ENGLAND FALTER BUT SCOTLAND FIND TOP FORM

 

Well the last time the French came to Twickenham was in the Six Nations and the French got whumped. David Skrela and Toby Flood opened the match by exchanging penalties which left the French leading at half time but it was then that England took over. The men in white took the lead for a Flood try which he converted. Dimitri Yashvilli swung the game around again for France with two pens but when Shane Geraghty came on for Flood, the debutant took over, hitting a penalty, before converting a try he set up for Tindall. England won 26-18.

This time around, the French were at Twickenham for a friendly, a rare thing for a tie between two Six Nations sides. For England's part this was not our strongest possible side, that was mainly due to Brian Ashton wanting to try people out before he picked his World Cup squad. The two most notable names in the starting XV from that angle were Olly Barkley at flyhalf and Paul Sackey being given another go at No 14. That's if you don't count Lawrence Dallalgio's first England start since '04.

Well Barkley certainly started like me meant business when he opened the scoring with a penalty but the first try was French with Fabien Pelous outrunning Lewsey to put Les Bleus in front. David Skrela added a penalty not long afterwards after some England indiscipline but it was the French who had the messier half and England were able to take advantage of it through Barkley's perfect kicking, England taking the lead with his second pen before one of the dumber decisions I've seen led to a French penalty which Skrela kicked over. Fine, Barkley just kicked another for England to go into half time with a 12-11 lead.

An missed French penalty early on in the second half was a good omen for England and for a while the visitors were just running into a wall of white. Problem was that we couldn't break through the French wall either and settled for a Gommersall drop goal instead. Enter Sebastien Chabel, the guy who got a rough Twickers welcome in the Six Nations. First came a Jean-Baptiste Elissalde penalty. Fine, England still led. Only for Chabel to show us why he should always be shackled. England had all of the attacking play throughout the match but it took one burst for the hench Frenchman with a dodgy beard and it counted for nothing! Elissalde converted. We were the better team but France still won 21-15!

Scotland were also doing the 'World Cup warmup against an old rival' routine and their task was Ireland. Last time the Irish came to Murrayfield was at the Six Nations of course and the men in green got away with the tightest and luckiest of 19-18 wins! Which means that you still have to go back to the 32-10 win at Lansdowne Road in the Six Nations of '01 for the last Scottish win over the Irish, as classy as that was. Having to go back that far is certainly embarassing for the Scots though.

So, the two sides faced each other at Murrayfield and with the Scots having both come out of the Six Nations with the wooden spoon and having had to deal with a recent domestic crisis. Jason White was back in action for the first time in a few games but the big plus for the Scots was that this looked like a relatively weak Irish lineup. So, the Scots were at home, against weakened opposition. Not winning this game would certainly be embarrassing.

The Scots were in no mood to be embarrassed. They just barrel-rolled into the Irish with the sort of straight power that I haven't seen out of them for ages. The pack drove over the line, Ally Hogg took credit, Patterson converted. Ireland replied with a Paddy Wallace penalty but this was a Scottish show and the Irish soon dodged a lethal looked bullet and more was to come, the visitors eventually giving way again with the pack setting up Andrew Henderson to run through, Paterson converting. Geordan Murphy pulled back another penalty for Ireland but the visitors just could handle the fast paced Scottiosh pack and another drive allowed Euan Murray to join the party. Scotland 19-6 up at half time!

Ireland certainly had no reply ready for early on in the second half as Ireland dodged another bullet before Henderson picked up a deflected pass to grab his second. The Scots took their foot off the gas for a little bit after that though, it was long enough for the Irish to get two tries. First Tommy Bowe fed Issac Boss whododged both Lamont brothers in a run to the tryline which Wallace converted before Adrew Trimble found a hole in the Scottish defence to slide through and after Wallace added a penalty it loked as though it could all be thrown away. It merely served as a wakeup call to the Scots though with the lightening pack keeping their taste for succsess and Henderson poked through for his hattrick. 31-21 Scotland at full time and the Irish were flattered over even that scoreline!

One more warm up game to go for both England and Scotland

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