sport

Success for England Knights

England Knights maintained their 100 per cent record with a 62-24 win over Scotland at Meggetland to lift the Alitalia European Cup.

The Knights were was forced to make late changes after Shaun Lunt and Luke Gale withdrew due to injury, with Michael Lawrence struck down by illness, but the new-look team wasted no time in picking up from where they left off in last week's 56-4 victory over Ireland.

Scotland opened the scoring after only five minutes when prop Mitch Stringer barrelled his way over following a powerful run from winger Alex Hurst.

David Scott added the extra two points to give the home side an early 6-0 lead.

But London Broncos half-back Dan Sarginson quickly levelled for the visitors, taking advantage of an offload by loose forward Mike Cooper to score the first of his two tries.

Centre Rhys Evans, winger Jodie Broughton and prop Scott Taylor also scored two tries for the visitors, with prop George Burgess, stand-off Jordan Turner and winger Keiran Dixon also touching down and Turner kicking nine goals.

Stand-off Lee Paterson, second row Brett Phillips and debutant Craig Borthwick scored Scotland's other tries and Scott kicked three more goals.

"It's great to get the first bit of silverware on board for this group," said England Knights coach Keiron Purtill.

"There were some very good performances out there today and it was pleasing to top that off with a trophy.

"It's the first trophy I've won as a coach and the first for the Knights as a group and you could see that a lot of the lads out there really enjoyed that experience.

"They've put a bit of pressure on the next group of Knights coming through - we talk about setting the standard for the next groups to follow and they've certainly raised the bar.

"We were unfortunate during the week to lose Shaun Lunt and Luke Gale to injury and Michael Lawrence to illness and that probably disjointed us a little in our preparation but the lads pulled through together and showed great spirit.

"A special mention goes to Ben Currie, who came on board late and showed the right attitude and the right spirit to be involved and that's been a key factor in this group."