Cueto's triple hands Scotland record loss

England A 78 Scotland A 6

Paul Stephens
Friday 21 March 2003 20:00 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

England demolished Scotland, scoring 11 tries without reply, in a one-sided though marvellously entertaining A international last night, to maintain their unbeaten run and set up a chance of winning the Five Nations' A Team Championship for the first time since it was inaugurated in 1998.

England posted a record score against the Scots, surpassing the 60 they got at Headingley two years ago, as their pace, finishing and support play were all on a higher level than anything of which the Scots were capable.

England had raced away to a 31-0 lead within the space of 19 minutes, and though Scotland kept the lid on the scoring in the second quarter, there was no stopping England, whose first-half tries went to Dan Scarbrough with two, Mark Cueto and Phil Christophers.

England continued in top gear after the interval, producing three more quick tries, with Cueto grabbing the first, the second the result of another blistering burst by James Forrester, while Cueto brushed off the tackle of Simon Webster to score his third try.

For their next trick, the England pack pulled a mighty drive out of the bag for the captain, Kyran Bracken, to dive over for England's eighth try. By now it had become embarrassing, but there was no respite for the Scots. Forrester and Christophers finished off the visitors with two more dazzling tries. Alex King's 10 conversions and a penalty gave him 23 points.

England A: Tries Cueto 3, Scarbrough 2, Christophers 2, Bracken, Forrester 2, Waters; Conversions King 10; Penalty King. Scotland A: Penalties Hodge 2.

ENGLAND A: D Scarbrough (Leeds): M Cueto (Sale), H Paul, J Simpson-Daniel (Both Gloucester), P Christophers (Bristol); A King (Wasps), K Bracken (capt; Saracens); M Worsley (London Irish), A Titterrell (Sale), R Morris (Northampton), S Borthwick (Bath), C Jones, A Sanderson (Both Sale), A Vander (Bath), J Forrester (Gloucester). Replacements: B Johnston (Saracens) for Simpson-Daniel, 37; M Corry (Leicester) for Sanderson h-t; F Waters (Wasps) for Paul, 56; H Vyvyan (Newcastle) for Jones, 64; N Walshe (Sale) for Johnston, 70.

SCOTLAND A: S Moffat (Glasgow); S Webster (Edinburgh), A Bulloch, A Henderson, C Joiner; D Hodge (capt), G Beveridge (all Glasgow); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), S Scott (Borders), J Branninghan (Edinburgh), I Fullarton (Sale), N Ross (Glasgow), A Rennick (Borders), J Petrie (Glasgow), E Peters (Connacht). Replacements: D Hilton (Glasgow) for Branninghan h-t; A Hall (Edinburgh) for Ross h-t; C Howarth (Glasgow) for Hodge, 54; D Hall (Edinburgh) for Scott, 62; R Kerr (Glasgow) for Joiner, 72.

Referee: S McDowell (Ireland)

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in