England Knights put Scotland to the sword with a stunning display in Edinburgh – one which brought a beaming smile to the face of one head coach, but left another scratching his head for a reason to believe ahead of next week’s Rugby League World Cup.
Knights head coach Paul Anderson was delighted with his side’s six-try salvo, which included four on the bounce from Warrington Wolves winger Josh Thewlis in a devastating 25 minute-spell either side of half-time.
“I’m really happy” said Anderson, reflecting on a dominant performance in both attack and defence against a side preparing for World Cup duty against Italy in Newcastle on Sunday. “Off the back of our game in France we talked a lot about composure, our energy base, our kicking game and how we turn the ball over. We delivered on all counts.”
All of which was bad news for Anderson’s former Bradford Bulls teammate Nathan Graham. “We put in a lot of effort, but we were very scratchy”, admitted the Scotland coach. “We came up with a lot of errors in the first half, coughing up the ball when we should have been building pressure and constantly defending as a result. But we have a lot of newcomers and we’ve only had three field sessions, so we’ll get better. This game will do us good.”
While Graham may have been focusing more on giving his entire World Cup squad a run-out, Anderson’s Knights gave them a run for their money – and then some!
England Knights made three changes from the side that defeated France 18-6 in Bordeaux last weekend, with teenage forwards George Delaney (St Helens) and Harvie Hill (Wigan Warriors) making their debuts off the bench, and Featherstone Rovers’ Jack Broadbent making a try-scoring return to Knights duty after just six minutes.
Broadbent’s try offered more than a hint of what was to come. A powerful carry from Wigan Warriors’ prop Ethan Havard, a constant handful for the Scottish defence, set up field position for classy half-backs Ollie Russell and Mikey Lewis, and it was Huddersfield Giants’ Russell who found space behind the advancing Scottish defence to give Broadbent the simplest of touchdowns.
Will Pryce, part of an outstanding and influential Knights spine alongside Jez Litten, Russell and Lewis, missed the first of four difficult and unsuccessful conversions, but the Knights had served notice.
Scotland included three NRL players in their starting line-up – Logan Bayliss-Brow (Brisbane Broncos), Bailey Hayward (Canterbury Bulldogs) and Euan Aitken (New Zealand Warriors) – and four Super League players in the shape of James Bell (St Helens), Ryan Brierley (Salford Red Devils), Matty Russell (Toulouse) and Liam Hood (Wakefield Trinity). Yet they rarely threatened during a first hour dominated almost entirely by England Knights, conceding a string of penalties, set restarts and drop-outs, and persistently handing their more organised opponents possession and territory. And England didn’t waste it.
Matt English went close for the Knights on nine minutes, as did Matt Nicholson on 24 and then Deon Cross from a deft Lewis grubber, so it was only a matter of time before the Scotland defence was breached once more.
When another Scotland drop-out on 27 minutes failed to travel the minimum 10 metres, Salford Red Devils centre Cross went close once more before Josh Thewlis took the defence completely by surprise from dummy half.
As Scotland, by now on the wrong end of 5-1 penalty count, struggled to gain a foothold, England were relentless. On the half hour Thewliss crossed unopposed in the right corner, courtesy of a wonderful long pass from Lewis. Pryce hit the post with yet another tough conversion attempt, but Scotland were nevertheless fortunate to go in at the break only 12-0 down after Broadbent almost claimed his second on the back of another smart Russell kick.
Barley 10 minutes into the second half Matty Russell fumbled another challenging Lewis kick and Thewliss pounced for his hat-trick try, before claiming try number four by getting on the end of another flowing England attack involving Pryce and Ellis Longstaff.
Scotland finally got on the scoreboard after an hour thanks to Hull KR’s Kane Linnett, but it was his Rovers teammate Litten who had the final say with a try beneath the uprights, converted by Russell to give the Knights a convincing 28-4 win.
SCOTLAND
22 Alex Walker
5 Lachlan Walmsley
15 Kieran Buchanan
23 Bayley Liu
2 Matty Russell
6 Bailey Hayward
7 Ryan Brierley
8 Logan Bayliss-Brow
12 Kane Linnett
24 Dale Ferguson
11 Euan Aitken
9 Liam Hood
13 James Bell
Interchanges
26 Luke Bain
1 Lewis Clarke
20 Davey Dixon
17 Charlie Emslie
19 Calum Gahan
16 Guy Graham
3 Ben Hellewell
10 Sam Luckley
14 Kyle Schneider
18 Jack Teanby
21 Shane Toal
Tries: Linnett (59)
Goals: Walmsley 0/1
Sinbin:
Dismissal:
ENGLAND
1 Will Pryce
2 Josh Thewlis
3 Deon Cross
17 Ellis Longstaff
4 Jack Broadbent
6 Mikey Lewis
7 Oliver Russell
8 Matthew English
9 Jez Litten
10 Ethan Havard
11 Matthew Whitley
12 Jordan Lane
13 Matt Nicholson
14 Danny Walker
15 Tyler Dupree
16 Harvie Hill
18 George Delaney
Tries: Broadbent (6), Thewlis (27, 30, 49, 52), Litten (80)
Goals: Pryce 0/4, Russell 2/2
