England made a winning start under new acting coach Stuart Lancaster defeating Scotland 13-6, while France eased to a 30-12 win over Italy in its Six Nations opener.
England's first victory at Murrayfield since 2004 saw a side featuring three debutants and a new captain in Chris Robshaw score the only try of the match when recalled fly-half Charlie Hodgson charged down rival stand-off Dan Parks's attempted clearance kick early in the second half.
Owen Farrell, the 20-year-old Saracens centre, kicked the remainder of England's points on his Test debut, with both of Scotland's scores coming courtesy of two first half Parks penalties.
Scotland threatened from deep and had their chances but a side coached by former England flanker and boss Andy Robinson were undone by a series of handling errors.
"To get your first win away on the road is special, especially with a lot of new players," Robshaw, winning just his second cap, told the BBC.
"I can't speak highly enough of all the guys, it was a great team effort and a very proud day," the Harlequins flanker added.
Meanwhile Hodgson, one of five players from English Premiership champions Saracens in the England side, said: "One of the things we work on at Saracens is putting pressure on kickers and I got lucky with the try."
This was Scotland's fourth successive Test without a try and Robinson said: "It's very frustrating. We created some great opportunities and it's just that last pass. The game is about small margins and you have to be able to execute under pressure."
Scotland led 6-3 at half-time but within seconds of the restart, England caught Scotland cold with a try from Hodgson, making his first Test start for four years in the absence of retired England great Jonny Wilkinson and the unfit Toby Flood.
Farrell kicked the tricky conversion from out on the left between the posts and England were 10-6 in front.
Hodgson's try was the first by either side in a Murrayfield Calcutta Cup clash since 2004.
Scotland's best chance to retake the lead came when replacement Greig Laidlaw, chipped over the top of the England defence in the 63rd minute was involved in a race for the touchdown with visiting scrum-half Ben Youngs.
But Welsh replay official Nigel Whitehouse, after several minutes' study, denied Scotland a try to the audible disappointment of a capacity crowd.
With six minutes remaining Farrell, son of assistant coach Andy, converted an easy penalty leaving Scotland needing to score a converted try just to draw level - a task that proved beyond them.
The defence-driven pragmatism that saw France reach the World Cup final resurfaced in their opening Six Nations victory over Italy on Saturday.
Led magnificently by captain Thierry Dusautoir and indefatigable No 8 Louis Picamoles, France offered up stout defence without ever straying offside, content to play the waiting game as the Italians slowly unravelled.
When the Italians infringed, the unerring boot of Dimitri Yachvili was on call to keep the scoreboard ticking along for the home side.
Tries were also scored by Aurelien Rougerie, Julien Malzieu, Vincent Clerc and impressive debutant Wesley Fofana, as Italy failed to convert their early domination of territory and possession into points.
"It's a first victory. You have to have a smile," said coach Philippe Saint-Andre, who was installed after Marc Lievremont was stripped of the job following the World Cup, where the French lost 8-7 to New Zealand in the final.
"As a coach, you seek perfection but today you saw a great defence, a good discipline and we even scored four tries.
AFP
Tags: sport, rugby-union, united-kingdom, france First posted February 05, 2012 07:21:13
No comments:
Post a Comment