Saxons retain Churchill Cup
Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:38
England Saxons retained the Churchill Cup when they beat Scotland A 36-19 in the Final at Toyota Park in Chicago on Saturday.
The Saxons twice came from behind to run four tries, including one apiece for the tournament’s Most Valuable Player Jordan Crane and top try scorer Matt Banahan, with flyhalf Ryan Lamb contributing 16 points with the boot.
The victory is England’s fourth in the six years since the tournament was launched and the second on the run.
Although the winning margin was comfortable, the game hung in the balance for the first hour, with the only points of the first quarter coming from the boots of flyhalves Ryan Lamb and Gordon Ross.
Having almost crossed in the opening minutes, second later the Saxons found themselves defending their own line after a series of attacks from the powerful Scottish midfield.
But unable to penetrate, Ross settled for a drop goal, which Lamb quickly negated with the first of four penalties. Although the pair each added another penalty, it was not until the game entered the second quarter that England finally found the try-line.
With the Scottish defence sucked in by a series of forward drives around the fringes, England exploited the blindside and a quick pass from centre Ollie Smith found Matt Banahan, who outpaced the covering defence to dive under the posts, his sixth try of the tournament, and Lamb’s conversion, putting England ahead for the first time.
Another exchange of penalties took the half-time score to 16-9 in England’s favour, but soon into the second period Scotland struck back with a try by scrumhalf Colin Gregor, created by a break from centre Rob Dewey, who managed to slip through a tackle from Crane.
Ross’s conversion and his subsequent penalty put the Scots back in pole position at 19-16 but as the hour mark passed England found another gear.
Energised by the appearance of Steff Armitage and debutant Tom French, the Saxons began to show their class. After taking the lead when fullback Nick Abendanon picked up a perfectly timed flat pass from Lamb to slice though the Scottish midfield, Lamb and scrumhalf Paul Hodgson turned the screws and there was no way back for the Scots.
Having made the hard yards all game, Crane made the most of a blindside break to take advantage of 50m of open space to make a clear run to the corner flag. Lamb’s conversion attempt, like the last, drifted wide but by then the job was done.
After further attempts from Crane, who was held just short, and Lamb, who could not quite hold on to an intercept, wing Ugo Monye plucked Lamb’s pinpoint cross-field kick to touch down, putting the icing on the cake for England and securing the title for a second successive season.
Scorers:
For England Saxons:
Tries: Banahan, Abendanon, Crane, Monye
Cons: Lamb 2
Pens: Lamb 4
For Scotland A:
Tries: Gregor
Con: Ross
Pens: Ross 3
Drop: Ross
Teams:
Scotland A: 15 Steve Jones, 14 Mark Robertson, 13 Rob Dewey, 12 Calum MacRae, 11 Roland Reid, 10 Gordon Ross, 9 Colin Gregor, 8 Stevie Swindall, 7 Alan MacDonald, 6 James Eddie, 5 Dan Turner, 4 Fergus Pringle, 3 David Young, 2 Fergus Thomson (captain), 1 Ed Kalman.
Replacement: 16 Andrew Kelly, 17 Stuart Corsar, 18 Jon Dunbar, 19 Scott Newlands, 20 Mark McMillan, 21 David Blair, 22 Jim Thompson.
England Saxons: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Ugo Monye, 13 Ollie Smith, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Jordan Crane,
7 Will Skinner, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 George Skivington, 4 Chris Jones, 3 Jack Forster, 2 George Chuter, 1 Alex Clarke.
Replacements: 16 Andy Titterrell, 17 Tom French, 18 Stuart Hooper, 19 Steffon Armitage, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Adrian Jarvis, 22 Ben Foden.
Date: Saturday, June 21
Venue: Toyota Park, Chicago
Referee: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Touch judges: Mark Newton (Canada), Paul Bretz (USA)
