Key events
In the final analysis two key moments decided it. First was Lloyd’s dither on his own line that allowed Itoje to hit and win a scrum five that Earls scored from, and then the imperious 50:22 by Ford to set up the platform for Dingwall’s try.
Wales are not a great team, but they should take heart from it being so close given I have socks older than their captain.
Here’s Robert Kitson’s report from Twickenham. Thanks for joining us.
In the end England’s bench looked fresher and stronger and Wales couldn’t muster a single point in the second half. That was enough to win at home for Steve Borthwick’s men.
This was two very average performances at best, however. Ireland won’t be too troubled looking on.
FULL TIME! England 16 – 14 Wales
80 mins. England take a scrappy victory by two points as the whistle peeps to end the match
79 mins. A chip is angled towards Dyer who rises to claim it near the touchline but is forced into touch by Ford. It looked like the Welsh winger was played in the air, but the ref isn’t interested
79 mins. Loads of phases from Wales who do nothing but go backwards. They look absolutely knackered. They’ll need to somehow go from their own 22.
77 mins. Wales have the ball just in the England half and they’ll have to win it with fourteen men as Grady still has three minutes to go in the bin.
75 mins. But that wish from Wales for possession is not to be as England move into the visitors’ half with the ball. The phases are gathering but it’s Reffell to the rescue again as he clamps on to win a penalty at the ruck.
73 mins. All the basics are started to fray at the edges for Wales as the lineout is called not straight. However, there’s a lifeline from the scrum as England are pinged for a feree kick for engaging early.
Wales could do with the ball in a meaninngful way at this point
PENALTY! England 16 – 14 Wales (George Ford)
71 mins. It’s in front of the posts, it’s three points and it’s England in the lead for the first time.
YELLOW CARD! Mason Grady (Wales)
70 mins. Trouble for sub Mason Grady here as he flaps at an England pass and knocks it on. It was deliberate and denied an overlap so he’s given his marching orders for 10 minutes.
No penalty try as it was a long way out and there was Welsh cover.
69 mins. Wales have some possession around halfway that is busy but unproductive. Steward claims the inevitable kick before Ford creams a beatiuful 50:22 to give his side a lineout in Welsh territory.
66 mins. A poor kick from Lloyd is gathered by Slade to put England back on the attack in the Wales half. A few phases later and Ben Earl puts in a dynamic carry to get them on the front foot in the 22. It’s starting to look worrying for Wales but North puts in a massive counter-ruck to steal possession back.
TRY! England 13 – 14 Wales (Fraser Dingwall)
62 mins. Archie Griffin is on for Wales and in his first scrum he concedes a penalty. England catch and drive the lineout and free the ball to carry into the Wales 5m zone and begin inching further with each carry.
The red defence is all sucked in so the ball moves left via Daly to Dingwall who is visibly delighted as he dives over in the corner for his first international try.
Ford misses the conversion and we are in for a very tight last half hour or so.
58 mins. Josh Adams caps a personally difficult few minutes by failing to field a regulation catch, the ball spurting forward to give England a scrum on the Wales 22.
56 mins. A lovely miss-pass finds Winnett on a fabulous line that breaks the England blitz. He feeds Adams who flies into the 22 but can’t find and inside pass as the home defence scramble and get among the red shirts, blocking the options. The attempted offload spills forward and the chance is gone.
54 mins. A long time is taken to complete a scrum, which it’s safe to say Wales are milking the time a bit. The ball finally emerges for Mitchell to find touch.
Archie Griffin and Ryan Elias replace Assiratti and Dee for Wales.
50 mins. Genge and Cole are on for Marler and Stuart in England’s front row.
49 mins. The England blitz is a conundrum that Wales very clearly have a plan to get around, and the latest incarnation of it is Lloyd cross-kicking to Dyer who immediately chips it forward for Winnett to chase. The fullback is well positioned to gather it but the ball rolls into touch. Not this time.
PENALTY! England 8 – 14 Wales (George Ford)
47 mins. Wales work the ball to Adams from a deep scrum and the brilliant clearing kick by the winger is ruined by Tompkins running offside in front of the kicker. Infuriating if you’re Welsh
Ford calls for the tee and adds three points.
44 mins. The lineout possession from England is eventually worked all the way to Daly’s left wing, but a stern hit from Winnett covering across bumps him into touch short of the line. Good defence from the young fullback, and that was better from England, even if not exactly terrifying for the Welsh defence.
