LUATUA’S JOY AT FIVE STARS
JONES NEW DEAL TALKS After last year’s meltdown, Sinckler refused to rise to the bait this time to deliver a mighty masterclass
BRISTOL made it five Premiership wins in a row for the first time in their history when they beat Harlequins 28-15.
Skipper Steven Luatua said: “To achieve that milestone is really special but we do have a great group of players here.”
A strong burst and delightful off-load from man-of-the-match Luatua gave Luke Morahan his first try after only 50 seconds.
The wing then added a second before Chris Vui also touched down. Callum Sheedy added three penalties and two conversions.
Aaron Morris and Gabriel Ibitoye crossed for Quins.
Brett Herron kicked a penalty, with Marcus Smith converting.
Used his pace to cross for England’s second try in left-hand corner Anthony Watson Over calf injury at last, he was a handful from the moment he crossed Manu Tuilagi Deserved try brought house down – but saw red for reckless charge Owen Farrell (capt) Emotionally over the edge at times, super cool with flawless kicks Jonny May
Brief afternoon’s work ended in aerial collision with Halfpenny George Ford Controlled game from stand-off, fast hands put in Daly and Tuilagi Ben Youngs
His box-kicking was hot & cold but sharp inside pass for Watson’s try Joe Marler
Strong scrummaging meant Mako Vunipola was not missed
Jamie George
Hit his lineout targets consistently & helped dominate the scrum Kyle Sinckler
On his best behaviour. Furious but controlled – just how he is wanted Maro Itoje
England’s player of the tournament. Annoying to play against
George Kruis
May have been his final game for England – did not let anyone down Courtney Lawes Important cog in the England forward machine. Bruising Mark Wilson
Recalled but toughed it out to top England’s tackle charts
Tom Curry
Ferocious defensive afternoon but let Curry revert back to flanker
Slade (May 8) 8, Cowan-Dickie (George 57) 7, Launchbury (Kruis 57) 6, Genge (Marler 66) 5, Ewels (Lawes 66) 6, Heinz (Youngs 70) 6, Earl (Wilson 76) 6, Stuart (Sinckler 77) 6
EDDIE JONES will open talks with the RFU this month on a contract extension which will make him the longest-serving coach in England history.
Jones (right), whose deal ends next year, wants to go through to the 2023 World Cup.
That would see him overtake Sir Clive Woodward, who was in charge for seven years.
The Australian will sit down with RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney having strengthened his
Leigh Halfpenny Lion-hearted under the high ball as always, but at fault for Daly’s try George North
Fluffed early chance as he spilled ball near line. Not the force of old Nick Tompkins Punched above his weight in contest of high-impact collisions Hadleigh Parkes Usually reliable but not on Saturday when his hands let him down Liam Williams
Could not find any wriggle room. Ran out of steam and replaced Dan Biggar
Patched up, he fought a great fight and was rewarded with late try Tomos Williams Energetic display at scrum-half until he was surprisingly replaced Rob Evans
Endured a tough afternoon against England’s big hitters Ken Owens Heartbeat of the Wales pack but handed the tricky lineout gig Dillon Lewis
Forced off with ankle injury. High work-rate from the tight-head Jake Ball
Scrapped hard against powerful England front five until forced off
Alun-Wyn Jones Battled until the end of his 138th Test for Wales but could not turn tide Ross Moriarty Industrious and direct in an overpowered Wales pack
Josh Navidi
Picked for breakdown threat. Great shift to go the distance
Justin Tipuric
Fine support work to finish off two Wales tries. One of a kind
REPLACEMENTS: Brown (Lewis 40) 5, Webb (T Williams 46) 7, Carre (R Evans 57) 5, Shingler (Ball 57) 7, Faletau (Moriarty 57) 8, McNicholl (L Williams 66) 6, Elias (Owens 75) 6 hand with England’s first Triple Crown in four years after victory over Wales.
“We’ve got dinner organised in a couple of weeks so we may be able to chat about it,” said Jones, who took over in December 2015. “It must be his shout. I’ll take the Triple Crown. “Over the last 12 months we’ve won at 80 per cent. That’s a pretty good team. If we can knock that up another 10 per cent we’ll be a great team.
“That’s the challenge.” year
KYLE SINCKLER wore a contented smile after a frantic England-Wales dust-up peppered with ferocious intent and tackle trouble of varying descriptions.
Try as they might, in a feisty game which saw Manu Tuilagi sent off for a high challenge on George North and Joe Marler put an unorthodox squeeze on Alun Wyn Jones, Wales had been unable to coax a rise out of him.
Instead, the reformed rebel contributed 17 tackles, a dominant scrum performance and had a significant hand in England’s helter-skelter victory.
After his meltdown in Cardiff a year ago, the rematch represented a form of closure for Sinckler.
And the England prop opened up afterwards with remarkable candour.
He said: “It was sink or swim because if I didn’t change then I wouldn’t have played for England any more. I cost the team a Grand
Slam. At that time my ego was bigger than this room. I really enjoyed being that villain – the bad boy of English rugby.
“I was just very angry. Very, very angry.
“My issues were never anything to do with rugby – rugby was always my canvas – it was always stuff outside of rugby.
“At the time you feel like being the tough guy is grabbing guys and being in their face and saying certain things and wasting energy.
“But that’s not actually being a man and being tough. A man just gets on with it and is in control of his emotions, gets on to his next job, is never flustered.
“It was funny, actually, because the same kind of situations were happening in terms of holding me down this time and someone stamping on me when I was getting up, or certain things said, but it had no effect.
“I am so focused now and so dialled-in on what I need to do for the team to be successful. Now if you target me, that is wasting energy on me. If two players are on top of me, that’s sweet because then there will be two fewer guys in the defensive line.”
Sinckler dedicated Saturday’s game to the launch of his