Six Nations - Wales pushed close by England

Eurosport - Mon, 16 Feb 07:57:00 2009

Wales equalled the Six Nations record for eight consecutive victories with a pulsating 23-15 win over England in Cardiff.

Mike Phillips - Wales - 0

The victory moves the defending champions to the top of the Six Nations table and keeps alive their hopes of a second Grand Slam.

England were much improved from their below par victory over Italy last week but again suffered from poor discipline, playing 60 minutes of the game with 14 men after again having two men sin-binned.

They also managed to score two tries to Wales' one through Paul Sackey and Delon Armitage, but Wales were always ahead on the scoreboard and deserved a third consecutive victory over their old rivals.

Wales, whose one try came from Leigh Halfpenny just after the break, were superior with the ball in hand and in periods of the opening quarter looked set to run England off the park.

But England, with recalled flanker and man-of-the-match Joe Worsley (pictured right) immense in defence, somehow kept the Welsh from crossing their try-line until after half-time and it was the boot of Stephen Jones that kept the home side ahead.

Stephen Jones landed five penalties to go with another from Halfpenny, punishing England for a series of infringements that will have had manager Martin Johnson fuming.

Wales again used their powerful centres Jamie Roberts and Tom Shanklin to try and create holes in midfield, but with Worsley tackling everything that moved the strategy was less effective than against Scotland last week.

Mike Tindall, recalled to the England midfield, was the first in the sin bin and his infringement allowed Halfpenny to kick Wales' second penalty which put the home side 6-0 ahead in the 16th minute.

Stephen Jones made it 9-0 soon after, but within a minute England were back in the game. Riki Flutey made a dancing break in midfield, and when the ball came back Mark Cueto fed Andy Goode on the inside and the fly-half's kick ahead was touched down by Sackey, who beat Mark Jones to the ball.

Goode landed a drop goal on the half-hour to make it 9-8 and although Wales went close through Halfpenny, England's defence kept the score to within a point at the break.

The 10 minutes after the restart changed the shape of the game as England saw another man in the sin-bin and Wales scored 11 unanswered points.

Almost from the restart Wales extended their lead with another Stephen Jones penalty after Goode was penalised in a last-ditch tackle on Halfpenny.

Quick hands from Ian Gough and Adam Jones then put Lee Byrne clear down the right and the full-back fed Halfpenny for a free run into the try line.

Jones added a fifth penalty for Wales when England's backs were caught offside and at 20-8 Wales were in control.

Toby Flood came on for Goode and gave England's attack more snap and within three minutes of his arrival Armitage took advantage of weak Wales tackling to break clear and sprint under the posts.

Flood added the conversion to make it 20-15 and England were back in it, only for indiscipline to allow Wales to again extend their lead.

When replacement Tom Croft was penalised in front of his own posts with less than 10 minutes left, Stephen Jones kicked his fifth goal to give Wales some breathing space.

Almost immediately Flood had a chance to make it a one-score lead when impressive Wales skipper Ryan Jones failed to roll away in a tackle.

But Flood pulled his kick at goal and although England continued to press, Wales' defence held out fairly comfortably for their second win of the championship.

Terence O'Rorke / Eurosport

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  1. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    From laboca123, on Fri 20 Feb 12:03PM

  2. LMAO at you both...If you had won, you and the other­ English gobshites (who have obviously crawled back­ under their respective rocks) would be banging on about­ it ad nauseum, but because you lost, you try to bring­ up all the other sports that England are­ "good" at (tiddlywinks, trainspotting etc.)­ As for us being jealous of you...talk about spin!
    Am I­ milking this? Too bloody right! As if you wouldn't­ be...
    Right, you'll be pleased to know that I'm­ going to leave you two to your intimate chats about­ anything and everything that clearly doesn't­ include rugby union any more (for some bizarre reason).

    From Gez, on Fri 20 Feb 9:00AM

  3. No I went to the opening game. But the only other game­ i tired to get tickets for was the England V France­ game and they're sold out. Besides, I was in­ Amsterdam working on my birthday so I have some­ partying plans to catch up on. lol

    From sadie s, on Thu 19 Feb 7:36AM

  4. Hi Sadie, Yeah I know your right. Are ya goin to any­ games this weekend?

    From laboca123, on Thu 19 Feb 12:38AM

  5. My god Gez. You really are boring... Laboca, why do you­ bother? he's just looking for an argument. Ignore­ him and he might crawl back under the rock he came­ from. I'm sorry Gez, you are not worth the effort­ it would take replying to you. Yeah you won. congrats.­ Now its time to move on and stop harping on about it.

