Match action
THERE is a still a Grand Slam there for the taking, but the opportunity deservedly belongs to Wales, not England, whose aspirations to be the world’s best took a battering in Cardiff yesterday evening.
As Warren Gatland’s side celebrated a new record 12match winning run, England were left to contemplate another Slam opportunity being torched by Wales, who dominated the second-half to overhaul the visitors with tries in the final quarter by lock Cory Hill and winger Josh Adams pulling them clear.
Gatland said afterwards that he told his players that, “we should win today because we have forgotten how to lose”, and his words proved prophetic as they out-thought England tactically, not only winning the territorial battle but surprising them with pickand-go tactics up front – and eventually grinding them down.
Red Rose coach Eddie Jones will be deeply disappointed by the way his side lost their way after having the whip hand over Wales in a brutal first-half, in which they took a 10-3 lead thanks to a Tom Curry try on 25 minutes, and held it until the interval.
At that point the young England flanker was the game’s outstanding figure, giving his side a clear breakdown advantage, but he was gazumped in the secondhalf by Liam Williams. The Welsh full-back completely spiked the England kickchase game which had yielded such rewards in their wins over France and Ireland.
Williams soared for the high ball time and again to win the aerial battle, and as the England half-back pairing of Ben Youngs and Owen Farrell lost their way, Gatland also won the battle of the benches.
Gareth Anscombe had made the most of faltering English discipline, with Kyle Sinckler blotting his copybook with a late block on the fly-half – which only went unpunished because Jonny May had failed to release in the tackle a moment earlier. Anscombe hit the target, and when Sinckler was penalised harshly for a choke tackle in which he did not have Alun Wyn Jones around the neck, he did so again.
With his two penalties trimming the arrears to 10-9, and leading to the immediate replacement of Sinckler, who had made a remarkable 20 tackles for a prop, the Welsh coach’s introduction of Dan Biggar for Anscombe on the hour was typical of his astute marshalling of his resources.
It turned into a masterstroke as Biggar whisked a long pass out to George North on the right wing, and when the big winger was stopped a few metres short Biggar was on hand to play scrum-half. His short pass to Hill, who had taken a shrewd inside line, saw him make a enough of a dent in the tackles of Billy Vunipola and Harry Williams to ground the ball over the line.
Hill’s finish was the crowning moment of a 34 phase Welsh move, and a culmination of an inexhaustible determination to win the battle of the gainline as the Welsh carriers, with Jones, Justin Tipuric and Ross Moriarty in the vanguard, came round the corner of the ruck time and again.
By the time Biggar converted from the touchline to give Wales the lead for the first time at 16-13 there were 13 minutes remaining – but there was no coming back for England. With the Welsh crowd roaring them on, the momentum was well and truly with Gatland’s crew.
When Biggar ripped the ball off Elliot Daly in a high ball joust, the Northampton 10 sensed a weakness to be exploited and, from a Welsh scrum in the England 22, he sent a precision cross-kick to the right wing, where Adams was being marked by Daly.
The Welsh winger climbed highest, and although he could not hold the catch he caught his own deflection, and juggled it before planting the ball over the line. It did not matter that Biggar was unable to convert from the touchline because he had already put the knife into an England side who now needed to score twice in the three minutes that remained –and there was no chance of that.
If ever England needed a fast start it was in his Cardiff cauldron. Having scored within the first two minutes of their opening two games in this Six Nations through May, and having scored within the first five minutes in their last five Tests, they desperately wanted more of the same.
There is nothing like a needle sharp early finish to burst the bubble of expectation, not only in the red-jerseyed men opposite, but also in the massed ranks of Welsh supporters hoping to unsettle England with their ear-splitting fervour.
Before the game, Sam Warburton, the recently retired Wales and Lions captain, exhorted his former team-mates to unsettle England with their defensive ferocity. He revealed in the process that when he led the team they had a very succinct and emotive call for the Welsh to raise themselves to a savage defensive effort. The trigger word was “Violent”.
Nor did you need to be a Tarot-card reader to predict that antagonising Sinckler, the England tight-head described by Wales coach Warren Gatland as an “emotional time-bomb”, would be part of the script.
However, as is often the case in a match of such megawatt voltage not all the circuits lit up as hoped for by either side. England failed to get their fast early
try start, because with Wales matching the visitors for territory and possession there were no clear-cut touchdown opportunities.
Daly, whose long-range kicking is frequently a welcome bonus, was also way off course with an attempt from near halfway which could have given England the lead after four minutes. Farrell also had a momentary lapse of concentration when he had a clearance charged down by Gareth Davies, forcing Jack Nowell into a desperate salvage operation.
As for savage defence, the England defensive line more than matched Wales in the heavy-hitting department, with their captain Jones dumped back five metres midway through the firsthalf a measure of their effectiveness.
England also succeeded in disrupting the Welsh setpiece, with George Kruis putting pressure on the Welsh line-out throw and England winning a scrum penalty for a Rob Evans collapse midway through the half, which Farrell kicked for a 3-0 lead.
Wales were soon back on level terms with an Anscombe reply punishing England’s over-eager blitz defence, but it was the visitors who drew first blood when Courtney Lawes jabbed the ball out of Ken Owens’ grasp in a maul.
The turn-over was moved wide sharply, and an opening appeared at a ruck when Tipuric tackled Youngs but refused to let him up. Quick as a flash Curry summed up the situation, and picked up to nip inside the still prone Tipuric and race ten metres to the line, driving through Williams’ tackle to plant the ball over the line.
With Farrell converting England were well set, and they came close to scoring again when Henry Slade intercepted and he and May launched a dangerous raid down the right flank.
However, after that England’s conviction vanished, and with Williams thwarting their favourite kick-chase weapon, they appeared to have no Plan B.
However, as another English Slam went up in smoke in the Welsh theatre of dreams, a grand view had opened up for Gatland’s side, with Scotland away and Ireland at home the only obstacles to a great Wales coach achieving his third Six Nations clean sweep.