There’ll be no gloating now

Steve doesn’t like it.

And after all it was just the Jocks that were beat, it’s nothing to really gloat over now is it. An extremely limited side who are given the target of two wins a tournament, i.e. beat Italy and fluke another game and they’ve struggled mightily with the former most years.

So with that and the fact they haven’t really beaten England for some time now – on the occasions Scotland have won of late it was more a case of England beating themselves, even back to 1990, let Jonathan Webb kick the penalties and the Jocks stay at home to think again while Carling an co. celebrate the Grand Slam – not much to gloat about at the final whistle.

Yes they played well in patches but could only get 26 points, it’s been 40 plus the last couple of home games against the Auld Enemy, while allowing them within two converted tries of a draw. Yeah I know, I know the chances of them scoring a try was slim never mind two. As yet again their only chances to cross the line came through English slack play and errors.

To think after the five weekends of games England have played good rugby for about 80 minutes in total and finished second, scored the most points, conceded the least. It’s almost tempting to start saying “there’s positives to take from this” 😯

Well Armitage and Flutey have come through to show they are international class, Monye looks better than Sackey to me anyway, I could see the latter getting to Evans when he was charging for the line I just couldn’t see him tackling the Scot effectively enough to prevent a score, always too high in the tackle trying to bump people over instead of taking them down. Sackey has pace and is excellent when chasing a kick, it’s everything else that looks to be lacking, Monye seems to have it though.

Lee Mears at hooker I thought was man of match against on Saturday, the lineout throwing has been erratic by England number 2s over the last few years. He’s been steady and is excellent with ball in hand, always seemingly making it across the gain line, doesn’t give away stupid penalties and is quick round the ground, always there to support the ball carrier almost Neil Back style.

They look better when Flood is at number 10 but does anyone have full confidence in his kicking and as Paterson shows with the Jocks it’s a vital part of the game to punish the opposition for their mistakes and keep the scoreboard ticking over. Added to that Goode’s kicking seems to have got a lot worse, with a real snatching movement at the last second.

In the end it’s just a shame that Jones’ kick just didn’t crawl over the bar in Cardiff a little later, the Irish tried their best to choke away another Grand Slam, which should have been dead and buried after the England game. Yeah England would have finished lower in the standings but the deflation of both of those sides would have been worth it 😈

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