Paterson punishes Poms
8 Mar 2008
Chris Paterson kicked four penalties as Scotland shocked England 15-9 at Murrayfield.
The utility back has now been successful with his last 30 attempts at goal in Test rugby – an amazing streak dating back to last August. All of England’s points were scored by Jonny Wilkinson, who became the highest Test points scorer with his first penalty of the day (he now has 1,099).
However, this was a poor Six Nations match that will soon be forgotten by neutrals.
England struggled to take the ball beyond three phases and their tactical kicking was abysmal (with Wilkinson the biggest culprit). They attacked Scotland’s tryline twice in the first half, but never threatened again. England’s predictable play made it easy for the hosts to defend, which they did admirably.
The Poms desperately needed someone to provide a spark – someone like Danny Cipriani, who was axed by coach Brian Ashton after the 20-year-old gave match tickets to a friend at a nightclub just after midnight. By overreacting like he did, Ashton may have cost his side victory at Twickenham.
When Wilkinson kicked two penalties in the third quarter to make it 15-9, most expected England to up the tempo and really put the pressure on Scotland. Yet they never created anything against a team who began this match at the bottom of the Six Nations log.
Incredibly, England replacement flyhalf Charlie Hodgson booted the ball deep into Scotland’s half when there were 40 seconds to go. That, more than anything, summed up the visitors’ display.
Scotland – Penalties: Chris Paterson (4), Dan Parks.
England – Penalties: Jonny Wilkinson (3).
By Simon Borchardt
127 Comments
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9 Mar 2008, 08:24 am
No doubt, based on these postings, IMHO, that the person calling him/herself Big Hit, is a loser.
9 Mar 2008, 08:28 am
“Give it to the backs? the ground was too soggy”
Comment by Big Hit : March 8, 2008 @ 8:04 pm
Now now Biggles, you can’t use a wet track as an excuse. **** you are playing in Britain, in the winter. What next sun too bright!
9 Mar 2008, 08:31 am
This game needed a good dose of ELV’s!!
9 Mar 2008, 08:42 am
Your poor girlfriend Big Hit. How does she cope with you? My gosh. You’re not a good sport mate. That’s sad.
9 Mar 2008, 10:08 am
96 — England put their best available test team on the paddock every time they play NZ. Their A1 fully belled and whistled test team.
And they last won ANY of the head-to-heads five years ago.
Not very good, is it?
9 Mar 2008, 10:18 am
Football is England’s #1 sport, is it?
Not very good at that, are they? When last did the win the world cup in that? The Beatles were still on the up and up back then. Two of them are dead now. Harold Wilson was the PM and England still had a proper car, motorbike, shipbuilding and mining industry. Austin Powers hadn’t even been deep-frozen yet.
Boy, that was long ago in 1966. Pensioners of today were still schoolboys.
9 Mar 2008, 10:35 am
England is going to get hammered in NZ end of year
Anyone who thinks otherwise is just dreaming
Don’t Scotland have like 70 professional players?
9 Mar 2008, 11:21 am
Jinx 104# Girlfriend?? He loves Jonny boy ****
9 Mar 2008, 11:31 am
Capt Fanny,
Mike Catt is the love of his life.
In fact it was Big Hit who first coined the phrase, “One swallow does not make a summer”.
These words he uttered as he looked up into Mikes eyes and wiped the jism from his chin.
9 Mar 2008, 11:35 am
cane your killing me— so it makes me wonder what a bi hit is. Ooops sorry I meant big hit.
9 Mar 2008, 11:41 am
Sharks vs Crusaders?
9 Mar 2008, 11:42 am
Capt,
And what about Biggles excuse, “the ground was damp”.
The ground was “damp” in Scotland in March.
**** that must have shocked the Lolly White Shirtlifters.
9 Mar 2008, 11:48 am
cane That should be engraved on the wall of hysterical excuses in the Hyena enclosures in all Zoo’s all over the world……
the other one was ‘they werent up for it’ F*** me where do these tossers come from.
9 Mar 2008, 11:56 am
cane signing out for tonite. Thanx for the laughs, I am sure we will get more when the poms arrive in NZ.
9 Mar 2008, 11:57 am
Mike…..”Deep throat Biggles”.
Biggles….”sorry Mike I’m a choker”.
9 Mar 2008, 11:59 am
Goodnight El Capitain.
