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Max crosses line-Ruaridh drops goal at Twickenham


England (9) 22
Try: Croft Con: Wilkinson Pens: Flood 4, Wilkinson
Scotland (9) 16
Try: Evans Con: Paterson Pens: Paterson 2 Drop-goals: Jackson

England moved within one victory of a first Grand Slam since 2003 as they finally saw off battling Scotland.
A tight first half ended 9-9, with three Toby Flood penalties cancelled out by two Chris Paterson penalties and a Ruaridh Jackson drop-goal.
Flood put England 12-9 up as Scotland lost John Barclay to the sin-bin.
England added a converted Tom Croft try and although Max Evans grabbed a converted try for the Scots, a Jonny Wilkinson penalty confirmed victory.
England went into the game as big favourites with both form and history right on their side, but they struggled at the breakdown, lacked punch with the ball in hand until Matt Banahan came on at the break and committed far too many errors.
In the end their superiority in the scrum and the line-out was the difference between the two sides but although manager Martin Johnson will take the win, his side's inability to put away the Six Nations' bottom side will not inspire confidence ahead of the trip to face Ireland in Dublin on the final weekend.
Three defeats in a row meant the visitors were short of confidence but they looked far more fired up than England and they flew into the rucks to prevent the hosts getting any momentum in the first 40 minutes.
It was a mirror image of England's flaky display in the opening half of the win against France last time out, but whereas they produced a much improved second 40 minutes against Les Bleus, this time it was only inside the final quarter of the game England established control.
The hosts conceded an early penalty for going off their feet at a ruck and veteran Scots full-back Paterson slotted the kick from wide out on the left to give the visitors just reward for a bright start.
Scotland lost their first two line-outs and although they won a penalty at the first scrum, England marched the visitors back 10 yards to win a penalty at the next engagement.
Flood pulled his penalty attempt to the left of the posts but the hosts were soon awarded another scrum penalty and this time the England number 10 made no mistake to level the scores.
It was to turn into a tit for tat half as England, despite their greater territory and possession, struggled to make it tell on the scoreboard.
Scotland soon went back in front through a second Paterson penalty and although England's struggles at the breakdown continued as they committed too few players, they created enough pressure for Flood to land two penalties and put the hosts ahead for the first time on the half hour mark.
It looked as though England were set to pull away but Scotland refused to back down and they built a platform for Jackson to pop over a drop-goal on the stroke of half-time to make it 9-9.
England took off captain Mike Tindall at the break, who received treatment on an ankle injury, and replaced him with Bath behemoth Banahan at outside centre.
The 6ft 7in powerhouse soon made an impact, embarking on a thunderous charge which resulted in Scotland number eight Kelly Brown being stretchered off injured.
It was a worrying moment but Brown was moving his arms and conscious as he left the pitch, to the relief of the hushed crowd.
England came within inches of scoring from the move which resulted in Brown being injured, with Nick Easter setting Chris Ashton off on a trademark break through midfield, but the move ended with Tom Wood being hauled down just short.
England finally went back in front after 56 minutes when Barclay was sin-binned for infringing at a ruck after England finally mounted a second threatening attack of the half.
Flood landed the penalty to make it 12-9 before Scotland saw replacement fly-half Dan Parks drag a drop-goal attempt wide.
England came desperately close to scoring as James Haskell, possibly England's stand-out player, and Ashton combined to set Ben Foden free down the right.
The Northampton man seemed as though he must score as he set sail for the line but Paterson lassoed him with a marvellous covering tackle just short of the line and forced him into touch.
With the match moving into the final quarter England brought on four replacements and they finally took control.
One of the replacements, Croft, raced over in the corner to finish off a rare threatening attack with just over 10 minutes to remaining.
Wilkinson, on for the ineffective Flood, slotted the conversion from the touchline but Scotland refused to capitulate and Evans chipped and regathered to score a fine solo try with five minutes remaining.
Paterson's conversion brought Scotland back to within three points but England ended the match on the attack and Wilkinson's unerring boot England ensured they will travel to Ireland in pursuit of a first Grand Slam for eight years.
England:
15-Ben Foden, 14-Chris Ashton, 13-Mike Tindall (captain), 12-Shontayne Hape, 11-Mark Cueto, 10-Toby Flood, 9-Ben Youngs; 1-Alex Corbisiero, 2-Dylan Hartley, 3-Dan Cole, 4-Louis Deacon, 5-Tom Palmer, 6-Tom Wood, 7-James Haskell, 8-Nick Easter
Replacements: 16-Steve Thompson, 17-Paul Doran-Jones, 18-Simon Shaw, 19-Tom Croft, 20-Danny Care, 21-Jonny Wilkinson, 22-Matt Banahan
Scotland:
15-Chris Paterson; 14-Simon Danielli, 13-Joe Ansbro, 12-Sean Lamont, 11-Max Evans; 10-Ruaridh Jackson, 9-Rory Lawson; 1-Allan Jacobsen, 2-Ross Ford, 3-Moray Low, 4-Richie Gray, 5-Alastair Kellock (captain), 6-Nathan Hines, 7-John Barclay, 8-Kelly Brown
Replacements: 16-Scott Lawson, 17-Geoff Cross, 18-Richie Vernon, 19-Alasdair Strokosch, 20-Mike Blair, 21-Dan Parks, 22-Nick De Luca

This article was originally posted on 13-Mar-2011, 17:15 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 13-Mar-2011, 22:37.



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