England’s 16-14 win over Wales ensured the hosts remain unbeaten at Twickenham in the Six Nations against their neighbours for over a decade. 

But for all the celebrations, it was a muted affair post-match for England, given the performance. 

Things started off strongly, but discipline quickly cost the men in white, and from that point, they never got their momentum back. 

In the end, the experience within the England squad paid dividends as they managed to ride out the Welsh storm and come away with a valuable win. 

It was far from perfect, but for now, it’ll do for Steve Borthwick. 

Recap

The pressure was always going to be on England to deliver early and it seemed they would answer the call, as the men in white rampaged towards the Welsh line in the early exchanges. 

However, that pressure amounted to nothing and soon, frustrations in Twickenham began to boil over as fortunes turned, first when Ollie Chessum was shown yellow for a high hit. 

Wales then capitalised on the man advantage by marching towards the English line, setting up a rolling maul metres from the try-line. 

The red wall thundered over the line, and Ethan Roots was ruled to have pulled it down – a penalty try to Wales and yellow for the England flanker followed. 

The hosts reacted well to being a man down, reducing the deficit with a thundering Ben Earl carry off the base of a scrum, the Saracens back rower finishing with three tacklers on his back. 

The games looked in the balance for a while until Tomos Williams was unleashed into space and offloaded to Alex Mann, who crossed over to give Wales a strong lead at the break. 

The second half started slowly, with the only initial points coming from George Ford’s boot. 

Both teams had their chance to capitalise off territory, but both faltered until England found themselves deep in the Wales 22 with just under 20 minutes left in the game. 

After sustained pressure from forward carries, the ball was spread wide to Elliot Daly, who juggled possession before unleashing Fraser Dingwall, who crossed over in the corner. 

With only a two-point advantage, pressure fell on England, with Wales hammering away with consistent phases around the fringes. But in the end, England was resolute enough to come away with a narrow win. 

Tale of the Tape

Wales were made to rue their missed opportunities as, for the second week in a row, they lost a game by less than five points. 

For much of the first half, they showed composure and capitalised on English mistakes. 

But when the pressure was placed on their shoulders, and they needed to score, they fell short and failed to deliver the spark to break through the English line. 

For England, it was a similarly mediocre affair as they struggled to maintain possession for much of the game. 

Their staunch defence was what won them the game, but their inability to produce sustained attacking moves will be a cause for concern moving forwards.

Key Facet of the Game

Test match rugby revolves heavily around the breakdown. The speed with which a team can attack relies upon consistent rucking, and for the majority of the game, Wales were demons over the ball. 

With their dominance, England were forced to rethink their strategy of attack and proceeded to rely upon their blitz defence to run down space and fluster the Welsh backfield. 

While at times the strategy failed, it did deliver fruit as England were able to pacify two sustained Welsh attacks at the end of both the first and second half. 

Had Wales been able to score off those possessions, the game could have looked a lot different. 

Player Of The Match

In a match where few players stood out, Ben Earl made sure to rise above the rest and show his class. From the off England, number eight put in the work at the breakdown and brought the physicality to the contact area. 

Earl was one of the only players to make an impact in both attack and defence, but in truth, his crowning moment came when he peeled off the back of a scrum in the Welsh 22, carried past three tacklers and reached his arm out to score England’s first try of the game.