• Scotland 15-15 England, Six Nations, March 13

Johnson left frustrated after drab stalemate

Tempers flared during the Calcutta Cup clash © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News:
• Lievremont names unchanged France squad
  

England manager Martin Johnson could not hide his disappointment with their Six Nations draw against old rivals Scotland at Murrayfield.

Jonny Wilkinson and Toby Flood kicked England's points in a 15-15 result in Edinburgh, with Scotland's Dan Parks replying with four penalties and a drop-goal. England retained the Calcutta Cup thanks to the stalemate but will find little solace in another poor result.

"The team are frustrated with life, with themselves. As a collective I think we are just gutted," he said. "We could have won but I am not going to say we should have won. As a team we have to find a way to win. It wasn't a great game to watch. There were a lot of penalties down to the interpretation at the breakdown and it kept us in our half for most of the first half.

"I thought when we had the ball in the first half we looked good but we gave it back so cheaply. We did some very good things and did some silly things. These games get tighter and tighter as the clock runs down. Ultimately it is a tale of missed chances.

"We have got to get used to what is going on at the breakdown. We probably spent 15 minutes resetting the scrums, it was a scratchy game. The game was fractured by penalties, by injuries, by scrum resets and mistakes as well."

Scotland boss Andy Robinson, facing England for the first time since being shown the door as coach in 2006, was equally downhearted but commended the effort of his players as another step in the right direction.

"You've got to work hard for your tries," he said. "When we put England under pressure there were a couple of occasions when we chose the wrong options. We're learning and what you saw today was an improvement from Italy. It will come.

"I'm really looking forward to Ireland. The players took another step forward this week. I thought we played positive rugby, I thought we moved England around and, credit to their defence, they held up well. I thought we created opportunities and I thought the way we tried to play with the counter attack and some of the attacking plays we put on was very good.

"Unfortunately, again, we couldn't get over the line. But I'm really, really pleased with the way the team tried to play and played."

© ESPN EMEA Ltd

• Feedback
• Print

Email