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England keep Slam dream alive

London - England stayed on course for their first Grand Slam since 2003 here Sunday, defeating Six Nations rivals Scotland 22-16 in a scrappy encounter at Twickenham.

A second-half try from replacement flanker Tom Croft and 17 points from the boots of Toby Flood and Jonny Wilkinson clinched victory for England as Scotland's 28-year losing streak at Twickenham continued.

Scotland's points came from a late try by wing Max Evans while fullback Chris Paterson added two penalties and a conversion. Fly-half Ruaridh Jackson added a drop goal.

The win means that Martin Johnson's England will travel to Dublin next Saturday knowing that victory over Ireland will give them their first Grand Slam in eight years.

However England know they will have to improve significantly if they are to defeat the Irish at Lansdowne Road after a disjointed and error-strewn performance.

Scotland meanwhile will now be aiming to avoid a wooden spoon against Italy at Murrayfield after their fourth defeat of the championship.

England captain Mike Tindall, who accepted the Calcutta Cup trophy from his future mother-in-law Princess Anne, admitted that the performance was not the one they had wanted.

"Obviously winning the game is the most important thing but we are not happy with the way we played," said the 2003 World Cup winning centre.

"However, it's good to see that when you are not playing well you can still eke out a win," added Tindall, who did not appear for the second-half as he had an ankle injury.

Man of the match James Haskell was equally critical of the performance.

"It is a sense of great relief," said the 25-year-old Stade Francais star.

"It is one of the toughest games I have played at Twickenham.

"However, we also made life difficult for ourselves. We will take the win but we have work to do."

Both Haskell and Tindall were loathe to mention the phrase 'Grand Slam'.

"It's a dirty word and we don't like talking about it," grinned Haskell.

A shapeless first half had ended level at 9-9 as England struggled to convert their territorial dominance and strength at the scrum into tries.

Scotland had taken the lead after only three minutes, with Paterson calmly slotting a penalty from wide out on the left after England wing Chris Ashton was penalised for entering a ruck from the side.

Flood missed a straightforward penalty to level the scores on 10 minutes but made no mistake shortly afterwards, nailing his kick after Scotland loosehead Allan Jacobsen went to ground at a scrum.

The penalty was the first of several Scotland were to concede at the scrum, where both Jacobsen and tighthead Moray Low came under fierce pressure.

Scotland regained the lead on 21 minutes when Paterson kicked his second penalty after Tindall was offside.

Flood levelled moments later when Scottish flanker Nathan Hines failed to release a tackled player.

Another penalty against Scotland's scrum -- Jacobsen pinged for slipping his binding -- saw Flood kick England into a 9-6 lead.

Just on half-time Scotland levelled it when fly-half Ruaridh Jackson split the uprights with a superb drop goal from 30 meters.

England came out for the second half with greater purpose, and a powerful break by Matt Banahan, on for Tindall, starting a sweeping attack which ended with Tom Wood being bundled out in the corner.

Banahan's initial burst also ended Kelly Brown's afternoon, the Scotland number eight stretchered off after being flattened by the English centre.

England finally regained the lead midway through the half, Flood slotting his fourth penalty after Scotland were penalised near the posts, an infringement that saw John Barclay sin-binned.

The game was interrupted moments later when referee Romain Poite limped off with a calf injury to be replaced by touch judge Jerome Garces.

Scotland needed a last-ditch tackle from Paterson to deny Foden a try in the corner, and with 15 minutes remaining Johnson sent on England's reinforcements, bringing on hooker Steve Thompson, lock Simon Shaw, Croft and Wilkinson.

The new blood had the required effect and on 68 minutes, Croft crashed over after being released by Cueto with what looked like a forward pass.

Wilkinson converted and England looked to be poised for victory at 19-9 up. However a clever individual try by Evans, chippping and gathering his own kick ensured a nail-biting finale before Wilkinson gave England a five-point cushion with a nerveless late penalty.

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