slam hopes in Dublin.
With Scotland’s defence back peddling and lacking shape, Ford saw the space and released the fleet-footed Joseph for a score the fly-half then converted.
Sluggish starts have been England’s biggest problem in recent matches but this was the high tempo first act Lancaster had demanded, though in time bigger issues would creep into their performance.
The hosts were carving openings effortlessly and only last-ditch tackling was keeping a ragged looking Scotland in the game.
Returning full back Mike Brown – wearing only one boot – looked to be heading for another score until he was dragged down just short of the line by Stuart Hogg while Nowell was also surging towards a try when he was felled by a desperate ankle tap.
Executing line breaks is one thing but capitalising on them is what really matters and, after weathering the storm, Scotland started to turn the tide, forcing themselves forward with a barging Johnnie Gray run.
And within two minutes England paid the price as Mark Bennett executed a move straight from the training ground to score, Greig Laidlaw levelling with the conversion.
Ford poked England ahead again with the first of two penalties but Scotland’s Laidlaw negated the advantage five minutes later, after only frantic defending had kept the men in blue from scoring again.
In truth both sides defending was leaving little to be desired, Scotland breathing a sigh of relief after Anthony Watson’s well worked try was correctly chalked off by referee Roman Poite for an earlier forward pass.
While England were further punished when a late penalty, surrendered under heavy pressure from their rivals, was calmly converted by Laidlaw to give Scotland the half-time advantage.
But England started the second half as they had the first, Ford jinking under the posts from close range – gleefully selling Rob Harley a dummy with all the smooth charm of a sharp suited estate agent – and then converting himself before adding a second penalty a few minutes later.
However, the hosts continued to waste their good field position with silly handling errors and needless penalties, mistakes that Lancaster knows will be seized upon by higher ranked opponents at the Rugby World Cup later this year. Mistakes that could also prove critical when the final story of this year’s RBS 6 Nations is written.
If matches were won on clean breaks then England would have been out of sight and taking a healthy points advantage into the concluding round of fixtures but Scotland were always quick to repair their thin blue line after a hole had been punched in it.
It was frantic defending that kept the match close, maintained the tension and increased the frustration from a home crowd that arrived expecting more.
England spent the half camped in Scotland territory but time and time again failed to take their chances.
Brown scored on the break only for another correct forward pass call to deny his score while Ford fired a penalty against the uprights to sum up an afternoon of near misses.
It was only when Nowell crashed over in the corner five minutes from time, that the game was safe, the sense of relief that rolled around the stadium was palpable.
