Scotland 6 England 13
This game was full of mistakes from both teams. England scrambled well and were able to cover up the cracks of their boo-boos, but Scotland shipped 14 points from two of them. One was from a charge down kick from 10. Parks just after oranges which England scored from, and another came about 15 minutes later when 7. Rennie threw a pass a step too late with the line wide open.
Some thoughts about the game:
• Scotland had all the stats in number of test caps in the team, rucks won, passes made and a low number of tackles they had to make but they also won the stuff up tally: passes dropped, poor kicks made, chances blown and yarda, yarda.
• England were there for the taking but Scotland's problems scoring tries prevailed. As soon as they got to the England 22 their eyes got wild, the Poms saw the whites of them and held their line. The last time the Scots scored a try against England in Murrayfield was in 2004.
• Aussie Dan Parks had an unhappy game at flyhalf: not only was a kick of his get charged down for points but also many of his other kicks were poorly directed. As soon as others are healthy the predictable Parks should get his discharge papers. Scrummie Cusiter should be benched into the bargain.
• One bright spot for Scotland was a 21 y.o. Zimbabwean born no. 8 with a Scottish mother. David Denton had played off the bench in one RWC warm up game 6 months ago but didn't get on the plane for NZ. One wouldn't have suspected to see a no. 8 better than Picamoles on the weekend but Denton was.
I had seen this lad last year and he didn't raise any interest and when I saw him recently for Edinburgh it was as a 6. But as an 8 against England he was like a old stager knocking folks over whether he had the ball or they did, and running like a demon in the open. This fellow is going to be a star and right up there with Wales 8. Faletau. Scot 7. Rennie had a superb game and ran like a back but spoiled everything with one too late pass.
• The England notters: Robshaw at 7 and Dowson at 8 are not 7s and not 8s, but 6s by type, and they did not compare to the Scots at the breakdown, though they got away with slowing the ball down. Also, like 6. Croft (definitely a 6) they tackled well, and low. Near the end young Ben Morgan came off the bench to play 8 and gave a hint of what he can do. Methinks Morgan and Denton will cross swords many a time in the future.
• 12. Farrell had a top debut for England and kicked most of his goals. He played most of the last quarter at flyhalf when Hodgson went off and one thinks that it won't be the last time he will swap the two positions. Barritt defended well at 13 but when M. Tuilagi is fit I think he will playing next to Farrell to form the youngest midfield of the top 10 nations.