If only we’d beaten the English…

By Helen ‘Helzbach’ Davies

Conditions couldn’t have been better for a day of running rugby and it was an electrically charged Twickenham that welcomed the Welsh and English teams onto the pitch for the most talked about and anticipated game in the rugby calendar.

With both teams winning two and losing a game in previous weeks, it was most definitely the hope that the ‘French’ Wales rather than the ‘Irish’ Wales would be the one that turned up for the match.

Wales began the game defending against a typically physical English team and following a lengthy period of advantage it took England just over 5 minutes to score the opening try with Scrum Half Danny Care crossing following a tap penalty which had left the Welsh defence napping. The added conversion from Owen Farrell gave the home side an easy 7 point to 0 advantage.

Conceding a score just after scoring is the worst case scenario, but fortunately seconds later Leigh Halfpenny was able to cut the deficit to 7 points to 3 with a well struck penalty attempt.

A poor kick from England Centre Twelvetrees offered Wales an attacking opportunity in the England half for the first time but poor handling saw the possession return to the English who were for once happy to pass the ball rather than rely on the forward power of the rolling maul.

Wales sniffed the opportunity for their first try following a well-positioned cross field kick from Rhys Priestland. Great handling from Jonathan Davies saw him release George North who unfortunately chose the wrong option in choosing to kick ahead rather than passing to Dan Lydiate who would have almost certainly crossed the white-wash.

England further increased their lead with Owen Farrell’s second kick of the day following the men in red being penalised at the scrum to give them a 10 point to 3 lead, mainly due to the errors in the Welsh game rather than the English’s execution.

Poor play from England at the break down offered Halfpenny again the opportunity to claw back some points almost immediately after conceding. A superb strike from both a tricky angle and from distance saw Halfpenny increase his own personal and his team’s tally to 6 points to England’s 10.

Farrell made no mistake in securing his third kick following Rhys Webb being penalised for not rolling away after his tackle. The Outside Half’s success further extended the English advantage to 13 points to 6.

A break from Centre Jamie Roberts finally had the Welsh on the attack, however an attempted kick ahead from a rusty Jonathan Davies again saw the advantage pass back to the English, but not for long as the see-saw scoring continued with the English being penalised at the breakdown.

Halfpenny made no mistake in punishing the home team for their error to once again cut the deficit to 4 points – 13 points to 9.

An over-throw at the line out offered England a great try scoring opportunity which saw Centre Luther Barrell cross in the corner as ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’ rang out around the stadium. Farrell continued with his 100% kicking record to give the home team a 20 point to 9 lead as Welsh errors became even more costly.

As had been the norm during the match, Halfpenny was soon offered the opportunity to keep the Welsh in touch as he continued his own 100% record to bring the score line to 20 points to 12.

With the half ended, Wales were offered the chance to run into the changing rooms with just a 5 point deficit as he attempted a last kick of the half attempt from just inside the English half. Mr Reliable made it 5 from 5 to give a half time score of 20 points to 15 with Wales possibly being the happier at half time to still be in the game after being totally dominated by a strong English team in the first half. A poor kicking game and wrong decision making could have seen the score board looking considerably worse, however, hopefully Wales would be playing a game of two halves and would run out for the final 40 minutes a different team from the first half one and that coach Gatland would use his bench sensibly!

Initially it was a familiar Wales than ran out for the second half – passing the ball, crossing the gain line and keeping ball in hand saw them immediately deep in the English half.

An error at the line out offered Wales the opportunity to attack, however possession was lost to England and a school-boy error from Rhys Priestland dropping the high ball gave England the advantage.

Poor scrummaging from the Welsh front row offered the home team a penalty and Farrell brought his team two scores ahead with another successful penalty to give a score line of 23 points to 15.

Wales finally had a sniff at a try following a break from Priestland, however yet again possibly the wrong decision making cost the Welsh team with Jamie Roberts choosing to kick for the corner rather than keeping the ball in hand and working through the phases.

Another error from Scrum Half Rhys Webb offered England Full Back Mike Brown another break out of the his own half and back into dangerous territory for the Welsh. Fortunately for the Welsh, but obviously not for Webb himself, an injury saw replacement Mike Phillips arrive to hopefully make a huge impression.

The Welsh nightmare continued as not only was Farrell offered yet another opportunity to practise his kicking, but following several warnings, Prop Gethin Jenkins was yellow-carded to gift England an extra man advantage. Farrell’s successful penalty further increased the home team’s lead to 26 points to 15 as Hooker Richard Hibbard was replaced by Ken Owens.

England Hooker Dylan Hartley was fortunate to still be on the pitch following being penalised for taking Faletau out in the air, his third offence, however, Halfpenny’s sixth successful penalty again kept Wales in the game – 26 points to 18, but not for long as Farrell increased the England tally to 29 points within a matter of seconds as the scoreboard continued to tick over.

A huge kick at the restart saw Wales deep into the England 22, however, not in possession. Another handling error from Rhys Priestland and England were soon back in the Welsh half and looking to score their third try of the afternoon.

With just 20 minutes remaining in the game, the arrival of Dan Biggar for Priestland saw the completion of the change of Half Backs as the eight English forwards took on their seven opposite numbers before Paul James replaced Gethin Jenkins at the end of the sin bin period.

James made a huge impact in his first scrum as England were penalised and a lengthy kick from Biggar saw the Welsh team finally in the England 22 and working through the phases, despite play being very lateral and it seemed that the visitors had finally began to play rugby as it seemed that the replacements were making quite an impetus on the game.

However, it was England that continued with their domination of the game and it took a try-saving from Leigh Halfpenny who bundled Luther Barrell into touch in the corner before he was able to ground the ball for his fourth try in four matches for England.

A poor clearance kick from Dan Biggar offered England the opportunity to continue their attack. A supposed late tackle from replacement Liam Williams for the injured Leigh Halfpenny offered the home team another penalty, however, their kick for the corner only resulted in a scrum for the Welsh.

Despite the huge amount of defending, Wales demonstrated their desire with a Scarlets-inspired run out of their own 22 which saw Ken Owens, Liam Williams and Jonathan Davies all cross the gain line as Wales were finally on the attack. However, they were unable to make any changes to the score board as a superior England, who had outscored Wales by 2 tries to 0 won the Triple Crown and continued their hopes of winning the Six Nations Championship whilst
the current champions’ dreams of winning the title three times in a row were shattered.

With England, Ireland and France all in with a chance of winning the Six Nations, Ireland with the greater points difference, Wales are left mid-table. Next week they face Scotland in the Millennium Stadium hoping to end this season’s campaign with a win.