England battled to earn the 16-14 victory to secure their second win of this year’s Six Nations, despite Wales leading at half-time for the first time ever at Twickenham in the competition.

Wales went into the break with a nine-point lead (14-5) after a penalty try and a score from Alex Mann on his first international start, his second try in two weeks after scoring against Scotland in round one on his debut.

England worked hard to earn five points despite being down to 13 men after yellow cards were shown to Ollie Chessum and Ethan Roots as Ben Earl powered over the line with a strong carry after a close-range scrum. George Ford’s conversion attempt was read well by Rio Dyer, who was judged to have legally charged the kick down as the England fly-half made a slight move in the build-up.

The second half saw England score first as they capitalised on an offside penalty to add three points from Ford’s boot after seven minutes. Their second try followed 15 minutes later as Fraser Dingwall crossed the whitewash on what was only his second cap, and first international appearance at Twickenham after making his debut against Italy the weekend prior.

England moved ahead for the first time in the match with nine minutes left on the clock as Ford slotted the penalty that followed from Mason Grady’s deliberate knock-on and subsequent yellow card to give them the two-point advantage which they carried until the final whistle.

England move to the top of the table with eight points ahead of Ireland on five, who are yet to play in round two and will face Italy on Sunday. In round three, England will go in search of their first Calcutta Cup win since 2020 as they face Scotland at Murrayfield on 24 February, while winless Wales face defending Grand Slam champions Ireland on the same day.

England’s victory required them to come back from being nine points down at half-time, the same deficit they overcome in 2002 against Argentina. It’s the second match in a row when they’ve come back from a half-time deficit to win after doing the same against Italy in round one (14-17).

Two early yellow cards against Wales saw them reduced to 13 men for a period of time in the first half, however they remained largely unfazed and only conceded seven points in that time, and managed to score one try in the process. A try late in the second half saw Wales head into the break with the lead for the first time in Guinness Men’s Six Nations history.

England rallied in the second half to deny Wales any more points, and began their second-half comeback with Ford’s penalty in the 47th minute. Ford went on to win the match with another penalty while simultaneously putting England ahead for the first time in the 71st minute.

A dynamic performance from Earl including a series of strong carries, one of which resulted in a try, saw him awarded Player of the Match, an accolade he also picked up in last year’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Fiji.

The England try-scorer said after the match: “That was a proper test match wasn’t it in terms of getting down to those fine margins, those one per-cent plays. The ball was in play for a long period of time and the boys stuck in and we’re really pleased. We rode it out with 13 men to a certain degree and we were really pleased with our work.

“We just knew we had to keep going with our England way. We’ve been speaking about a bit of an identity as a team and I think we keep building on that. We’re really pleased. We’re trying to impose ourselves in every facet of the game. Whether that’s the kicking game, I thought Freddie Steward today was world class, exceptional.

“We’ve got class operators all over the pitch. In defence, it’s our line speed. I thought for the most part our defence was exceptional. Lastly our attack, we want to evolve our attack, we want to move the ball, we want to stretch teams. I thought we made some really good strides with that today.

“I guess the most exciting bit is that we’ve not really scratched the surface of where we’re hoping to take it. We’ll rest up for a couple of days and then get back to work next week.”

England: Steward 7.5, Freeman 6, Slade 7, Dingwall 8, Daly 7, Ford 7, Mitchell 7; Marler 6.5, George (capt.)7, Stuart 6, Itoje 7.5, Chessum 5, Roots 5, Underhill 7, Earl 8

Replacements: Dan 7, Genge 7, Cole 7, Coles 7, Cunningham-South 6, Care 7, Smith (n/a), Feyi-Waboso (n/a)

Wales: Winnett 6, Dyer 5, North 6, Tompkins 4, Adams 5, Lloyd 5, Williams 5; Thomas 5, Dee 5, Assiratti 5, Jenkins (capt.) 5, Beard 5, Mann 6, Reffell 8, Wainwright 5

Replacements: Elias 4.5, Domachowski 4, Griffin 3, Rowlands 4, Basham 4, Hardy (n/a), Evans (n/a), Grady 2

11′ YELLOW CARD. ENGLAND 0 – 0 WALES (CHESSUM): It’s decided that Chessum could be lower as he makes contact to the head, and he’s sent to the bin for 10 minutes.

16’ PENALTY TRY! ENGLAND 0 – 7 WALES: England deliberately bring a strong maul down and Roots is shown the yellow card.Wales win the seven points!

19’ TRY! ENGLAND 5 – 7 WALES (EARL): 13 players? No problem. A massive carry from Earl from the base of the scrum and he reaches for the line to score England’s first! Ford makes a slight movement in the conversion and Dyer charges him down, well read by the Wales winger there to deny England the extra two points.

37’ TRY! ENGLAND 5 – 14 WALES (MANN): A brilliant score from Wales! Mann gets over on his first start (after scoring last week as well!). Reffell absolutely key with a brilliant carry and offload to Williams, who speeds away with Mann alongside him to score their second. Lloyd adds the conversion after a fantastic passage of play from Gatland’s side.

47’ PENALTY! ENGLAND 8 – 14 WALES (FORD): Ford adds the three points!

62’ TRY! ENGLAND 13 – 14 WALES (DINGWALL): Dingwall scores his first try for England! What a day for the Northampton Saints man! His club teammate Mitchell makes an important break to set up the carrying effort from the forwards before Ford and Daly link up to allow the centre to score out wide on his second cap, and his first international appearance at Twickenham. Ford’s conversion misses, and England behind by a point.

70’ YELLOW CARD. ENGLAND 13 – 14 (GRADY): Grady is shown a yellow card and gives away the penalty for a deliberate knock-on, there is a Welsh defender present to stop the try so there’s nothing more. Ford to take the kick to put England ahead…

71’ PENALTY! ENGLAND 16 – 14 WALES (FORD): With nine minutes to go, England are ahead for the first time!

80’ FULL-TIME! ENGLAND 16 – 14 WALES: England hold on to secure the win! It’s their biggest-ever second-half comeback in the Six Nations, and it took 71 minutes for them to take the lead, but Steve Borthwick’s men take an important victory to make it two from two in the opening rounds. England top the table (for now) with eight points, while Wales drop to fifth with three.

Wales gave away their first penalty of the match in the 41st minute. Not only was it the first penalty in that match, but it was also the first since the 21st minute against Scotland in the round prior.