England hand Scots six-try thrashing

ENGLAND 43 SCOTLAND 3

LONDON - England, inspired by former captain Lawrence Dallaglio and dynamic young fullback Iain Balshaw, took a giant stride towards the Six Nations rugby title yesterday with a record 43-3 defeat of Scotland at Twickenham.

In the only other game of the round, France were too good for Italy in Rome, winning 30-19. The third match, Wales at home to Ireland, was postponed because of the foot-and-mouth crisis in Britain.

After convincing victories over Wales and Italy, tournament favourites England cruised to their third consecutive triumph, with No 8 Dallaglio scoring two tries in the first half and Balshaw, whose running inspired the backline, crossing twice in the second.

The result marked England's biggest victory over the Scots in a Calcutta Cup match between the two countries, improving on their 41-13 win in 1997. It also gave the English some consolation for their surprise defeat by the Scots at Murrayfield last year when they were denied a grand slam.

England built a 22-3 lead at halftime through the tries by Dallaglio and one to flanker Richard Hill, along with two conversions and a penalty from first five-eighths Jonny Wilkinson. Scotland's only reply was a penalty from first five-eighths Duncan Hodge.

Balshaw crossed twice in the second half, and a try from centre Will Greenwood and three more conversions from Wilkinson sealed the win.

Balshaw has given England an extra dimension in attack this season, and the 21-year-old played a key role in the opening English try after only six minutes.

He took a long spin pass from centre Mike Catt and sprinted through the Scottish line down the right flank. Lock Danny Grewcock was held up 10m out from the posts, but England moved the ball wide to the left with winger Austin Healey feeding Dallaglio to score.

Wilkinson added a penalty five minutes later to give the English an 8-0 lead.

Hodge reduced the deficit and for the next 20 minutes England found it hard to break the Scottish defence.

England then took control with two tries within five minutes at the end of the half. After a period of intense pressure, they ran the ball through numerous phases before Wilkinson fed Hill wide on the right to score in the 36th minute.

Dallaglio crossed for his second try in injury time after taking a close pass from Wilkinson.

Balshaw was involved in setting up Hill's try, and just five minutes into the second half he touched down after the English backs moved the ball wide to the right. Greenwood threw an excellent reverse pass and Balshaw dummied outside to Healey before diving over near the right-hand corner flag.

England had all the pressure for the following 20 minutes and Balshaw added his second try in the 62nd minute when Catt struck a high kick wide to the left and the fullback caught it perfectly to cross near the corner.

Scotland rallied near the end but England scored their sixth try after a weaving run down the left by replacement winger Jason Robinson, the former Britain rugby league international, who slipped the ball to Greenwood who crossed the line unopposed.

In Rome, a workmanlike but unspectacular France ran in three tries to put their campaign back on track.

Fullback Jean-Luc Sadourny and winger Philippe Bernat-Salles both crossed under the posts to give first five-eighths Christophe Lamaison two simple conversions in the first 30 minutes.

Lamaison then kicked three of his eight penalty attempts to ensure France, beaten by Ireland in their last outing, stayed in command despite another uninspiring overall performance.

The Agen player also converted an injury-time try from centre Sebastien Bonetti to take his tally for the match to 15 points and his career total to 369.

The last kick made him the top international points scorer in French history, eclipsing the previous best mark of 367 set by Thierry Lacroix.

Lamaison's opposite number, Diego Dominguez, back from injury for his first appearance of the tournament, kept Italy in contention by kicking all four of his penalty attempts.

But although they spent long periods camped on the French 22, the Italians rarely penetrated until the 72nd minute, when winger Massimiliano Perziano crossed in the right-hand corner to give Italy hope at 19-23.

Dominici's try extended France's lead in the dying seconds and Lamaison's conversion sealed a much-needed victory for Bernard Laporte's World Cup finalists.

France have won two of their three matches in the tournament and face Wales in Paris in the next round.

Italy, beaten in all three games, travel to Scotland.

- REUTERS

Six Nations points table