England, the Churchill Cup holders, will be looking to Canada to defeat Scotland A on Wednesday if they are to progress in this year's tournament.
A change of branding to England Saxons did nothing for the national shadow side as they were beaten 13-7 by Scotland A in Toronto, constant rain confounding both sides' attempt at running rugby. In a reprise of this year's Calcutta Cup match the England pack dominated up front, especially in the scrums, but the backs showed little guile and Simon Danielli's late try proved crucial.
Earlier in the second half Jon Callard's side scored a penalty try when the Scottish pack collapsed a scrum and the Scots had to survive some ferocious pressure in the closing minutes. "That was massive, we didn't want to give points away to England, and certainly not at the end," the Scotland A coach Steve Bates, a former England scrum-half, said. "For a group to come together for essentially two or three trainings and perform on this level was huge."
England's captain, the London Irish scrum-half Paul Hodgson, who ended the match with a bloodied broken nose, said: "I can't fault the boys' effort - it was outstanding. We had a lot of possession and territory and the game was definitely there to be won, but we didn't take that opportunity. We were inches away from scoring at the end but that is irrelevant. We didn't, and lost. We just have to pick ourselves up - there are still another two games to go and we can make amends."
Ireland A beat the United States 28-13 with tries from forwards Shane Jennings, John Fogarty and Neil McMillan plus a late score from the wing Andrew Maxwell. The Irish now have a week to prepare for a powerful NZ Maori side aware that victory will book them a place in the Edmonton final on June 18.
Wales's coach Gareth Jenkins confirmed that Nick Macleod of Cardiff Blues is joining his squad for the two-Test tour of Argentina, after Hal Luscombe was forced to withdraw with a rib injury. Luscombe was due to fly out to South America alongside his Newport Gwent Dragons colleagues Nathan Brew, Rhys Thomas, Luke Charteris, Ian Gough and Jamie Ringer, but was injured during the Heineken Cup play-off against Overmach Parma on Friday. Macleod was called back from a summer holiday in France and flew in to answer Jenkins' call yesterday.
