Rugby union: more woe for England, joy for Wales
It’s fair to say that Wales entered this year’s Six Nations with expectations riding low, said Stephen Jones in The Sunday Times. A team in a “period of rebuilding”, having endured a wretched 2020, their only realistic hope in this tournament, some felt, was victory over Italy. Yet three rounds in, Wayne Pivac’s side are now favourites to take the title. Having already beaten Ireland and Scotland, they secured a “wonderful” 40-24 victory over England last Saturday at Cardiff to secure the Triple Crown. “It was a helter-skelter, madcap, shapeless match that summed up the unreality of the Covid period,” said Paul Rees in The Observer. After Wales opened up a 24-14 lead, England responded with some of their best recent rugby and levelled the scores as the match entered its final quarter. But then the visitors’ all-too-familiar disciplinary failings re-emerged, and they conceded “three needless penalties”, handing the Welsh a comfortable victory.
Wales have undoubtedly ridden their luck this tournament, said Tom Cary in The Daily Telegraph. Both Ireland and Scotland had players sent off against them, and on Saturday they benefited from some woeful refereeing – notably a bizarre incident early on when Pascal Gaüzère, having ordered Owen Farrell to talk to his players about ill-discipline, then restarted play before they were ready, creating an easy opportunity for Wales to score.
England’s complaints over the refereeing are justified, said Oliver Brown in the same paper. Yet what can’t be denied is that they’re a side in a “curious funk”, and need to rediscover their discipline and fluency. Some are questioning the position of head coach Eddie Jones, but this is premature. During his five-and-a-half years in charge, England’s win ratio has been 77.4%, a figure that’s the “envy of the world”. It’s too early to talk of his departure.