England can keep talents on hold

If no one quite knows when and where England will next be sighted on a rugby field, a few weeks' delay will at least give the statisticians a chance to regroup.

There may be uncertainties all around them, with this month's trip to Dublin still under serious threat of postponement, but a total of 22 tries and three record Six Nations wins in a row would suggest Clive Woodward's side also have sufficient talent to play a successful waiting game if required.

This was a record Calcutta Cup victory, eclipsing England's 41-13 win here four years ago, but it was not as if the Scots played all that badly; they may lack a cutting edge outside where Gregor Townsend cannot return quickly enough but England are now making average international sides look like absolute beginners.

Iain Balshaw, whose two tries and balletic intrusions from fullback prompted a raft of inevitable headlines, and Mike Catt were superb and Jonny Wilkinson's halfbreak and pass for the second of Lawrence Dallaglio's two tries offered further evidence of the outhalf's growing assurance.

Not that the English forwards should be underestimated. The result was certainly a fitting tribute to Jason Leonard, given a standing ovation by his peers on Saturday night having become the most capped forward in rugby history, his 90 England caps and three Tests for the Lions taking him past the great Sean Fitzpatrick.

Dallaglio fully deserved his brace but it was his back-row partner Richard Hill's try after 35 minutes which best summed up England's all-round versatility and confidence.

At 8-3 down the Scots were still in the game, albeit defending like maniacs, only to be outdone by the handling skills of front-row forwards Phil Vickery and Dorian West, who set Hill free on the right flank for his first Test try in 12 months. Danny Grewcock also had a mighty game and Martin Johnson is now so consistently good it is getting to the stage where he may have to start hitting people again to get a mention.

Clive Woodward nowadays brushes aside all references to the mesmeric individual try he once scored against the Scots at Twickenham, preferring to get his kicks from flashes of genius like Will Greenwood's backhand flick to Austin Healey which set Balshaw ghosting over for the first of his side's three second-half tries.

Only a marginal forward pass prevented the Bath wing returning the favour but there was no preventing the near-telepathic crosskick from Catt which presented Balshaw with his fourth try from full-back in two games.

Jason Robinson's outrageous talent with ball in hand was also thrillingly evident, his dancing step around Gordon Bulloch ranking high among the game's sublime moments.

Judged on his latest 18 minutes of action, the former Wigan rugby league winger is fast adapting to union second time around and helped create the final try, the product of a northern alliance with the Blackburn-born pair of Balshaw and Greenwood, who has scored in all three championship games to date.

There will also be some interesting banter at Northampton this week, with Budge Pountney cheerfully adamant there was no malice in the trip on Matt Dawson which saw him sent to the sin-bin.

Scorers: England: Dallaglio 2, Hill, Balshaw 2, Greenwood tries, Wilkinson five conversions and penalty; Scotland: Hodge penalty.

ENGLAND: Balshaw (Bath); Healey (Leicester), Greenwood (Harlequins), Catt (Bath), Cohen (Northampton); Wilkinson (Newcastle), Dawson (Northampton); Leonard (Harlequins), West (Leicester), Vickery (Gloucester), Johnson (Leicester, capt), Grewcock (Saracens), Hill (Saracens), Back (Leicester), Dallaglio (Wasps). Replacements: Regan (Bath) for West (h-t), Robinson (Sale) for Catt (62 mins), Worsley (Wasps) for Back (68 mins), Bracken (Saracens) for Dawson (73 mins).

SCOTLAND: Paterson (Edinburgh Reivers); C Murray (Edinburgh Reivers), A Bulloch (Glasgow Caledonians), J Leslie (Northampton), Logan (Wasps); Hodge (Edinburgh Reivers), Nicol (Glasgow Caledonians, capt); Smith (Brive), G Bulloch (Glasgow Caledonians), Stewart (Northampton), S Murray (Saracens), Metcalfe (Edinburgh Reivers), M Leslie (Edinburgh Reivers), Pountney (Northampton), Taylor (Edinburgh Reivers). Replacements: McIlwham (Glasgow Caledonians) for Stewart (45 mins), Grimes (Newcastle) for Metcalfe (46 mins), Redpath (Sale) for Nicol (60 mins), Craig (Glasgow Caledonians) for C Murray (70 mins), McLaren (Glasgow Caledonians) for A Bulloch (75 mins).,

Referee: R Davies (Wales).