42 mins. The scrum was where Wales’ biggest issue was in the first half as they look to engage quickly to nullify they home pack. The latest scrum has then penalised around halfway and England will have a decent lineout position to attack from.
That was Wales’s first penalty.
SECOND HALF!
Ioan Lloyd kicks deep to Steward and the second forty commences.
But what can England do? Well, the pace of the attack in the opening 10 minutes was causing Wales problems and choking the territory also. Getting back to that would be a start, and also not allowing the wheels to come off the discipline again.
Wales will be delighted though and if they can ride out the inevitable early pressure in the second half, this could be on!
“Hi Lee,” chirps John Rogers, “Before this Six Nations began, many a Guardian writer predicted a new, exciting England. (One of you predicted Ireland to come 4th in the tournament!) So what gives?”
1. None of those writers were me
2. I believe rugby journalists have sometimes been wrong
8% of that half was played in the England 22, and yet look at the scoreboard. I feel this reflection sums up the type of game we have.
HALF TIME! England 5 – 14 Wales
40 mins. Dyer chips the ball to touch to end an interesting half!
TRY! England 5 – 14 Wales (Alex Mann)
38 mins. Some intricate moves on the left side of the field from Wales sees the ball offloaded and moved before an inside pass sets Tomos Williams off on a support line. As the scrum-half bears down on Steward he feeds Mann who gallops in from 15 metres.
Lloyd converts.
36 mins. Wales nick and England lineout on the Welsh 10m line, which has the visitors back in possession on the halway line. There’s very little progress so Lloyd calls for it and despatches it upfield.
35 mins. George North has a nostalgic giant carry in midfield, putting his side on the front foot. But as has been the story of this half, Wales are uncertain and imprecise at the ruck, which means the possession is slow to reach the next phase, and the player who receives it on that phase is marmalised by the England midfield blitz.
33 mins. And so it came to be for Wales as the ball limply spills to England for Ford to boom it away from trouble
31 mins. Wales are up to twenty phases around the England 22; they’ve made very little ground as they play into the England blitz and there’s a danger they will smash their energy on the rocks of the white cliffs of the home defence to little avail.
28 mins. Steward comes to claim a box kick but it bounces off his chest and Wales are on it and moving it left. Alex Mann pops up in midlfield to float a pass to Winnett who puts in a kick for Dyer to chase. Ford is first to it in the 22, but can only boot to touch and invite Wales to attack again.
26 mins. A cute short lineout by England close to their line is muffed as the ball is lost forward in contact. This presents a brilliant scrum platform for Wales, but it’s wasted due to early engagement by Assiratti.
This game has not gone the way they opening 10 minutes suggested. At all.
23 mins. Wales have a lineout 10 metres out from the England line, which is won again by Wainwright but a hit from Ford dislodges the ball. Knock-on by Wales.
Ollie Chessum is back on, then immediately leaves for an HIA. Alex Coles in on in his stead.
TRY! England 5 – 7 Wales (Ben Earl)
19 mins. Ioan Lloyd dithers under his own posts and that’s all the opportunity Itoje needs to powder him with a huge hit to tie up the ball and win a scrum. Ben Earl picks and goes from the base and drives through three Welsh bodies to reach out and score.
Rio Dyer then charges down the covnersion as Ford moved sideways before moving forward after he was set to kick! George Ford is not happy, but the ref allows it and he’s absolutely correct to do so.
IT’S ALL HAPPENING!
YELLOW CARD! Ethan Roots (England)
The ref identified Roots as the collapse culprit and he’s off! England have 13 men for a few minutes.
PENALTY TRY! England 0 – 7 Wales
16 mins. Wales have a lineout in the England 22, which is caught handliy by Wainwright and the maul gets moving off the tail. The mass of red shirts is moving quickly to the line but collapses. The ref immediately calls penalty try!
“What can a tall man do?” asks Henry C. “The yellow card is absurd! Ollie went as low as he could. All the much shorter prop had to do was bend down into contact and hey presto, a yellow card!!”
I think what the lawmakers want any height of player to do in that situation is learn to let the first man in complete the tackle as Underhill was clearly doing there – therefore not creating the risk of head contact as the second man in?
14 mins. From the penalty, Wales get a decent maul going before Lloyd calls for the ball and creams a cross-kick towards Josh Adams’s right wing. The ball bounces just over the winger and into touch.
As we wait for the lineout the ref confirms the Chessum card will remain a yellow.
YELLOW CARD! Ollie Chessum (England)
12 mins. But, in back play, the TMO has spotted that Chessum had caught Kieron Assiratti on the head with his shoulder. It looks similar to what Willemse’s first card was for last week: second man in driving into the head of the ball carrier.
