A bad day at the office

*work in progress* - match report about Calcutta Cup

When people look back on this years Calcutta Cup what will they think? Will they be singing praise on high for a classic game of rugby? Or will they be saying that this was one of the most indifferent Calcutta Cups ever? If this match had been on facebook, people would be using this button:



Let's get the facts out of the way first - the result. England beat Scotland 13 points to 6. Stuart Lancaster took England up to Edinburgh and came away with the most important thing - a win. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't exciting for long periods. But he got England back on that bus with 2 invaluable points. As the bus arrived into Murrayfield, I am sure he would have bitten the proverbial hand off for any kind of win.



So how did the game pan out?

Well the first 10 minutes belonged to England with pressure right from the kick off but Andy Robinson's men dug deep and defended with all their might. During this opening period, Scotland could not get out of their half and evntually gave away a penalty 10 yards inside the Scotland half. Fortunately for the Scots, Farrell missed the kick and the game continued as before - Scotland rooted in their own half.

At the 17 minute the game threatened to kick into life when several players from each side decided to square up against each other. At last some passion. At last the game was going to get exciting. Where's that "meh" button again? Another false hope as the game meandered onwards towards Scotlands first attack, half way through the 1st half. Yes, after 20 minutes, Scotland finally made it into English territory if only for a few minutes before England got a penalty and business was resumed.

So at 22 minutes the scoreboard has something to do as it chalks up 3 points after Farrells kick. And these points were the moment when the Scottish team decided to step up a gear and start making a contest of it. From this moment onwards, the Scots decided to change tact and actually play some offensive rugby. And it was rewarded almost immediately with a penalty right between the posts from the 22.

The much criticised Dan Parks converts with ease and levels the score at 3-3 despite the English fans in the stadium finally getting their vocal chords in action to boo throughout the kick. Finally the game is about to kick into life, as the atmosphere in the stadium is electric at this point. And for a moment it actually DID kick into life. Some brilliant work by Max Evans on the wing takes Scotland down deep into Englands 22. Scotland camp themselves in Englands half for the remainder of the half before getting another penalty on the 31st minute that Dan Parks converts as well, taking Scotland in at half time 6-3. You might ask yourself what happened to those last 9 minutes of the half. Well so did I - both sides lacked any imagination going forward and it became a defensive tackling show.

And that was what this match was all about from the off till the final whitle - a defensive bore of a game.

There were reports that Gary Neville had been asked to inspire the English rugby team. By the looks at the onfield tactics, it was George Graham who had inspired this performance. The win with the tactics emplored were reminiscent of 1 nil to the Arsenal. Yes they got the points but a enjoyable spectacle it was not.

Once again the second half kicked off with a glimmer of hope that the game might finally become the game we all wanted it to be. Charlie Hodgson charged down a kick and followed up for the try which was duly converted by Farrell, taking England into the lead on the 41st minute, 10 to 6.

Whose kick was charged down? Step forward Mr Parks (although ironically that's what lead to the charge down in the first place). The much maligned fly half has had a torrid week from fans over his inclusion and he certainly didnt do himself any favours here. Nor did he when he failed to find touch with another kick shortly afterwards. Nor did he again when he let a ball bounce into touch instead of playing it. The crowd were not happy with his initial selection and for once the mob mentality might just have been right.

Half way through the once again lacklustre second half, Parks was finally substituted for Laidlaw a Andy Robinson made four changes which kicked the Scotland team into life. And this was finally the moment that kicked the game into life. Although only 3 more points were kicked (from the boot of Farrell), the last 20 minutes were by far the best of the game. First Richie Gray broke through the English defence only to lose the ball in the offload, followed by Laidlaw appearing to score a try for it to be overturned after an eternity by the TMO.

And that was about as good as it got for Scotland. Lots of pressure and on balance, the best of the attacking play but they still lack the finishing edge. Five home games without a try pretty much sums up this performance today. Toothless in attack but not through lack of trying. England can count themselves lucky they weren't facing a more clinically attacking team. They defended well but that is not going to win them the 6 Nations or for that matter it wont help them when they come up against one of the real challengers to this years tournament.

The sad prognosis for this match is that neither team are world beaters. England will finish mid table with Scotland fighting it out with Italy for the wooden spoon. In fact, Italy will be a challenge for both of these teams based on the match that transpired at Murrayfield.

So where next for the coaches?

Well Stuart Lancaster can breath a sigh of relief after forging a disciplined, if uninspiring side. He got the points and got out of dodge without any injuries. They need to do better in the next outing against Italy which surely the Azzurri will be quietly optimistic about now. However, on this performance, nothing suggests that Lancaster should get the job perminantly. 1 nil to the Arsenal won't win him many admirers.

As for Andy Robinson - what's to be said that couldn't have been written last week. The folly he showed in selecting Dan Parks is all of his own making. And it could be his undoing and more importantly maybe it should be.

Had he started Laidlaw other than Parks, the result might have been different. The 20 minutes after Parks was removed, Scotland looked like a different team. Andy's choice was an all or nothing gamble and guess what - he lost. Was this the last throw of the dice for Mr Robinson? Only time will tell but the fans are already saying it is. When the Scotland team look back on this result, they won't be thinking about the loss. They will be thinking about the missed opportunity to take a green England side. They will read the headlines about Robinson and Parks. And once they do, Andy will have lost the battle of the locker room.

So bad day at the office?

well it wasn't great for either coach but at least one has something to build on. The other is staring into the abyss.

Should Andy lead Scotland again?

Meh.....

I fully expect the Scots to be coming at Wales like abunch of "whirling dervishes" next week. They will want to put things right after losing yesterday and it could get tricky for Wales. If Robinson loses that though then He is going to be out by the end of the six nations.

Lancaster, well its job done and hes got Italy next up to fine tune things and after watching the other two matches he knows he is going to be in a battle for his final three games in charge. Italy are going to want to spoil the party though so England could easily come unstuck and the knives and baying for blood would begin at the cabbage patch again.

Get rid of Robinson now. He is a useless gnob. Fecking Stevie Wonder would have seen the mess that numpty Parks was making. FFS ask any Cardiff supporter. But our coach took 58 minutes to get him off. WTF were they seeing ? Absolutely unbelievably bad and therefore Robinson go back to Bath and open a veggie shop or fen, feckin, shui place. Whatever go away and leave us to our own making.

it's difficult, Scotland play such a limited game plan under Robinson, and when they play with pace they do look better, a new approach i think is needed

I'm curious why you decided to highlight that English fans booed Scottish kick but didn't mention the same from them for the English kick before that. In fact if we're talking booing what about the response to the English fans singing Swing Low? Or the greeting to the players off the bus?

Regarding England being mid-table. Possibly but we drew here in 2010 and lost in 2008 to worse Scottish teams (3rd and 2nd). |When we lost we also hammered Ireland and beat France in Paris. Dreadful game against Scotland and poor second half against Wales were the only downsides. Predicting the outcome from one game (especially Calcutta cut in Edinburgh) is a bit daft

Well done England - you can only beat what is put in front of you, and it wasn't much yesterday

Some additional photos of the game have been added to the v2journal page:

http://v2journal.com/calcutta-cup.html

Let us know what you think