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England unchanged for Scots visit  

England have named the same starting XV that impressed in beating France for the Calcutta Cup match against Scotland at Twickenham on Saturday.

Fly-half Toby Flood and flanker Joe Worsley, who picked up injuries in the emphatic 34-10 victory over France on Sunday, are passed fit to play.

England placed Olly Barkley and Tom Rees on standby earlier in the week.

The England bench is also unchanged, meaning no place for fly-half Danny Cipriani with Andy Goode preferred.

Flood was replaced just before half-time on Sunday after landing awkwardly on his shoulder in the lead up to Worsley's try.

The Wasps flanker was substituted by second-row Nick Kennedy with 12 minutes of Sunday's game remaining and later had six stitches on a thumb wound.

"We are confident both Joe and Toby will be fit," said England manager Martin Johnson.

"It is a short week but when you win it makes things easier. We have not been able to train too much this week but the session went well this morning and we are confident they will be fit."

The selection means flanker James Haskell will again have to be content with a place on the bench as England look for their third 2009 Six Nations victory.

Johnson reserved praise for full-back Delon Armitage, who starred in the largely disappointing autumn internationals and has gone on to score three tries during the championship.

"Delon has been very good for us all season," said Johnson.

"He has taken his chance fantastically well for a guy who was not in the original 64-man squad. You find your way in how you can and he has taken his chance."

England could finish as Six Nations runners-up if they beat Scotland and Ireland win the Grand Slam by defeating Wales in Cardiff.


  team to face Scotland at Twickenham:

D Armitage (London Irish); U Monye (Harlequins), M Tindall (Gloucester), R Flutey (Wasps), M Cueto (Sale Sharks); T Flood (Leicester), H Ellis (Leicester); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), L Mears (Bath), P Vickery (Wasps), S Borthwick (Saracens, capt), S Shaw (Wasps), T Croft (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps), N Easter (Harlequins).
Replacements: D Hartley (Northampton), J White (Leicester), J Haskell (Wasps), N Kennedy (London Irish), D Care (Harlequins), A Goode (Brive), M Tait (Sale Sharks).

 


 :Jimmie O':  

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Gray replaces Barclay for Scots  

Head coach Frank Hadden has made one change to his starting line-up for Saturday's Calcutta Cup clash against England at Twickenham.

Scott Gray, who scored a try against Italy earlier in the Six Nations, replaces John Barclay at flanker.

Captain Mike Blair has overcome a back problem to take his place at scrum-half while Alasdair Strokosch and Thom Evans have also been passed fit.

Scotland are looking for their first win at Twickenham since 1983.

Kelly Brown is named on the bench as cover for 31-year-old Gray. Brown's Glasgow Warriors team-mate Barclay drops out of the squad altogether.

Northampton's Gray made his debut against Australia in 2004 but has since been restricted to six appearances from the bench, the most recent in the 26-6 win over Italy last month when he scored his first international try.  

"Scott has been champing at the bit," Hadden told BBC Scotland.

"He's trained extremely well, he's played very well when he's come off the bench for us and he deserves this opportunity."

Hadden delayed naming his line-up in order to give Blair, Strokosch and Evans the chance to prove their fitness following last week's defeat to Ireland at Murrayfield.

"Last Sunday, we didn't think Mike Blair would make it but obviously the quality of physio and medical treatment that we've got is fantastic and they've done a great job," Hadden added.

Victory over the Italians remains Scotland's sole win in the tournament so far while the English are targeting their third triumph.

"We've made some progress," Hadden said. "We'd obviously have liked to have started off with more of a bang than we did against Wales but since then we've made some progress.

"We see the Ireland and France games as two that got away. We had genuine opportunities to win both of these and we're disappointed and frustrated that we didn't do so but here's another opportunity for us to make a real splash in the Six Nations.

"When we were in Paris, we made a number of errors that we perhaps knew we were going to make because of the way we had to play to win the match. We came close to winning that match, playing a very adventurous style of rugby.  

"Last weekend, we didn't make nearly as many errors but the few errors that we did make, Ireland are extremely good at punishing.

"So obviously we made too many as far as that was concerned but we also did a lot of good things last weekend, which got ourselves into the game and made it extremely difficult for a top quality Ireland side."

And despite, the Scots' recent record at Twickenham, Hadden is confident of winning on Satuday.

"Of course it's difficult going down to England but we relish that kind of challenge," he added.

"Let's be honest, when Scotland go into rugby matches, they tend to be the underdog and that's a position that we enjoy.

"We don't tend to reflect and look back at percentages or number of games won. All we've done in this week is prepare to win this match.