9 Mar 2008, 13:46 pm
What a weekend for me rangers beat werder bremen on thursday,the bulls beat the lions on friday,and SCOTLAND BEAT THE SASSENASCHS ON SATURDAY.To stodders and jockbock it is good to read your comments keep them up.To big ****(sorry i mean hit)you are just a typical whingeing sassenach you hate scotland to beat you at anything,welli have only two things to say to you JOU MOER JOU ENGELSE POEPHOL AND POCH MOHONE YOU WHINGEING POMMIE GIT.New zealand beat you in the one day internationals and they have just beaten you in the first test,UP YOURS YOU SASSENECH GIT you deserve this after what i have been reading.
9 Mar 2008, 13:55 pm
Looking at Gatland’s comments and changing them slightly, Englishmen could be hit with the same accusations:
* The English have little respect for and knowledge of their opponents.
* England is part of “two poxy little islands in the Atlanticâ€.
* England have an over-inflated opinion of themselves. (or is that just Big Hit and like minded fans who do?)
* England need to be more open-minded about what is happening elsewhere in the world.
“As English, we sometimes have such high opinions of ourselves and what a difference we make in the world, or what difference we make in politics or sport, and the reality is we don’t anymore.â€
NB. By the way, it was a Kiwi in Ernest Rutherford who had a huge impact on the world we live we now nowadays. He is the father of nuclear physics.
“I’ve seen it in the past and have also been involved in it … how many English players would know the players in the Samoa, Fiji or Tongan teams if they were playing them tomorrow?
9 Mar 2008, 14:01 pm
Big Hit,
This Stephen Jones article from today is just for you. Normally I dislike Mr Jones because he is so pro-English. This is a refreshing break from the norm for him.
Read it and weep into your soggy cornflakes some more Biggles
There is no justice. Scotland were vastly superior to an England team that gave almost an ultimate nonperformance, almost a betrayal of their heritage. Nor need Scotland be in the slightest bit bothered that this was a very poor match for any neutral. They played every last bit of the rugby that was played, they were resoundingly the better team and good luck to them.
England, from Jonny Wilkinson at fly-half and at all points behind him and in front of him, were relentlessly dire. Their game plan in the first half – kick everything – defied belief, although when they tried to attack in the second half, you have suddenly realised where they were coming from. The changes that should have been made for this match must be made and Danny Cipriani is the only choice to play at fly-half against Ireland.
There must be no escape for England, no attempt to talk their way out of this. They are a team prepared at endless length and massive expense and they come from the best professional domestic league in the world. So at the end of all that what did we have? A decent effort by Nick Easter and Paul Sackey chased the ball enthusiastically. Full stop.
England were absolutely chronic. They played a game of such lack of imagination that it was as if they were playing in a hurricane and lashing rain against the best team rugby has ever seen. The truth was that after the weather had cleared early on, it was perfectly possible to play good rugby because the home side played that good rugby and if they had only persevered with Chris Paterson at fly-half instead of moving him to the wing, then they would have won easily.
There is absolutely no problem with celebrating Wilkinson’s ascent to the very top of the points-scoring charts for international rugby just as long as his followers, those who have been apologising for him for so long, admit that he cannot be England’s No 10 against Ireland next week. Poor Wilkinson was a rabbit in the headlights. All he ever tried to do until he was hauled off near the end was kick and it has to be said that he did so abysmally, merely conceding lineouts to Scotland with 15m punts or simply delivering hopeless kicks from the middle with zero penetration.
Frankly Brian Ashton was caught in the same headlights. For him to leave Wilkinson on for 70 minutes and Lesley Vainikolo on for the whole match suggests that he is struggling to become the hard man he would like to be. His choice of Wilkinson and Toby Flood in midfield has been ridiculous for a long time, and he has left Sackey totally bereft of allies in the back three.
Of course, none of this is to suggest that England’s pack were any good either. They had a tiny edge in the scrum, but in all other aspects they were taken to the cleaners by the verve of the Scots, for whom the front row were wonderfully breezy, Scott McLeod and Nathan Hines were splendid and Simon Taylor and the back row gave Scotland the hard edges that England never had.
There had been absolutely no excuse for the miserable paucity of England’s performance in the first half. The foul weather and heavy field were obviously mitigating against playing any sort of attacking game but that does not mean you should not play at all – England merely sent the ball back to Wilkinson or Flood, who both kicked with a total lack of penetration.
However, Scotland were far better. They sniped around the fringes, sent Nikki Walker and Graeme Morrison up the middle to clear the defence and even had Allan Jacobsen and Euan Murray, the props, carrying the ball. In fact, they played exactly how England were supposed to be playing.
It was Scotland who asserted themselves first after England came in from the side twice in rucks and Paterson put them into the lead. The home side continued to play all the creative rugby and Ashton’s side really could have been in trouble if Scotland had not managed to cough the ball up five times in the contact area in the first half alone. Furthermore, Vainikolo was nothing less than an embarrassment – he knocked on twice under no pressure, threw the ball away out of a tackle and became the prime go-to area – for Scotland.