The ref agress and the lock is off for at least 10 minutes while the bunker has a look.
11 mins. The ball is used by Mitchell from the base of the lineout and short pop pass is bounced off Slade’s hands with the line begging. Lloyd mops it up and feeds Dyer who gasses away from trouble on his own line and up to the 22.
If Wales can get through this period of relentless England pressure, the confidence may grow. It’s a big ask, though, as England are back on the ball and back on the 22.
8 mins. Ford pins a kick back into Wales’s 5m and while the red lineout is far more reliable than last week, the maul they create from the possession is throttled by the England forwards to win a turnover. The home side have a scrum very close to the Wales line.
6 mins. Very high pace to the game and specifically England’s use of the ball so far, and the latest zippy attack sees Daly breaking into space and angling a kick into touch deep in Wales’s half.
Elliott Dee navigates a difficult lineout throw and Tomos Williams clears to touch. However, England will simply come back at them from a lineout.
4 mins. England win the lineout, but after a couple of phases Tommy Reffell puts in a trademark clamp-and-win turnover penalty. The pressure is cleared via Lloyd’s boot.
2 mins. A tidy recovery of the kick-off by Winnett is wasted as next possession the red defence allows Steward to slalom his way through them. The visitors scramble with intent, and Rio Dyer covers a kick that he can only run into touch close to his own line.
KICK OFF!
George Ford send the ball to the air to get us underway.
A word for Holly Davidson running the line, becoming the first woman to officiate a men’s Six Nations game
The teams are in the tunnel, young captain Daf Jenkins at the head of the Wales line, while Jamie George leads out his nation at home for the first time.
The anthem lineup is formed and we’ll soon have some rugby.
An email from Guy Hornsby
“Well this could be a cracker, Lee. England seemingly wanting to play with more risk, especially in defence where there’s a new blitz method that’ll clearly take time to bed in. Italy exposed it but we got better.
“Wales almost have nothing to lose and feel they can score points after last week. I think it’s good to have the same XV, and I hope we can get Freeman into the game. England should win, and will have better skill on the bench, but they need to keep Wales out and 15 on the pitch.”
Pre match reading dept…
I’ve made it clear I think a Wales win is unlikely, albeit not impossible. Feel free to vehemently disagree via email or on the X thing.
Teams
As you were for England, as Borthwick seeks to build consistency of personnel and performance.
Warren Gatland has made wholesale changes for the visitors. In the forwards, an entirely new front row comes in while Alex Mann replaces the injured James Botham. Tomos Williams and Ioan Lloyd start in the half-backs after their leadership of the comeback a week ago and George North returns in the centre.
ENGLAND Freddie Steward; Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Fraser Dingwall, Elliot Daly; George Ford, Alex Mitchell; Joe Marler, Jamie George (capt), Will Stuart, Maro Itoje, Ollie Chessum, Ethan Roots, Sam Underhill, Ben Earl.
Replacements 16 Theo Dan, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Alex Coles, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Danny Care, 22 Fin Smith, 23 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
WALES Cameron Winnett; Josh Adams, George North, Nick Tompkins, Rio Dyer; Ioan Lloyd, Tomos Williams; Gareth Thomas, Elliot Dee, Keiron Assiratti, Dafydd Jenkins (capt), Adam Beard, Alex Mann, Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Cai Evans, 23 Mason Grady.
Preamble
The last time Steve Borthwick rose from the head coach’s seat at Twickenham his walk was soundtracked by a cacophony of boos after a pre World Cup defeat to Fiji. After that difficult afternoon England reached the semis of the big tournament, including vanquishing the islanders in the return fixture in France. Borthwick would probably point out his team is developing still and (mostly) wins when it matters. They need to win today.
Despite their 26 point near comeback last week, Wales remain a team with issues. Significant player turnover, either from retirement or injury, has resulted in a squad of callow experience with too many members still to demonstrate whether they are good enough for this level. Gatland’s mitigation of this risk was the rudimentary gameplan that failed spectacularly in the opening forty minutes v Scotland and while the second half was great fun, how reliable a strategy is “chuck Ioan Lloyd in at 10 and give it a lash”? We may find out today.
England didn’t have it all their own way v Italy in their opening fixture, and they are still bedding in a new defensive system under new defence coach Felix Jones. However, in front of a home crowd with an unchanged side, against a Wales team in the midst of a very difficult transition anything short of a win and that familiar sound of booing could ring out once more.
