England bury the Auld Enemy

England virtually ensured that Scotland will fail to make the World Cup play-offs, beating the Auld Enemy 16-12 in an enthralling Pool B match at Eden Park on Saturday.

The result in Auckland means that unless Georgia can beat Argentina on Sunday, and deny the Pumas a bonus point, then Scotland will be knocked out of the World Cup before the play-offs for the first time in the 24-year history of the tournament.

After the match Martin Johnson, England's coach, said: "It's never dull." There were not a lot of tries but not a single dull moment in this match.

For 70 minutes Scotland led England. At one stage they led by nine points and a quarterfinal beckoned. For England there was the danger of getting participation medals and pushing off home. Then a stroke of genius/lapse in concentration changed the game.

The wind blew at Eden Park and the rain came down. Then the rain went away and the wind abated. England played with the wind in the first half and Scotland were much the better side; in the second half Scotland had the benefit of what weather was still active and England were much the better side.

It's not that the team into the wind played cleverer rugby. It was just that their forwards were better at close quarters. In the first half Scotland scrummed much better than England who conceded four scrum penalties. But come the second half and England got on top in the scrums. In the first half some England players clearly lacked composure - Steve Thompson, Dan Cole and Ben Youngs. Heads were back in place in the second half and their game improved. It's a lesson one would expect mature players to know.

England scored the only try of the match, just two minutes before the end. Scotland had chances to score tries and did not.

There was a party atmosphere at Eden Park with a crowd of 58 213, just short of capacity when Jonny Wilkinson kicked off to start this crucial match. For Scotland there was an early setback when Ruaridh Jackson did a hamstring and was replaced by Dan Parks. It was perceived to be a setback as it was expected that Scotland would want tries and Jackson was the better man to do that. As it turned out Parks had a splendid match.

The Scots started the game at speed, playing to their wings. This continued when Parks was at flyhalf. Parks also kept Scotland on the attack with a variety of kicks.

Chris Paterson scored the first points when Cole was penalised at a scrum. From a difficult angle, into the wind Paterson goaled. 3-0 after 8 minutes. Cole gave Parks the Scots' second chance, this time at a tackle. 6-0 after 15 minutes. In that time England were penalised five times, Scotland not at all. Penalties continued to vitiate England's performance.

In this first half England missed three penalty kicks at goal and it was fourth time lucky when Wilkinson goaled after Sean Lamont had been penalised at a tackle. 6-3 after 33 minutes.

Joe Ansbro had a good break and a penalty against Matt Stevens at a scrum put Scotland on the attack. They bashed till Parks snapped over a drop. 9-3, the half-time score.

In the second half England were livelier and their scrum was a whole lot better. But Wilkinson missed with a drop attempt.

Scotland had a great chance to score a try as Simon Danielli footed downfield but Nick de Luca failed to pick up a ball lying free near the line.

Another penalty against Cole enabled Paterson to kick his second penalty - from an acute angle and into the wind. 12-3 after 55 minutes.

Now came the big Scottish lapse. Wilkinson kicked off short and centres Manu Tuilagi and Mike Tindall darted after the ball. Tuilagi caught it and the ball went back to Wilkinson who steadied himself and with his right foot kicked a soaring dropped goal - with his right foot. 12-6 after 56 minutes.

Soon afterwards, with the England pack on top, Wilkinson attempted a second drop but Parks charged the kick down. Scotland broke out but Foden saved.

Wilkinson made it 12-9 when Alastair Kellock was penalised for collapsing a maul. There were 19 minutes to play and the score did not budge for the next 17 minutes.

England had a penalty but turned down the chance of a penalty goal in search of victory. They kicked for a line-out, won it and mauled a long way. The referee flung out an arm to show advantage but England went right. Toby Flood, on the Wilkinson who seemed to have hurt an arm, threw a long, long, floated pass out to Chris Ashton, unmarked on his wing. Ashton did what Ashton does so well - finished off with a try. It was right in the corner but Flood converted from touch. 16-12 to England with two minutes to play.

Man of the Match: The official Man of the Match was Dan Parks, not an original selection but such an influential player in this match. He was given the official RWC Man of the Match Award, but there were tears in his eyes. He would have preferred his team, described by their coach Andy Robinson, as "an outstanding group of people".

Moment of the Match: Manu Tuilagi's catching of the kick-off. It changed the momentum of the game.

Villain of the Match: There were spates of poor manner but not enough for villainy.

The scorers:

For England:
Try: Ashton
Con: Flood
Pens: Wilkinson 2
DG: Wilkinson

For Scotland:
Pens: Paterson 2, Parks
DG: Parks

The teams:

England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 Delon Armitage, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 James Haskell, 7 Lewis Moody (captain), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Matt Stevens.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Alex Corbisiero, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 Nick Easter, 20 Richard Wigglesworth, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Matt Banahan.

Scotland: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Max Evans, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Sean Lamont, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Richie Vernon, 7 John Barclay, 6 Ally Strokosch, 5 Alastair Kellock (captain), 4 Richie Gray, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Nathan Hines, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Dan Parks, 22 Nick de Luca.

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Jérôme Garces (France)
TMO: Tim Hayes (Wales)