Warrington Wolves trio in England defeat of Scotland

It was far from pretty as lethargic England fought back from 8-0 down inside 25 minutes to edge four points ahead by half time before dominating the second half to run out 38-12 winners.

Whether the win, and the margin of points difference, prove to be enough to aid England’s bid to reach the final at Anfield on Sunday, November 20 only time will tell.

But undoubtedly the moment of magic in the first period was provided by Wolves’ Scotland wingman Matty Russell, whose twist on a sixpence defied gravity as he gave the underdogs a shock 8-0 lead.

His clubmate Hill, starting at prop and returning for a second spell in the second half, worked hard to get England on the front foot and a lovely little pass from him led to a try for Castleford’s Luke Gale.

Cooper spent time up front and in the second row after joining the fray off the bench and was inches short of his first England try in the second period.

Clark, who joined the action 10 minutes into the second period, gave England a bit of something extra from dummy half after play had been a little slow through Canberra’s Josh Hodgson in that area.

Scotland’s first threatening attack came on the back of a penalty given away by Hill for lying on.

And the Bravehearts capitalised fully, powering their way towards the try line and then spinning the ball wide to the left through Huddersfield’s Danny Brough and North Queensland’s Lachlan Coote for the latter’s NRL clubmate Kane Linnett to fire over through the challenge of Saints full back Jonny Lomax.

Brough was wide with the extras, but Scotland led 4-0 after six minutes.

A high tackle by Leigh’s Liam Hood on Wigan’s George Williams, the man of the match, presented England with an opportunity to go for the throat and Hill was held up short twice in the set before a drop out was forced.

But a poor pass from Gale was dropped by Canberra’s Elliott Whitehead to hand possession back to the Bravehearts.

At the 15-minute mark, the point at which Australia were beating Scotland 22-0 last week, England were yet to break the Scotland rearguard.

Sparks started to fly a little as Hood bludgeoned Lomax on a first tackle and some angry words were exchanged between opposing players, including Hill and Brough.

Scotland looked threatening on their left again but Linnett failed to play-the-ball properly after a wrecking-ball run to let England off the hook.

Cooper arrived at the 22-minute mark to join his new Wolves teammate Hill in the front row.

Steve McCormack’s men, on the back of a penalty conceded by South Sydney’s Sam Burgess for a high tackle, reached the England line again and chose their dangerous left to strike.

Brough and Coote got the ball to Russell quickly and the Wolves winger defied the brute force of Jermain McGilvary’s tackle as he twisted on one leg to get the ball down in the tightest of spaces, with umpteen video replays showing he brilliantly kept himself out of touch to get the ball down.

With Brough wayward again from the touchline, Scotland’s lead was 8-0 after 25 minutes.

Hill took a breather a minute later, being replaced by South Sydney’s Tom Burgess.

Finally, piggy-backed by a penalty, Canberra’s Elliott Whitehead steamed on to a short pass from Gale to open England’s account in the 28th minute and the scrum half’s successful conversion cut the deficit to two points.

England’s tails were up, and with South Sydney’s George Burgess adding further beef to the front row, and Cooper switching to left second-row, the charge seemed to be gathering momentum.

But there was a touch of luck about England’s second try, with Gale appearing to fluff his grubber kick but it sat up nicely for Whitehead to pounce and the conversion moved Bennett’s boys 12-8 in front after 36 minutes.

England were positioned well to raid again at the start of the second half and on a second successive set George Burgess and then Cooper were held inches short.

Clark took over at dummy half in the 46th minute, with Hodgson switching to loose forward and Scotland were under pressure following successive kicks out on the full from Brough.

Scotland were made to pay when Clark and Williams floated the ball left for St Helens centre Mark Percival to cross for his first England try after 50 minutes.

Gale’s touchline conversion attempt bounced out off the far post.

Just as Hill rejoined the action a devilish grubber kick from Williams fell perfect for Leeds wingman Ryan Hall to notch his 30th try on his 30th England appearance. This time Gale added the extras, stretching England’s lead to 22-8.

Things soon got worse for Scotland, with skipper Brough being sent to the sin bin by Australian referee Gerard Sutton for holding down Lomax after a break.

The extra man counted on the right as McGilvary was put over from a looping long pass by Lomax that left Russell in no-man’s land.

A lovely tip on by Hill to Sam Burgess then split the Bravehearts down the middle and the supporting Gale cantered home for his first England try before adding the goal from in front of the sticks to make it 32-8 after 64 minutes.

On a rare Scotland sortie in the second period, Huddersfield-bound Dale Ferguson stretched out his right arm to score his side’s third try.

England had one last throw of the dice from a penalty after the hooter and Wigan’s Liam Farrell touched down from a deflected Williams kick, with Gale concluding the scoring.

England: Jonny Lomax; Jermaine McGilvary, Kallum Watkins, Mark Percival, Ryan Hall; George Williams, Luke Gale; Chris Hill, Josh Hodgson, Scott Taylor, Liam Farrell, Elliott Whitehead, Sam Burgess. Subs: Tom Burgess, George Burgess, Mike Cooper, Daryl Clark.

Scotland: Lachlan Coote; Lewis Tierney, Euan Aitken, Kane Linnett, Matty Russell; Danny Brough, Danny Addy; Adam Walker, Liam Hood, Luke Douglas, Ben Hellewell, Dale Ferguson, Ben Kavanagh. Subs: Tyler Cassel, Frankie Mariano, Callum Phillips, Sam Brooks.