"Obviously, you refer to how effective England are in certain areas and we know very clearly what we need to do to counter these areas but all the talk this week is really about finishing with a flourish in this year's Six Nations."

  team to face England at Twickenham:

C Paterson (Edinburgh); S Danielli (Ulster), M Evans (Glasgow), G Morrison (Glasgow), T Evans (Glasgow); P Godman (Edinburgh), M Blair (Edinburgh, capt); A Dickinson (Gloucester), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Northampton), J White (Sale), J Hamilton (Edinburgh), A Strokosch (Gloucester), S Gray (Northampton), S Taylor (Stade Francais).
Replacements: D Hall (Glasgow), M Low (Glasgow), N Hines (Perpignan), K Brown (Glasgow), C Cusiter (Perpignan), N De Luca (Edinburgh), H Southwell (Edinburgh).

 
 :Jimmie O':  

More like it now...another try and

England 12 Scotland 3

England 18 Scotland 9 at the moment.

England 21 Scotland 12 and 6 mins left.

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England (15) 26
Tries: Monye, Flutey, Tait Cons: Flood Pen: Flood 2 Drop-goal: Care

Scotland (3) 12
Pens: Paterson 3, Godman

England survived a disappointing second-half performance to regain the Calcutta Cup from Scotland.

The Scots took the lead through a Chris Paterson penalty but England hit back with Ugo Monye and Riki Flutey tries.

Toby Flood kicked the hosts into an 18-3 lead early in the second half but Scotland fought back through the boots of Paterson and Phil Godman.

At one point they trailed by just six points but a Danny Care drop-goal and late Mathew Tait try saw England home.

The victory, allied to Ireland's defeat of Wales, meant much-criticised England finished the championship as runners-up for the second year in a row.

They were poor for the first half of the tournament but put France to the sword in their previous outing and went into the game full of confidence.

With Scotland having not won at Twickenham since 1983 and having suffered 40-point defeats in their previous four visits England fancied their chances of another big win.  

But after some powerful, pacy and direct rugby in the first 40 minutes they lost their way after the break and conceded far too many penalties - not for the first time this championship - to let Scotland back into the game.

The visitors took the lead when the metronomic Paterson bisected the posts with an early penalty, and they came desperately close to scoring the first try of the game.

England turned over possession at a ruck and speedy Scotland wing Thom Evans set sail along the left touchline.

He looked odds-on to score but the lightning Monye was covering across and just brought him down a couple of yards short of the line, with Flood finishing the job to stop the Scots bagging the opening try.

England were then hit by two serious injuries with a dazed Phil Vickery led off to be replaced at tight-head prop by Julian White and Harry Ellis stretchered off after attempting to tackle Simon Danielli.

The Leicester scrum-half hit his head on the powerful Scotland winger's hip and was knocked unconscious but was fit enough to come out and sit on the bench before the final whistle.

After a long delay while Ellis was tended to England seized control and they took the lead just after the midway point of the half with a superb try.

After setting up a ruck on the right the ball was fired down the line and the suggestion of a Flood dummy helped create the space for Monye to thunder over in the corner.

England spent the rest of the half crashing in waves against the resolute Scottish defence and finally enjoyed their reward just after the 30-minute mark.

Scotland managed to halt one attack when they bundled Joe Worsley into touch but when they failed to control the resulting line-out the Wasps flanker had his revenge.

The rejuvenated back-rower pounced on a loose ball and showed uncharacteristically good hands to throw a cute little overhead pass and although the rest of the forwards failed to burrow over from a yard, when the ball went left Flutey took responsibility.

The Wasps centre side-stepped to the line and the television match official ruled he had just managed to dot the ball down despite desperate Scottish defence.

In the process he went to the top of the 2009 Six Nations scoring charts with four.  

Flood converted and although England could not add a third try despite setting up camp in the Scottish half, Flood chipped over a penalty just before the interval to give England a 15-3 lead.

It looked as though the hosts were set for a comprehensive victory but they fell off their game and Scotland began to edge back into the contest.

A penalty apiece from Flood and Paterson maintained the advantage entering the final half hour before Scotland cut the gap to nine points as Phil Godman banged over a long-range effort for the visitors.

After such an impressive opening half England had reverted to the stuttering form that has characterised so much of their play over the past few years and their nerves were ratcheted up another notch when Flood missed a simple penalty.

Godman fell just short with a long-range penalty but when Nick Easter was penalised for holding on at a ruck Paterson made no mistake to reduce the margin to less than a converted try.

With the home crowd growing restless England managed to steady their nerves and regain the upper hand, with Care popping over a drop-goal as the referee played an advantage to England.

The hosts had brought on a raft of replacements in the second half and it was one of the new boys, Tait, who had the final word as he went over untouched on the left after good passing down the line from England.

Scotland's Hugo Southwell was stretchered off after taking a blow to the head trying to tackle Delon Armitage in the build-up to the try, but was later given the all-clear.

Close, but no cigar    :wink:

 :Jimmie O':