SCOTS STRUGGLE AGAINST SAXONS
Posted: 28/May/07
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England Saxons 18, Scotland A 3
Scotland failed to impress at Twickenham today as they were put to the sword by a very physical England Saxons side.

Scotland were under pressure in the opening stages and only once managed to get the ball out of their own half before England started putting points on the board.

With the home side pounding the Scottish defence, Nick De Luca was penalised for not rolling away at the contact point and Olly Barkley slotted the resulting penalty to give the Saxons an early lead.

Scotland were presented with an opportunity to pull things level only three minutes later, but Phil Godman’s kick was sliced wide.

The ensuing ten minutes saw Scotland mount an attack on England’s line. De Luca, looked as lively and as exciting as those that graced Twickenham in the Emirates Airline London Sevens only the day before. He burst through the defence and offloaded to Godman whose pass found Simon Webster but the England defence rushed up to turn the ball over.

Moments later, the physical Saxons outfit came into the contact from an offside position to give Godman his second attempt at goal but his effort hit the left upright.

England then continued to build real momentum in the closing stages of the first half and sparked into life as man of the match Nick Abendanon burned up the left wing to give his side the scoring platform from which David Paice crossed the line. Barkley converted.

After the break, Cipriani threaded a grubber kick through the Scottish back-line and Abendanon gave chase. The fullback then went round the last defender with some neat football skills and beat De Luca to the ball to touch down for the score. Barkley missed the conversion.

Just after the hour mark, replacement Calum MacRae slotted a penalty for Scotland’s only try of the day.

England’s reply came on the stroke of full time as Nils Mordt scored a penalty to seal the win.

England Saxons: Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby); Paul Sackey (London Wasps), Kevin Sorrell (Saracens), Olly Barkley (Bath Rugby), Tom Voyce (London Wasps); Danny Cipriani (London Wasps), Richard Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks); Neal Hatley (London Irish) CAPTAIN, David Paice (London Irish), John Brooks (Northampton Saints), Richard Blaze (Worcester Warriors), Jim Evans (NEC Harlequins), James Haskell (London Wasps), Will Skinner (NEC Harlequins), Phil Dowson (Newcastle Falcons)
Substitutes: Matt Thompson (Newcastle Falcons), Jack Forster (Gloucester Rugby), Tom Mercey (Saracens), Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), Jordan Crane (Leicester Tigers), Lee Dickson (Newcastle Falcons), Nils Mordt (London Irish)

Scotland A: Rory Lamont (Glasgow Warriors); Simon Danielli (Border Reivers), Robbie Kydd (Northampton Saints), Nick De Luca (Border Reivers), Simon Webster (Edinburgh Rugby); Phil Godman (Edinburgh Rugby), Mark McMillan (London Wasps); Craig Smith (Edinburgh Rugby), Fergus Thomson (Glasgow Warriors), Ed Kalman (Border Reivers), Andy Hall (Newport Gwent Dragons), Mark Rennie (Bourgoin), Alasdair Strokosch (Edinburgh Rugby), Donnie Macfadyen (Glasgow Warriors) CAPTAIN, Johnnie Beattie (Glasgow Warriors)
Substitutes: Scott Lawson (Glasgow Warriors), Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby), Craig Hamilton (Border Reivers), John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors), Rob Chrystie (Border Reivers), Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors), Calum MacRae (Border Reivers)

This article was posted on 28-May-2007, 17:56 by Hugh Barrow.