Patchell survives barrage but struggles to make impact

RHYS PATCHELL was the focus of the build-up after Eddie Jones’ stinging attack on him.

The England head-coach told the 24-year-old fly-half to prepare for an English onslaught. Whether or not Patchell had the ‘bottle’ — as Jones put it — was a key theme of the evening at Twickenham.

WILL KELLEHER gives his verdict on whether he wilted or blossomed in the Twickenham rain...

ATTACK

His first touch was performing a lovely loop move with centre Hadleigh Parkes — reminiscent of the George Ford-Owen Farrell move from Rome against Italy. But it was not as well executed. England hounded Patchell throughout. Once, when he dithered in the English 22, he was swarmed by Owen Farrell and Jonathan Joseph. Jones had warned that all Patchell would see were the England centres in his sights. The playmaker made one alarming drop under little pressure on 54 minutes — the ball slipping out like a bar of soap.

ATTACKING STATS

16 passes, 7 runs, 42 metres made, 2 defenders beaten.

VERDICT 5/10

He could not conduct his men to play the right notes as often as he would have liked. This was not the night for the full Scarlets symphony but there were a few bum notes in the wet.

DEFENCE

Poor under the high bombs in the first half as England clearly targeted him as he snuck into the back-field. His first fumble directly led to Jonny May’s first try, when Farrell kicked a superb ball to the left wing.

There were no glaring missed tackles, partly because Patchell was often hidden at full-back when England had the ball.

DEFENSIVE STATS

1 tackle, 1 tackle missed.

VERDICT 6/10

Removed from the front line for most of England’s attacks, so hard to judge him too harshly here.

KICKING

His nudge to the left corner should have led to a Welsh score via Gareth Anscombe. It was a perfectly-weighted dink, but the TMO wrongly denied the try.

He missed one early penalty from 45 metres out too, so a middling afternoon from the boot.

KICKING STATS

1 penalty, 1 penalty missed.

VERDICT 5/10

England won the kicking battle comprehensively. Patchell did not make huge mistakes but was outplayed in this area.