Saturday, March 13, 2010

6 NATIONS TEST RUGBY: Calcutta Cup

13.03.2010
England v Scotland at Murrayfield (6 Nations)

Referee: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

Preview
One of the feature matches in the 6 Nations International rugby championship is the Calcutta Cup match between England and Scotland. This always a ding-dong of a match with style far less important than winning. England has found winning at Murrayfield lately a difficult task whilst Scotland sharpen the knives and the wooden pikes as soon as the rose on white jersey appears over the border.

England have been...well...just a little boring and predictible. They have also been unlucky in their results which on paper has not been too bad. But the fans and the media are, as per usual, losing patience with their boys in white. It's probably too close the thre Rugby World Cup finals to change coach but Johnson's position remains uncomfortable.

Scotland have been up to their usual tricks. They lost to Italy two weeks ago, a painful loss indeed. But here we have another team that has lost out on paper and in luck. A few vital moments lost against all teams and you end up with a loss. Scotland appear on the right path and could well upset England if the later just plod along. It will be a most interesting match.

Last Five Encounters
21.03.2009 England 26-12 at Twickenham (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)
08.03.2008 Scotland 15-9 at Murrayfield (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)
07.02.2007 England 42-20 at Twickenham (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)
25.02.2006 Scotland 18-12 at Murrayfield (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)
19.03.2005 England 43-22 at Twickenham (6 Nations; Calcutta Cup)

England last defeated Scotland at Murrayfield in 2004. Of recent England has struggled to win at Murrayfield, whilst Scotland has struggled at Twickenham.

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-Scotland 7th, England 9th
Europe Table-England 2nd, Scotland 6th

Prediction: Scotland to pip the Poms. Scotland by 2 points.

Teams

4[1]

Scotland
15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Nicholas De Luca, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Max Evans, 10 Daniel Parks, 9 Christopher Cusiter, Capt.8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alistair Kellock, 4 James Hamilton, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements
16 Scott Lawson, 17 Geoffrey Cross, 18 Nathan Hines, 19 Alan MacDonald, 20 Rory Lawson, 21 Philip Godman, 22 Simon Danielli
Head Coach: Andy Robinson

2[1]

England
15 Delon Armitage, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Daniel Care, 8 Nicholas Easter, 7 Joseph Worsley, 6 James Haskell, 5 Steven Borthwick, Capt. 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Daniel Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Timothy Payne.
Replacements:
16 Steve Thompson, 17 David Wilson, 18 Courtney Lawes, 19 Lewis Moody, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Ben Foden
Head Coach: Martin Johnson

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