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Blaze praises Saxons defence

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Tigers' summer signing Richard Blaze praised England Saxons' defensive efforts after Jim Mallinder's side defeated Scotland A 18-3 in the Churchill Cup at Twickenham on Bank Holiday Monday.

Blaze played the full 80 minutes against the Scots, while Tigers' forwards Tom Croft and Jordan Crane also made appearances as second-half replacements.

"It was a very physical game, especially at the breakdown, but that was what we expected," said Blaze. "The conditions didn't help free flowing rugby, so we had to play tight and play territory when needed. 
 
"In the second half we controlled the ball much better and looked after it in contact.  We need to work on our lineout, we had a few miscommunications and lost our composure at times, but our scrum was better.  Our defence was a real positive too.  To keep the line intact and not let them score means we've kept two cleans sheets in two games."

The win sees England qualify for the Churchill Cup Final, where they will meet either the New Zealand Maori or Ireland A at Twickenham on Saturday, June 2 (kick-off 4.30pm). Tickets, priced from £20 for adults or £10 for under 16s, are available from Ticketmaster on 0870 902 0000 or ticketmaster.co.uk
 
Scoring Sequence

4mins, Eng pen, 12 - Barkley (3-0)
39mins, Eng try, 2 - Paice, con 12 - Barkley (10-0)
Half time score England 10 - 0 Scotland
44mins, Eng try, 15 - Abendanon (15-0)
65mins, Scot 22 - MacRae (15-3)
80mins, Eng pen, 21 - Mordt (18-3)
 
England Saxons

15 Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby), 14 Paul Sackey (London Wasps), 13 Kevin Sorrell (Saracens), 12 Olly Barkley (Bath Rugby) rep by 22 Nils Mordt (London Irish) 65mins, 11 Tom Voyce (London Wasps), 10 Danny Cipriani (London Wasps) sin bin 73mins, 9 Richard Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks) rep by 21 Lee Dickson (Newcastle Falcons) 60mins, 1 Neal Hatley (London Irish, captain) rep by 18 Tom Mercey (Saracens) 60mins, David Paice (London Irish) rep by 16 Matt Thompson (Newcastle Falcons) 39-40mins blood then 55mins, 3 John Brooks (Northampton Saints) rep by 17 Jack Forster (Gloucester Rugby) 60mins, 4 Richard Blaze (Worcester Warriors - Tigers as of 2007/08), 5 Jim Evans (NEC Harlequins) rep by 19 Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers) 73mins, 6 James Haskell (London Wasps) rep by 20 Jordan Crane (Leicester Tigers) 52mins, 7 Will Skinner (NEC Harlequins), 8 Phil Dowson (Newcastle Falcons)
 
Scotland A

15 Rory Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) rep by 22 Calum MacRae (Border Reivers) 55mins, 14 Simon Danielli (Border Reivers), 13 Robbie Kydd (Northampton Saints), 12 Nick De Luca (Border Reivers) rep by 21 Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors) 13-20mins blood, then 70mins, 11 Simon Webster (Edinburgh Rugby), 10 Phil Godman (Edinburgh Rugby), 9 Mark McMillan (London Wasps), 17 Craig Smith (Edinburgh Rugby) rep by 1 Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby) 40mins, 2 Fergus Thomson (Glasgow Warriors) rep by 16 Scott Lawson (Glasgow Warriors) 64mins, 3 Ed Kalman (Border Reivers), 4 Andy Hall (Newport Gwent Dragons) rep by 18 Craig Hamilton (Border Reivers) 70mins, 5 Mark Rennie (Bourgoin), 6 Alasdair Strokosch (Edinburgh Rugby) rep by 19 John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors) 40 mins, 8 Johnnie Beattie (Glasgow Warriors), 7 Donnie Macfadyen (Glasgow Warriors, captain).

Unused: Rob Chrystie (Border Reivers)