England v Scotland: how the players rated
How the players rated out of ten at Twickenham.
Roar power: Nathan Hines prepares to tackle a rampaging James Haskell Photo: ACTION IMAGES
By Brendan Gallagher 6:09PM GMT 13 Mar 2011
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England
Ben Foden: Always looking to attack and a couple of belting breaks but well marked by Scotland who knew he was one of the main danger men. 7/10
Chris Ashton: Went busily looking for work but nothing went his way. Six tries in the first two matches, none since then however. Needs to work on his chipping ahead. 7
Mike Tindall: Forced off with an ankle injury at half-time but hobbled up to receive the Calcutta Cup from his future mother-in-law Princess Anne, Patron of the SRU. 6
Shontayne Hape: Couple of decent offloads and mini-breaks. Steady in midfield but will need to better than that next week. 6
Mark Cueto: Tried to inject pace but and didn't do much wrong but like Foden, Scotland were onto him very quickly. Timely pass for Croft's try. 7
Toby Flood: Goal kicking was excellent, as usual, but half-back partnership with Youngs not quite as effective as we have come to expect. 7
Ben Youngs: Good moments but not one of his stellar games. Pass was middling and his pace off the mark means he still gets isolated occasionally. 6
Alex Corbisiero: Starting in place of Andrew Sheridan and enjoyed a good afternoon at scrum-time. Life in the loose was much more testing though. 6
Dylan Hartley: Excellent against France and no problems in the scrum but failed to make his impact elsewhere. 6
Dan Cole: Another good afternoon at in the front row, putting in the hard yards at this level and learning all the time. 7
Tom Palmer: The former Scotland U21 cap is having a fine season but found the going tough against Scotland's excellent second row pairing. 6
Louis Deacon: Became England's go-to man at the front of the line out and did well. Unseen but considerable worker elsewhere. 8
Tom Wood: Busy game against a quality back row, went close to scoring early in the second half but well tackled just short of the line. 7
James Haskell: Comfortably England's stand-out player, strong bursts aplenty and did wonderfully well to keep the move going that led to Croft's try. Coming of age. 9
Nick Easter: Still the England rock when it all gets a bit frantic. Absolutely key man in the madness that will be the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. 7
Bench: Tom Croft and Jonny Wilkinson breathed life into the England effort even if that pass to Croft looked forward. Steve Thompson came on to beat Brian Moore's England record with his 64th cap at hooker. Matt Banahan and Simon Sahw made an impact too. 8
Scotland
Chris Paterson: One of the best performances of his 103-Test match career. World class goal kicking and 100 per cent effort. Two brilliant try saving tackles. 9
Simon Danielli: Long striding former England Schools wing – he played with Jonny Wilkinson and Mike Tindall – wing enjoyed a couple of rumbles down the wing. 7
Joe Ansbro: Still early days in his international career at centre but continues to show some nice touches. Work in progress at this level. 6
Sean Lamont: Not the most skilful midfield but adds steel to the Scotland midfield. Very physical. 7
Max Evans: Great match, made a couple of important interceptions and scored a superb try. Scotland need to live on his shoulder more, always spells danger. 9
Ruaridh Jackson: Emerging young talent at fly-half, fine drop-goal and a couple of huge touchfinders. Should he have been subbed? 7
Rory Lawson: Beavered away at the base of the scrum and seems to have struck up a decent partnership with Jackson. 7
Allan Jacobsen: Scotland's front-row travails continue, where has their scrummaging power gone? Outstanding grafter in the loose. 6
Ross Ford: Struggled with his radar at the early line-outs and a tough day at the office at scrum-time. Try-saving tack on Tom Wood. 6
Moray Low: Another who endured a very tough afternoon at the coalface. Young for a prop and will get better. 6
Richie Gray: Another fine performance from one of the great emerging talents in the game. Work-rate is incredible. Old head on young shoulders. 8
Alastair Kellock: The captain played a fine hand in his understated way. Steadied the line-out after early difficulties. 7
Nathan Hines: Put in a stack of unseen work in the tight but his lack of pace was occasionally shown up in the loose. 6
John Barclay: Enjoyed a long dialogue with referee Romain Poite until the Frenchman issued a very harsh yellow for preventing release. A Barclaycard? Poite went off injured soon after. Karma? 7
Kelly Brown: Was his normal braveheart presence in the back row until he came of worse when trying to stop the rampaging Banahan. 7
Bench: Richie Vernon was excellent as Brown's replacement but Dan Parks and Mike Blair failed to pick up the pace when they came on at half-back. 6
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