    From sadie s, on Wed 18 Feb 9:58PM

  6. LOL@Lee yeah i know. bloody french

    From sadie s, on Wed 18 Feb 9:55PM

  7. My point is Gez, is that we are overall better than­ Wales at most things. Yeah your better at your national­ passion , FOR NOW. Its true that little countries are­ always jealous of their big neighbours. Get over it!­ Come on the cricketers!

    From laboca123, on Wed 18 Feb 8:44PM

  8. Oh Gez dear boy..We in england dont really give a rats­ arse about union as much as you Welsh people.

    From laboca123, on Wed 18 Feb 8:41PM

  9. Aw, Sadie. And there I was, thinking it had all gone­ quiet because...you lost. So much for all that bravado­ bull that you and yours were spouting last­ week.

    Laboca: if you knew anything at all about the­ history of the sport, you'd know that League has no­ place here in Wales. It's been tried and tested,­ but it cannot get a foothold here. Long may that­ continue (and trust me, it will). And as for it being­ more skillful: now you really are showing your­ ignorance. It's all about brawn and has no­ finesse... head down and charge, get tackled six times,­ then kick the ball away. Yes, really exciting. Yawn...

    From Gez, on Wed 18 Feb 7:02PM

  10. Wasps fan eh? the way that the mass exodus is­ developing, you may have to dust off a pair of boots­ and wait for the phone call from Ian McGheecan!!!

    From Lee R, on Wed 18 Feb 1:13AM

  11. I Like a few clubs. but i have to admit...... growing­ up where i did and the family connection I like­ Blackheath. Wasps and urghhh St Helens. lol

    From sadie s, on Tue 17 Feb 10:02PM

  12. Sadie, do ya like rugby league? I think its more­ exciting than union. We played Wales in october.­ England 74 Wales 0 Do ya think we should gloat a­ little? haha

    From laboca123, on Tue 17 Feb 8:59PM

  13. Evening Sadie, Yeah your in a good part of the world to­ be a sports fan. I guess your a wasps fan right?

    From laboca123, on Tue 17 Feb 8:52PM

  14. Hey Gez, guess what? you beat us at rugby,­ congratulations and all that. I tell you what mate ,­ how about England and wales play each other at a few­ different sports and see who comes out on top.­ Football, Rugby league( far more skillful than union),­ Cricket, athletics, Tennis, and so on. Bet you guys­ lose mate

    From laboca123, on Tue 17 Feb 8:51PM

  15. Gez? why do you feel the need to come on this post when­ its peacefull and start @#$% again? I'm curious?­ You really are a s.h.i.t stirrer

    From sadie s, on Tue 17 Feb 7:35PM

  16. Hey Sadie. Any idea what's happened to your mate­ Emma? So much for us getting "mashed" by your­ boys and my "not showing my face on here after the­ game". LOL!

    From Gez, on Tue 17 Feb 7:06PM

  17. LOL@both of you. I know im somewhat of an oddity. But I­ love sport and growing up in SE London, Well you can­ imagine I have quite a few teams to select from. But­ always been a Gooner @ heart. Never been to a game­ though, I have been to England Football and Rugby­ games.

    From sadie s, on Tue 17 Feb 6:50PM

  18. A gooner ?????? I thought that was someone who made an­ ugly face with a tyre round their neck!!!!!(P.s. that­ was an attempt at humour and not reflective of an I.Q.­ somewhat short of plankton).I have no round ball­ allegiance, however,if I was pushed to choose it would­ have to be the team that shares the hallowed turf of­ the Liberty Stadium with the legendary rugby team that­ is the Ospreys! That is of course the Swans, otherwise­ known as the team that will put Fulham out of the F.A.­ cup!.

    From Lee R, on Tue 17 Feb 5:16PM

  19. Hey sadie, your a gooner huh? you must have enjoyed­ seeing your team destroying a welsh club.

    From laboca123, on Tue 17 Feb 4:06PM

  20. LOL. ok no problems. But on another note...... Didnt­ Arsenal do well???? yes you have guessed im also a­ Gooner

    From sadie s, on Tue 17 Feb 2:51PM
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