England Saxons... A Move In The Right Direction

by Emma Thurston Monday 3 February 2014

Freddie Burns producing the majority of Englands points from the boot

©Press Association

On the eve of Le Crunch, the England Saxons travelled to Glasgow to take on Scotland A and – after a less than convincing performance against the Ireland Wolfhounds – Calum Clark’s team arrived with a point to prove. The question is, did they manage to do that?!

England Saxons 16 Scotland A 16

Scorers: Scotland A: Try: McGuigan. Con: Heathcote. Pen: Pyrgos. Drop goal: Pyrgos, Heathcote.

England Saxons: Try: Penalty Try Con: Burns. Pen: Burns (2), Daly.

Scotland A: Cuhbert; Fife (Vernon, 60 min), Bennett, Grove, McGuigan; Tonks (Heathcote, 36), Pyrgos (Hart, 56); Reid (Allan, 72), Brown (Bryce, 72), Welsh (Kalman, 50), Low (Atkins, 56), Gray, Harley, Cowan (Holmes, 56), Hogg.

England Saxons: Miller, Rokodugani (Sharples, 45), Daly, Eastmond, Thompstone; Burns (Slade, 52), Robson; Waller (Catt, 63), Ward (George, 45), Wilson, Stooke (Mathews, 63), Kruis, Clark, Wallace, Dickinson (Ewers, 63)

Well, from the offset the Saxons played with more purpose and certainly matched Scotland’s physicality – led by the impressive Sam Dickinson who continued his superb run of form with carry after carry. At scrum time the contest was fiercely competitive with both sets of forwards working themselves into the ground for the full 80 minutes.

Before the game, much was discussed about the talismanic Semesa Rokoduguni; however, sadly, he didn’t have a lot of the ball to play with and we certainly didn’t see the best of him... instead the English excitement was provided by the ever improving Rob Miller and Wasps’ Elliot Daly.

Turning the spotlight onto Scotland, unsurprisingly, they were driven forwards by the experienced Alistair Hogg and their young captain Jonny Gray. Throughout, Jack Cuthbert was composed under the high ball and the London Irish pairing of Blair Cowan and Kieran Low constantly made metres and threatened the Saxons’ defensive line.

Overall many Scots will feel that they should have gained more from the game having played for 20 minutes with a man advantage; however, their inability to convert their possession into tangible points was ultimately their downfall.

So back to the original question – did the Saxons manage prove their point? Well in parts yes, they did, their error count was greatly diminished and their intent to play was much higher. Did they reach 100%? Absolutely not... however, Calum Clark and his team certainly moved in the right direction.

Whilst zero wins out of two certainly wasn’t the aim going into this series, the fact remains that the talent and strength in depth in English rugby is healthier than it ever has been before. Across the two games some individuals reminded Stuart Lancaster that they can be counted on to deliver right now should they be required during this year’s RBS 6 Nations Championship and others will have taken away with them valuable lessons in order to push on and be in contention for a place on the plane to New Zealand in the summer.