Man-of-the-match Wilkinson steers England to win

England 42 Scotland 20

England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson made a fairytale comeback with a record Calcutta Cup points haul to get the new era under coach Brian Ashton off to a flying start with a win over Scotland.

Wilkinson was heavily involved from the kick-off and Farrell also gained a couple of touches as England made all the early running.

The Newcastle fly-half tested out full-back Hugo Southwell but the Edinburgh man stood firm and the Scots eased the pressure when flanker Magnus Lund came up with a knock-on.

When Glasgow prop Euan Murray was penalised in the scrum, Wilkinson drove his side into a perfect attacking position and, after quick hands from Morgan and Josh Lewsey, scrum-half Harry Ellis was driven over the line.

However, referee Marius Jonker was unsure about the grounding and, with television official Donal Courtney also not certain, the try was disallowed and Scotland breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Scrum-half Chris Cusiter, showing little sign of the shoulder injury that threatened his place in the team, managed to thwart Ellis at the resulting scrum but the Scottish pack was then put under fierce pressure and crucially conceded the first kickable penalty of the match.

It was just 20 metres out and Wilkinson made no mistake, opening the scoring on 12 minutes with his first points since his match-winning drop goal against Australia in 2003.

Scotland had a chance to draw level on 15 minutes when Corry was penalised for pulling his man down in the line-out but skipper Chris Paterson was just wide with a 45-metre attempt at goal.

Paterson had better fortune two minutes later when England winger Josh Lewsey was punished for killing the ball and the Edinburgh winger was on target with a 30 yard angle kick to make it 3-3.

England went quickly back on to the attack and when Scotland’s fly-half Dan Parks failed to secure possession the ball was fed back to Wilkinson, who defied a cut head to slot a drop goal from in front of the post and restore his sides three-point lead.

But England’s encouraging start was quickly snuffed out by the Scot’s greater enthusiasm and twice Parks lost the ball over Robinson’s head to push England back towards their own line.

England’s setpieces had been secured in the early stages but their line-out failed at a crucial moment and the visitors struck with devastating effect.

George Chuter’s throw was palmed back clumsily by his Leicester team-mate Louis Deacon and Edinburgh lock snaffled the ball from Ellis’ grasp to cross for a soft try.

Paterson added the difficult conversion to put his side 10-6 in front but a lively break from Ellis switched the momentum of the match.

Wilkinson took advantage of Scottish errors to land two further penalties in the space of four minutes to make it 12-10 and drives from Worsley and Deacon took them within scoring range.

England’s back line finally clicked four minutes before half time when Farrell, taking the ball at first receiver from the scrum, combined with Tindall and Wilkinson to give Robinson a sight of the tryline.

The Sale captain, a try scorer at Sydney in 2003, used Morgan as a foil and produced a devastating hand off to scoot over in familiar fashion for his 23rd try on his 40th England appearance.

Wilkinson hit the woodwork with the conversion to lose his 100 per cent record with the boot but England were delighted to go into the break with a 17-10 advantage.

Scotland steadied a rocking boat with a penalty from Patterson three minutes into the second half after England were caught offside but it simply spurred their opponents on to greater effort.

A superb break from Worsley set up the position for Wilkinson, looking to edge his side further ahead with two penalties in a five minute purple patch and it got even better for Ashton’s men.

Corry turned defence into attack with a great lineout steal and Ellis kicked speculatively to the line.

Winger Sean Lamont looked to have the danger covered but failed to make the ball dead and Robinson dived onto it to claim his second try.

Wilkinson kicked his sixth goal and then crowned and amazing comeback with his sixth try for his country.

The impressive Ellis made a third clean break and Wilkinson was in support to head for the corner, planting the ball one-handed seconds before touching the corner flag.

The try enabled Wilkinson to set a new Calcutta Cup points record, eclipsing Rob Andrew’s 24-point haul in 1995, and he added the touchline conversion for good measure to put England into a commanding 37-13 lead.

Wilkinson proved he is human after all when he missed his second dropped goal attempt but the 82,000 Twickenham crowd roared their approval when he ignored a chance to kick at goal, instead putting the ball into the corner.

England’s enterprise paid off when the Scotland defence opened up invitingly for flanker Magnus Lund to plunge over for his first try for his country.

Wilkinson, already named man of the match, missed the conversion and then left the field to a standing ovation six minutes from the end when he was replaced by Newcastle team-mate Toby Flood.

Scotland finished a well beaten side, but they had the consolation of completing the scoring when replacement Rob Dewey scored his second try for his country and Paterson added the conversion.