 Ellis tormented Scotland's defence |
England head coach Brian Ashton praised scrum-half Harry Ellis and his forwards after his first game in charge ended in a convincing 42-20 win over Scotland. "That's the best game I have seen Harry play in an England jersey," he said.
"Full marks to him and also full marks to the guys who played in front of him by gaining the upper hand over the Scottish forwards the way they did.
"I'm reasonably pleased. I'm delighted with the win and margin of victory. But I wasn't happy with our discipline."
Ashton felt his men had kept Scotland in the game by "giving away too many penalties, especially soft ones."
"But I am pleased with the way we picked up the pace of our driving game," he added.
"That opened up a bit of space for Jonny Wilkinson and Andy Farrell to orchestrate the players around them."
Ashton admitted he was surprised Scotland did not choose to attack his match-rusty and raw midfield pair of Wilkinson and Andy Farrell.
"I thought they might run at us more, seeing as we had a brand new midfield," he said. "They did try to exploit our back three but not our midfield defence as much as we thought."
With few injury concerns from the game, Ashton hinted he is unlikely to tamper with his team too much ahead of Italy's visit to Twickenham next Saturday.
"This is a team that needs to grow together, so don't expect too many changes unless we have to make any," he added.
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Highlights: England 42-20 Scotland