Nick has sure travelled in some good company

Brave under-21s beaten
Scotland Under-21s 16 England Under-21s 31
ALAN LORIMER at Winterfield Park
A COMPETITIVE performance by Scotland was still not good enough to prevent England maintaining their unbroken run of wins in the under-21 series of international matches between the two countries, at Dunbar yesterday.

But comparing the scoreline to that of last season, when England ran amok to emerge victors by 62-29, the display yesterday at Dunbar represents a considerable narrowing of the gap at this age level.

"This was a very good team performance," said Scotland coach Bob Easson. "Now we have to take it on to a new level. We participated in a contest and we have to take confidence from that."

He added: "The big difference was that they had greater momentum. We had to play too much of the game on the back foot."

The all-professional England side certainly built up a head of steam in their attacks and showed the Scots what ball retention is all about.

But Scotland tackled tenaciously, and particularly in the second half, when England were more threatening, they showed good organisation in defence.

In attack, though, the home side never had the poise of their opponents, albeit that Simon Webster and Jamie Blackwood looked capable of making breaks.

But the Scots can take much from the way they competed in the forward battle, even after they lost lineout specialist Alastair Kellock in the second half.

Encouraging too was the play of the substitutes, notably half backs Rory Lawson and Anders Monro and hooker Andrew Kelly. "We’ve got 22 good players in the squad and that must imply greater depth than before," said Easson.

Depth is one thing, but facing a side containing two full caps is quite another. Of the two England senior internationals, it was Ollie Barkley who was by far the more influential, the Bath player contributing 19 points.

Scotland certainly opened well with a penalty from stand-off Neil Stenhouse, but after Barkley had equalised with a similar effort, England took control of the first half.

Full England cap Tom Voyce opened his side’s try account when he came off his blindside wing before slicing through the home side’s midfield for the score.

Barkley converted and then added the extra points to his own try, from a solo darting run through a ragged Scotland defence.

Penalty goals on either side of the interval brought Scotland back into the game, but in the last quarter England drew away once more with a try by the impressive centre James Simpson-Daniel, a first half replacement for Andrew Higgins, and the conversion by Barkley.

Scotland finally found their attacking poise, with a quickly taken tap penalty by scrum half Rory Lawson, a telling run by hooker Scott Lawson, and a powerful finish by winger Nikki Walker for a try converted by Monro.

Inevitably, England had the final say and, appropriately, it was Barkley who rounded off a fine piece of possession retention from the visitors with his side’s fourth try, this time converted by full back Simon Winnan.

Scorers: Scotland: Try: Walker. Con: Monro. Pens: Stenhouse (3). England: Tries: Barkley (2), Voyce , Simpson-Daniel. Cons: Barkley (3)Winnan. Pen: Barkley.

Scotland Under-21s: J Blackwood (Melrose); N Walker (Hawick), S Webster (Northampton Saints), J Pattison (Newcastle Falcons), C MacRae (Gala); N Stenhouse (Hawick), M Blair (Boroughmuir); W Scott (Newcastle Falcons), S Lawson (Biggar), A Kelly (Ayr), B Macfarlane (Stirling County), A Kellock (Stirling County), R Halliday (Tynedale and Newcastle University), K Brown (Melrose), C Eadie (Stirling County). Substitutes: A Kelly (Stewart’s-Melville FP) for Lawson 75, M Thomson (Kirkcaldy) for Scott 49, M Hamilton (Cambridge University) for Macfarlane 49, P Skillen (Bristol) for Kellock 67, R Lawson (Heriot’s FP) for Blair 67, A Monro (Heriot’s FP) for Stenhouse 67, M Dey (Heriot’s FP) for Pattison 40.

England Under-21s: A Winnan (Saracens); A Elliott (Sale Sharks), O Smith (Leicester Tigers), A Higgins, (Bristol Shoguns), T Voyce (Bath); O Barkley (Bath), A Page (London Wasps); N Cox (Gloucester), J Roddam (Harlequins), M Irish (Gloucester), S Hooper (Saracens), M Purdy (London Wasps), M Soden (Northampton), J Scaysbrook (Bath), P Davies (Sale Sharks).

Substitutes: A Billig (Leicester Tigers), J Buckland (Northampton Saints) for Irish 59, R Devonshire (Newcastle Falcons) for Davies 52, J Goodridge (Gloucester), S Green (London Wasps) for Hooper 44, J Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester) for Higgins 15, I Vass (Northampton Saints) for Page 40.

Referee: S McDowell (Ireland)

This article was originally posted on 1-Sep-2006, 13:29 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 1-Sep-2006, 13:32.