Indeed the forwards tied the ball in so much that there was

Indeed the forwards tied the ball in so much that there was actually very little flat-passing and too little passing of any kind, making it too much of a throwback to the static but successful forward grind of previous seasons.And that, as Jack Rowell is uncomfortably aware, will be inadequate if England are to turn themselves from European champions into world champions. Rob Andrew, by contrast, was given ample opportunity by the Scots' persistent infringement, his 24 points from a drop goal and seven penalties taking him beyond Jon Webb's England record of 296 and on to 317, and also equalling Sebastien Viars's championship record.It could not happen to a nicer bloke, but Andrew looked less at ease with England's flat-passing game than at any time this season. Peter Wright's footwork made him the first Scot to be shown the yellow card and, though Doddie Weir flourished for 40 minutes in the line-out and Rob Wainwright was a trojan figure, Scotland were confined far more to their holding operation than to striking out boldly for victory.Thus Hastings had only three penalty kicks, landing two of them to augment the two drop goals with which Craig Chalmers had started Scotland's scoring. However it was done, Scotland bogged them down so completely that England were seldom able to sustain the best of their rugby.In the end the Scots had almost as many narrow misses as England but were at such a territorial disadvantage for most of the game that the margin could well have been considerably wider. "He plays in a different position from me and might see things differently," Carling said.The captain looked more relieved than enraptured and there is a hard reality for England that more of the same - though the brilliant exhibition by Mike Catt makes him an exception - will not win them the World Cup.

They did what they came to do and that, quite frankly, wasn't very much."The pity of it is that by his remarks Moore diverted attention from the doing of the Grand Slam, the taking of the Triple Crown and the winning of the Calcutta Cup. Hastings, while allowing that Moore was "entitled to his own opinions", suggested his former Lions colleague should have been celebrating instead of slagging.Will Carling, the England captain, stayed out of the contretemps by saying Moore's perspective was bound to vary from his. ."I feel a bit sorry for the spectators because it was set up for such a good game and, to be frank, we were consistently stopped by a side who just wanted to kill the ball all day," Moore said "They just spoiled the game, really. Second, it is both shameless and sanctimonious for Moore to complain when, if England were ever to be placed under a similar sort of pressure, they would undoubtedly respond in precisely the same way.We need look back no further than 1988 and one of Moore's earliest internationals, when England squeaked a 9-6 victory at Murrayfield in a considerably direr match than this and were promptly accused by Derrick Grant, then Scotland's coach, of the very illegalities of which Moore accuses Scotland now Needs must. One Grand Slam - let alone three in five years, the finest Five Nations achievement since the Twenties - is worth a joyous celebration but, in the glum and grouchy aftermath of a sixth successive defeat of the Scots, England contrived to look and sound more as if they had lost.

So much so that it was the losers who somehow sounded the cheerier. "Let's not forget that Scotland have contributed enormously to this Five Nations season," Gavin Hastings, their iconic captain, said. Too right: it is in rugby's wider interest that England do not become so dominant that the championship ceases to be a contest. Thank goodness there is no chance of that as long as the Scots continue to contribute - which is meant as a compliment both to their staggering improvement and to the bravura with which they have sometimes moved the ball. The additional fact that they stopped England playing by any and every means at their disposal is merely a statement of the obvious.That England should have been frustrated, and found it so utterly frustrating, when Scotland went offside or over the top and conceded penalties rather than tries may be understandable but Brian Moore's outburst against "such negative opposition" missed the point entirely.First, England are such a good side that they should really take it as a compliment when opponents resort to negative defensive tactics.

It is yet another sign, however, that ours is a sport on an exponential up.Sponsors are very welcome to come along for the ride It is racing, however, which must be doing the steering.. The crowds at the Festival last week were at record levels on all three days, while at Uttoxeter on Saturday, a 30-year high of 13,000 are believed to have passed through the turnstiles.Small wonder then that Cheltenham is considering expanding the Festival to four days, although with championships in all divisions already in place, it is hard to see quite what is missing at present. The way some television presenters used to talk, for example, you would have though that Ever Ready had sponsored the Derby since the late 1700s.Just as racing should be starting to assert itself, what's more, it has the additional bargaining chip of rising public popularity. We should also remind them that their cash buys co-operation, not subservience. Is it really necessary, for instance, to use a sponsor's name every time a race is mentioned. When football-boot manufacturers seek endorsement, remember, they pursue Ian Wright and Eric Cantona, not an effective but colourless centre-half.Now that racing is waking up to its economic potential, it is time to stop treating sponsors like altruistic great-uncles who take pleasure from giving us handouts. It has speed, athleticism, danger, serious money, triumph and disaster, and, let's be honest about it, an attractive air of loose living.

They need us every bit as much as we need them, a fact which cash-strapped racecourses can easily forget. Indeed, some might argue that they need us more, for racing is an advertiser's dream. The Lambourn-Danka deal was of considerable benefit to all concerned, not least the smaller yards in the area which might otherwise have struggled to find sponsors, or the racing authorities who have an ideal template as they set out to exploit the lucrative possibilities of sponsorship. And if, when the agreement expires in 1998, the Lambourn trainers scratch their heads and wonder how St Quinton picked up such a bargain the first time, he will deserve racing's gratitude for giving the sport a sense of its own worth.The relationship between sport and sponsors is, after all, supposed to be symbiotic. Three weeks ago, hardly anyone knew of Danka's existence, and still fewer were aware of what the company actually did. In less than a month, St Quinton has effectively tackled the first part of that problem. He now has almost three years to address the second.And good luck to him.