It was a good day for England fans as they beat Scotland 38-18 at Twickenham to claim the Calcutta Cup for the fourth successive year. The Women’s team also kicked things off with a win over Scotland, 76-0, and the Sevens team won in Wellington. Owen Farrell continued his good form as he kicked 18 points and picked up Man of the Match, while tries were scored by Chris Ashton, Geoff Parling, Danny Care and debutant Billy Twelvetrees. "I'm really pleased with the start. I think we’ve got a lot of confidence, and we’ll try to build on that" said England head coach Stuart Lancaster. Scotland new cap Kiwi Sean Maitland scored the opening try of the game, while Stuart Hogg crossed for a well taken try but England stepped things up in the second half and came away with a big win. They travel to Dublin next weekend to take on an impressive looking Ireland team, who earlier today beat Wales 30-22 in Cardiff. "Across the board and with Manu (Tuilagi) coming back into consideration there will be some selection decisions to make. We need to knuckle down to what will be a massive game against Ireland," said Lancaster. "The last two weeks have been invaluable in going over the lessons we learned in the autumn. We felt prepared going into the game and while we are not satisfied with everything I thought our cohesion was excellent and it has given us a foundation to go into Dublin. "Ireland are an outstanding side. They have quality players across the board so it is a big step up. We need to make sure we are ready mentally physically and mentally and technically."

Click here to view the full post More...