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England expects Six Nations title in sight for Woodward's side
LONDON (Reuters) -- England continued its stroll to a repeat Six Nations title with a convincing 43-3 victory over Scotland, while France looked uninspiring in their 30-19 victory over Italy on Saturday. Only Ireland, which had its game against Wales postponed because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak in Britain, look the most likely to halt England's progress. The two sides meet in Dublin on March 24, assuming the disease does not disrupt the game -- a distinct possibility given the comments of Six Nations committee chief executive Roger Pickering on Friday. "There remains serious uncertainty about the timing of further matches scheduled to be played later this month and April," he said. Despite the off-field ramifications, England's latest victory was its biggest over the Scots in the Calcutta Cup, improving on its 41-13 success in 1997. It also gave it some consolation for its surprise defeat by the Scots at Murrayfield last year when it was denied a grand slam. England, superbly led by pacey fullback Iain Balshaw and former captain Lawrence Dallaglio, dominated throughout. It continuously recycled the ball, starving the Scots of possession, shut down attacks behind the gain line and forced Scotland to kick the ball away. While Dallaglio's early try, created by Balshaw's attacking run, set the tone, England was unable to break down the Scottish defense until just before halftime when Richard Hill and Dallaglio crossed within five minutes of each other to take England into a 22-3 halftime lead. Balshaw then scored two tries in the second half before centre Will Greenwood finished off a fine length-of-the-field move which was sparked by replacement winger Jason Robinson. Robinson, the former Britain rugby league international, outpaced his cover defender then stepped inside one more tackle to hand off to Greenwood who went in untouched. England manager Clive Woodward sung Robinson's praises after the game but then reminded the other countries of the depth of talent he now had to choose from. "He has taken his chance. He is still only fourth or fifth in the pecking order but he is there on merit," Woodward said. "He has great balance and good awareness. He is so strong... but still has a lot to learn. There is a lot of competition for those places (on the wing) and it's a nice problem for me to have." Injury-racked France, ever the enigma of international rugby, looked uninspired in its match against Italy in Rome. There were only three good things to take from the match -- it won, no one was injured, and flyhalf Christophe Lamaison became France's highest international points scorer. Despite eclipsing Thierry Lacroix's 367 points by converting Sebastien Bonetti's injury time try and finishing the game with 369 career points, Lamaison had a shocking day with the boot and missed five of his eight penalty attempts. The feelings of relief were evident in French coach Bernard Laporte's comments. "I'm certainly pleased we won today," he said. "We came here under stress and with injuries, but I'm now confident about taking on Wales. If we win against the Welsh then we will go to London for our final match against England without this kind of pressure." By then, the championship may well be over.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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