England did manage a short period of pressure when they attacked down the right. Unfortunately, Rory Lamont was carried off after Iain Balshaw’s knee caught him horribly on the head as the two contested possession, but from this attack England twice passed up the chance to kick at goal in order to try to drive the ball over from close range. Scotland’s defence was excellent and eventually Richard Wigglesworth attempted an ambitious move with Simon Shaw, the ball went loose and Scotland cleared to a great roar from the crowd.
Scotland ruled the remainder of the half, with Paterson confidently putting over two more penalties. They were unfortunate to be leading by just 9-3 at half-time but the balance was redressed slightly when England were penalised in the opening stages of the second half and Paterson made it 12-3. It was not so big a lead as it looked because by now the sun was out and the pitch was drying rapidly. But 15-3 was a handy lead in any weather and Dan Parks got Scotland there with a penalty.
However, England were soon back in the contest with two penalties from Wilkinson but again it was far more down to charity from Scotland than England making radical improvement. Parks twice put kicks up far too steeply Scotland infringed as they tried to clear up the mess.
All of a sudden, with the match going into the final quarter, England were back at 15-9 and within a score. However, they were unable to breach the Scottish defence or lift their dire performance.
9 Mar 2008, 14:23 pm
#41
“The best team didn’t win. Conditions made rugby impossible and the Celtic inferiority complex meant their forwards were more up for it.”
I had to get a glass of water after reading this to get the sour taste from my mouth.
You know what, if SA lost to Scotland, I wouldn’t be here offering every excuse in the book (including the incredible “they didn’t turn up” excuse), I would be having an honest hard look at the team and coach and see what on earth is going wrong.
But hey, that’s me.
9 Mar 2008, 14:24 pm
As long as England play this type of 10 man game they have no hope of beating any of the SANZAR teams…or teams like France and Wales
These new rules we play in the Super 14 is making skilled attackers even more skillfull and we are doing it under pressure and in must-win games
It doesn’t matter if NZ play England under the old laws at the end of the year…NZ will run them ragged
Look at the Blues yesterday…they kept possession of the ball through 19 phases at one point
France has the right idea by developing a team and a game plan that matches the expansive game of the SH
It’s time England do the same or they will drop out of the Top 5 for years to come
9 Mar 2008, 16:00 pm
To big hit and the rest of your fellow poms,that scoreline 15-9 really hurts as it brings back memories of your world cup defeat to the springboks.15-9 is a lovely score to me.MY SCOTSE BLOED IS BLOU.
9 Mar 2008, 18:27 pm
Glad you’re enjoying the win blueboy my Weedgie friend. Yes, yesterday was a good day. For me with Scotland, Stormers and Hearts to support, I’ll take any celebration on offer.
9 Mar 2008, 21:52 pm
#87
Big Hit
4 more years before we fail again,unlike England that fail week in and week out.Honestly you are a arrogant little loser that will carry on talking rubbish.
9 Mar 2008, 22:15 pm
#121
It’s time England do the same or they will drop out of the Top 5 for years to come
Comment by soenmydonkie : March 9, 2008 @ 2:24 pm
Give them a break,they only got into the top 5 after the RWC,before then they were placed at a minnow 8th on the IRB list.
Oh and by the way all it was raining during that match and the English just arent use to it raining over there so Big Hit has a fair point……………..ahahahahahaha.
What would the English cricket fans come up with if they were like Big Hit.
We lost the cricket today cos it was sunny,we were the best team so dont think the sun will save you all the time.
9 Mar 2008, 23:22 pm
120 – AndrewBK ur so dead right – can u imagine one of the tri nations teams pulling out rubbish like this if they lost to england? no fark there wld be a long inquisition into what WE did wrong.
Big Hitt ur passion and loyalty is def admirable, but dude to say ur gonna beat NZ in NZ is a presumptuous to say the least.
And it wldnt hurt to say Scotland deserved their victory – Eng were terrible and how can u blame the conditions? I have been watching Heineken Cup and most of the time its raining – are u not used to it by now???
11 Mar 2008, 20:37 pm
Jockbok it is good to know that there is other scotsmen on this site with you and stodders posting here.I do not normally post so personally an attack on posters but that arsehole big hit just deserved it,the arrogance of that english twat is something else he really is a DOOS.It`s a pity you support the stormers and hearts,but nobody`s perfect at least we have scotland in common.AWRABESTFURNOO.
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