Rugby World Cup:England needed a late try from winger Chris Ashton to overcome a fired-up Scotland 16-12 and creep into the quarter-finals of the World Cup as Pool B winners on Saturday.
The 2003 champions, who just needed to avoid defeat by seven or more points to progress, looked like losing before Ashton crossed two minutes from time to give them a perfect four wins out of four matches.
They now face another familiar foe in France in a quarter-final clash back at Eden Park next Saturday after the French earlier reached the last eight in even more ignominious fashion with a loss to Tonga in Wellington.
"It was incredibly difficult and full credit to Scotland, they played a fantastic match," England captain Lewis Moody said in a pitchside interview.
"We didn't make it easy on ourselves with the penalty count, but Scotland made it incredibly difficult for us and we came out on the right side in the end."
Scotland, whose last-gasp defeat to Argentina last weekend left them with an uphill battle against their oldest rugby rivals, gave everything they had but are now almost certain to exit the World Cup before the knockout stage for a first time.
Two Chris Paterson penalties and a penalty and drop goal from Dan Parks helped keep the Scots in front for most of the evening, but ultimately they will rue their inability to take the few try-scoring chances they carved out.
England showed almost nothing in attack until Ashton's late score and relied heavily on the kicking of Jonny Wilkinson, who had another disappointing night with the boot but still kept his team in the match with two penalties and a drop goal.
"We knew Scotland would come out with all their fire, but in the second half we countered it and it was a fantastic performance by our boys," Moody added. "We came out on top in a few of the scrums in the second half."
"Once again we slipped at the crucial times. We are going home now, maybe we will feel better in a couple of weeks, but now I am gutted," Scotland captain Alastair Kellock said.
"We were in a difficult group but we had the opportunities to win last week's game (against Argentina) and the same this week, but we didn't take them. But good luck to England."
Elswhere, Tonga pulled off the biggest upset in this World Cup with a 19-14 victory over France today.
The Pacific islanders, feeding off the performance of Samoa's narrow 13-5 loss to world champions South Africa on Friday, were brutally effective against the French today to secure their second victory of the tournament.
However, Tonga finished on nine points in Pool A after they had lost 25-20 to Canada, who play hosts New Zealand in their final match tomorrow, which ultimately cost them the chance of making the last eight.
In the other game today, Australia routed Russia 68-22 in Nelson.
Reuters
