ENGLAND FADE OUT OF TITLE RACE
Last time round, England faced Scotland at Twickenham with England turning on the class to win that affair 42-20. However Murrayfield is another matter entirely and when the men in white were last there on Six Nations business back in '06 the result was a fairly dull affair, which Scotland won 18-12. England don't usually do that badly at Murrayfield though and they did beat the Scots 35-13 on their previous visit north of the border back in '04.
This time around Scotland were in a complete mess, winless so far in the tournament and just looking to avoid the wooden spoon. England on the other hand had recently caught fire and were still well in the title race. So the two sides met at Murrayfield with me backing the men in white on this occassion. Michael Lipman started for England, Danny Cipriani was supposed to do likewise untill he broke curfew but whatever, the result should have been predictable.
Well from the start it looked obvious that this would be a messy match and possibly, like '06, another kicking contest. Well Chris Patterson opened the scoring for Scotland with a pen and already it wasn't looking good for Brian Ashton's crew. After a long time out for a very bad injury, England finally got their act together and Johnny levelled the match. Now what? Answer, another Patterson pen leading to a kick fest before Patterson got another pen to give Scotland a 9-3 lead at half time.
Another Patterson pen was not what England had in mind to start the second half with and when Dan Parks joined the party with a pen of his own you could sense things falling apart. The men in white quickly replied though with two Johnny penalties to bring the game back within reach and the team as a whole started to get their act together. Started being the operative word though. The play was still stilted, the fire was just not there and Scotland won 15-9 and once again Brian Ashton has questions to answer!
Elsewhere, Wales faced Ireland at Croke Park. Ronan O'Gara opened the scoring for Ireland with an early penalty before getting a second much later with no Welsh reply. Stephen Jones levelled the game for Wales with two pens of his own before converting a Shane Williams try to turn tyhe game round spectacularly! O'Gara pulled six points back for Ireland with two pens but a James Hook pen gave the Welsh some breathing space for a 16-12 win which also allowed the Welsh to claim the Triple Crown.
France faced Italy at the Stade de France. Anthony Flock opened the scoring for Les Bleus with Dimitri Yashvilli converting with Italy partially replying through an Andrea Marcato penalty. Yashvilli kicked a pen of his own, Marcato quickly replied in kind, then Yashvilli and then in the second half Yannick Jauzion effectivly won the game for France with a try. Martin Castrogiovanni grabbed a try for the Azzuri with Marcato converted before Yashvilli concerted an Anthony Rougerie try to win the game 25-13.
So that leaves Scotland fifth in the table with at least breathing space over bottom side Italy who are headed for the wooden spoon. England are two points ahead of them in fourth place and facing a virtual third place playoff with Ireland at Twickenham. However both those sides are four points away from Wales who are headed for the Grand Slam.
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