STILL A LOT OF WORK TO DO, EDDIE
England left hanging on for unconvincing victory
THE best action at Twickenham yesterday was on the big screen in the West Stand car park, just outside the Guinness tent. Fans were wowed by France’s try-scoring masterclass at Murrayfield in the early kick-off, before settling into their seats to watch England stutter to victory.
In this new era of bite-sized TikTok videos, the bulk of England’s attacking play could easily be crunched down into a 60-second clip. They were outscored by three tries to one, with their lone score by Alex Dombrandt coming from a botched lineout that should never have stood.
Judging by his distant looks when he appeared on the big screen, young Prince George will not be begging his parents to bring him back for the clash with Ireland.
The scoreline went England’s way but the display did not. They were far from clinical, which was the buzzword of Eddie Jones’s press conference, and almost blew a 17-0 lead. They had ample chances to score tries but often froze in the Welsh 22. Plenty to think about.
Referee Mike Adamson played his part, repeatedly slowing down the play, preventing nippy scrumhalves Harry Randall and Tomos Williams from bursting into life. In the first half, he penalised Wales eight times at the breakdown and provided Marcus Smith with the platform to kick England into an unassailable lead.
England’s forwards won the collisions in the early rounds. Arch powerhouse Manu Tuilagi may have been missing through injury, but the likes of Maro Itoje and Tom Curry ensured there was no shortage of muscle. In the first half, Wales were abject. They looked like the weakest Welsh side to turn up at Twickenham for years, butchering lineouts, shapeless in attack and relying on hit-and-hope charges from born-again Alex Cuthbert.
Yet the hosts failed to capitalise. Lock Charlie Ewels got whiteline fever and England failed to punish Wales when Liam Williams was sent to the sin-bin for killing the ball. Elliot Daly, Tuilagi’s centre replacement, kicked away a promising attack and Max Malins fumbled at the end of a scintillating break. And there was collateral damage, with Curry withdrawing with a head knock and Luke Cowan-Dickie hobbling off with a knee injury.
‘Luke will go for a scan, said Jones. ‘It’ll probably make it difficult for him to play in the rest of the Six Nations, but we’re not sure yet.’
There were flashes of instinctiveness by Smith and a meteoric 50-22 kick by Henry Slade, yet the only try came in the 42nd minute, when Wales hooker Ryan Elias threw a calamitous lineout into the arms of Dombrandt. England’s No8 claimed the ball at the tail with alarming ease, before running over Cuthbert to score. It left Wales coach Wayne Pivac seething, with the replay showing that Itoje had pushed Adam Beard to prevent the lock from competing.
‘He was chased out of the lineout and bumped, which you can’t do,’ said Pivac. ‘From the replay we’ve seen, there was an offence.’
England’s lack of clinicality came back to bite them. A long kick by Liam Williams got the scoreless Wales into England territory. Attacking from the lineout, Wales moved from right to left before Tomos Williams fizzed a miss pass into the arms of Josh Adams to score down the wing. In the closing 20 minutes Wales came alive.
Returning Taulupe Faletau epitomised their never-say-die attitude, pumping his legs through tackles to help build phases. Their pack rode some heavy hits by Ellis Genge, before centre Nick Tompkins spotted a hole to score a second try within minutes. ‘They come home hard,’ said Jones. ‘If they were a race horse, they’d sit behind the pack and when they’re around the turn they start making their run. We tend to get out and try to get a lead, then you’ve got to pin us back.
‘We put ourselves in a good winning position in the first 50 minutes, had a period there 10, 15, 20 minutes where we were a bit untidy in defence and let them back in the game. For a young team, there were some good signs out there. We got ourselves in a lot of good attacking positions and we weren’t able to convert that to points.
‘For a young team, we need to find a way to be more ruthless once we get in the opposition’s 22. We’ve got a nine, 10 and 15 who have played under five caps and we’ve got a No8 who is just out of Cardiff Met University.
‘They’ve got to learn how to handle these situations. A Test match against Wales is a completely different beast to anything you face in your life.’
Ben Youngs entered the contest to help steady the ship on his recordbreaking 115th cap. Smith edged England further ahead with two penalties but Wales struck late through a tap-and-go try from replacement scrum-half Kieran Hardy.
Itoje claimed a turnover at the death to seal a nervous victory.