Brown switches position to aid England triumph

From the Salisbury Journal, first published Friday 3rd Mar 2006.

THE fledgling international career of former Salisbury RFC colt Mike Brown continued to go from strength to strength as he played a key part in another Six Nations victory for the England under 21s.

Moved from the wing to his favoured position at full-back, Brown was in his element, setting up the try which opened England's account against Scot-land at Falkirk.

Playing with a brisk wind at their backs in the first half, the Scots cleverly used the tricky conditions to help them punt the ball upfield, forcing England to give chase and spend much of the time out of their own half.

Brown found himself targeted by the Scottish kickers and was at full tilt keeping the hosts at bay.

However, it was he who launched England's first effective counter-attack, taking a clean catch and setting off on a blistering run.

He carried the ball 50 metres, evading three tackles before offloading the ball to scrum-half Ben Folden, who had a simple run in under the posts.

It proved a valuable try, with England under continual pressure for 40 minutes, just about managing to hang on to a slim lead and going in at the break 17-15 up.

After the restart, they took charge and, playing with the wind, exploited the weaknesses in the Scottish defence to run out comfortable winners, 49-22.

Mike said: "I had a lot to do in the first half as the Scots used the wind to their advantage, pinning us back.

"We spent far too much time defending and trying to play ourselves out of trouble.

"In the second half we seemed to get our act together and started building some phases of play.

"It was particularly pleasing to be able to silence the crowd who were very partisan and gave us plenty of abuse during the first 40 minutes!"

The England under 21s are now preparing to face one of the toughest tests of their Six Nations campaign away to their French counterparts and Mike is again hopeful of selection for the crunch match.

He added: "We will have to be very focussed.

"This is the game we have always seen as our biggest obstacle to securing the grand Slam.

"We'll have to raise our game if we want to win this one."

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