Paterson says England a match for Blacks

Chris Paterson may only be in the formative stages of his international career but he knows a good side when he sees it and England are among the best in the world.

From his full-back berth, Paterson was able to watch England rip his Scottish team-mates apart at Twickenham on Saturday.

Time after time, he was exposed to a mixture of forward power and incisive bursts from the home back division.

Occasionally Paterson prospered in defence but more often he was left stranded as England racked up a record 43-3 Calcutta Cup win.

Despite winning just 12 caps since making his debut against Spain in the World Cup two years ago, Paterson has already tasted action against the world champion Wallabies and the mighty All Blacks. He was also part of the Scottish team which demolished England at Murrayfield 12 months ago.

But yesterday’s rout opened his eyes to a new dimension, one he freely admits Scotland could not cope with.

‘‘They are the hardest team I have ever played against,’’ said the former Gala man. They had so many options, there was always going to be one spare.

’’Defensively, it was the most difficult game I have ever experienced.

‘‘Even the All Blacks didn’t have the same cutting edge. It is always disappointing to be beaten but England are pretty awesome at the moment.’’

For 20 minutes after a Duncan Hodge penalty had brought the Scots to within five points, the contest was truly competitive.

One Kenny Logan break almost brought a try and spilled possession cost the visitors at least two more scoring chances.

But no matter how hard Scotland tried, England always had an extra weapon at their disposal.

The Scots operated with 50% less possession and spent the vast majority of the game in their own half of the field.

In Budge Pountney, Tom Smith and Gordon Bulloch, they had a trio of heroes who refused to buckle despite an almost constant wave of pressure.

They survived 10 minutes with Pountney in the sin-bin without conceding a point and defensive coach Alan Tait deserves huge credit for instilling a discipline which prevented the scoreline from reaching embarrassing proportions.

There was never the remotest danger of Scotland threatening victory and when they trooped of the field, they had done well to keep England under the half century mark.

On a sharp learning curve, Paterson will study the performance of opposite number Iain Balshaw in the hope of improving his own game.

No slouch himself, Paterson could only admire the speed and agility of the Bath man, whose incisive bursts left Scotland reeling and allowed him to grab two well deserved tries.

‘‘He was outstanding,’’ admitted Paterson. ‘‘Iain is an incredible talent and when you give him space like that, he will always make inroads into defence.’’

Apart from their shock triumph at Murrayfield last year, Scotland have now gone 11 games without defeating an established rugby foe.

Having made two changes to the team which drew with Wales, coach Ian McGeechan is likely to reconsider his options for the visit of Italy to Edinburgh in a fortnight.

The match has assumed ‘must-win’ proportions for the Scottish side, not only because of their recent poor form but also in light of their dismal defeat in Rome 12 months ago.

Neither new boy - Alan Bulloch and Simon Taylor - sparkled as expected, although the latter will probably be persevered with at number eight in preference to Jon Petrie.

James McLaren will probably return at outside centre, while Glenn Metcalfe is pushing for inclusion somewhere in the back three.

Paterson might regard himself as unlucky to be dropped as full-back but Kenny Logan, the man who made way last year, has reached levels of performance not previously considered possible and, relieved of the goalkicking duties, has no outside baggage which may drain his confidence.

Gregor Townsend’s fitness is still in question, so McGeechan may once again toy with the idea of bringing Paterson to fly-half, a position where he excelled as a teenager in the Scottish club game, but has failed to break into as a professional at Edinburgh Reivers.

Scotland’s tight five have done enough in previous outings to prove they are capable of recovering from Saturday’s landslide, although the Italian’s brute of a pack will be equally difficult to stop.