Six Nations - Wales beat England in Twickenham thriller
Wales won their first Six Nations match at Twickenham since 1988 and sealed the Triple Crown with a dramatic 19-12 victory.
In a see-saw battle that could have gone either way, England were denied a last minute try and the chance to draw level as David Strettle was adjudged not to have grounded the ball in his dive for the try line after a full three minutes' deliberation from the video referee.
Leigh Halfpenny's brilliant last-ditch tackle stopped the winger half a yard short, and he could not ground the ball on the second effort.
Five minutes earlier Scott Williams touched down for the winning score, completing a stirring Welsh comeback from 12-6 down. Warren Gatland's added England to the scalps of Scotland and Ireland and stand two wins away from completing the Grand Slam.
Wales started like a steam train and caught England cold. George North found a huge gap down the middle and would have been under the posts but for a great tap-tackle from Chris Ashton.
Aside from a near interception from Strettle, Stuart Lancaster's men spent the majority of the opening quarter camped in their own half, Wales notching up phase after phase of possession. They should have made it count, but Halfpenny pushed an easy penalty wide.
It was the escape England needed and the pack began to gain parity, giving Dixon the freedom at the base of the scrum to bring the backs into the game. Great interplay between Ashton and Manu Tuilagi led to England getting the first points on the board thanks to an Owen Farrell penalty but Wales levelled through Halfpenny with Mouritz Botha adjudged off his feet.
Further sustained pressure from England saw Farrell feed Tuilagi and the Leicester man looked for all money to be in the corner but for the tackle of the tournament by Sam Warburton, taking the centre's legs from underneath him. Many questions before the game centred on Farrell’s playmaking ability at ten but the 20-year-old looked like he had been playing there for England for years, setting up another attack at the Welsh line with a fantastic chip and gather. Two further penalties to Wales’ one saw England a slender 9-6 lead at the break.
If the first half was breathless, the second began at a more cautious pace and Wales were the first to blink, Botha charging down Priestland’s kick and gathering the ball, only for the Welsh fly-half to intervene in an offside position and go into the sin bin.
Despite their 12-6 lead and man advantage, England failed to make their advantage tell. Indeed, it was Wales who came away with the points after some concerted possession play. A further Halfpenny penalty levelled the scores and with eight minutes remaining, Wales scored the decisive and only try as Williams ripped the ball from substitute Courtney Lawes’ grasp and chipped ahead to gather and score under the posts.
Still England weren’t finished and launched wave after wave of attack with the clock showing 80 minutes. From yet another penalty, Mike Brown, on for Ben Foden, found Strettle in space but a despairing Jonathan Davies tackle did just enough to disrupt the grounding and settle a breathless match in the visitors’ favour.
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I was very proud of our boys for the win and am Welsh through and through, but some of the comments on here have left me flabbergasted. Rugby is supposed to be the sport that unites people from all nations not create rampant xenophobia. Yes I love it when we beat England, but come on now the accusations of racism and abuse towards opposing fans are greatly over exaggerated; as rugby fans don't we all look back upon the great Lions teams of the seventies with pride and admiration? Welsh, English, Irish, Scots playing and fighting side by side. I am well aware of injustices of the far away past towards the Celtic fringes, but it's a sad day when we have so called fans deriding the other teams nationhood over a game of rugby.
England were clearly underdogs for this one, but the manner of England's play in the light of the previous RWC fiasco and behind the scenes events at RFU show England have managed to put alot of that behind them in a comparatively short period of time, true wales played very well, but most thought Wales would win by a bigger margin, which is a sign of the rapid improvement under Lancaster, exciting game, result not paramount I think most English were just heartened by the exciting free-flowing rugby we played and good defence, North very impressive for Wales, but England as a unit seemed much more in tune, than for many years, encouraging for the future, Ireland and France will be stern tests!!
Never in doubt, men amonst boys, even playing well below their usual standards Wales still beat AT TWICKENHAM, an England team that everyone said was playing well above their standard!!!. Very worrying for the English management. They will be lucky to get anywhere near their last two opponents, France and Ireland!!!
Enigma, you have just about got it right.
Good grief there's some childish stuff on here! I thought rugby fans were above all this! It was a good game with a bit of controversy at the end. Wales were good enough and England were better than I thought they'd be. Simple really!
England team vastly improved,David Strettle - plonker, English press deluded, Wales ...winners!!! Enough said.
"YES" what a great game!!!------much closer than I thought, but still a win and the slam beckons.
England did improve much in that game, wales did not play that well, they seemed to lack structure at times but still came away with a win at twikenham, they were a man down but still scored all the points from there!! Wales now have that mental toughness, which at one time they probably would have crumbled that all great teams have when they're down but can still come back and win, the all blacks did it in the world cup, France threw everything at them and yet they were able to pull through and get a win!!--- and that is what it's about at this level, winning, winning is everything, win ugly-win pretty but that big ole W up there means a win is a win!!!
The opposing fans can bemoan all they like but it won't change the score line, ( AND THAT IS A FACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
England must now go on from there and prove they can play well consistantly, and it was not just a one off.
England most of the time are victims of their own media with rugby journalists now threatening to take their ball home, because the so called disallowed try really was a try, and they've got the "PROOF", (just like the fake moon landings, or the extra gunman on the grassy knoll, or the aliens that recently landed in my back garden, although why they always immediately proceed to shove a probe up someones backside i'll never know) (sic). But even if it wasn't it should have been cos it would have beeen much fairer if it was, the ref, and all the line judges were all biased because they weren't English, and if they were given a 10 point head start at the beginning as they should of had, because Wales were favourites, then it would have been a much fairer game, then England could have won by a couple off points and it would have made it all okey dokey!
This was a fantastic boost for the game of rugby.
For my money I thought the English backs shaded the Welsh in terms of penetration. Farrell looks the best out half in the NH for some years. He was really something special.
Ref was a bit odd. That sending off was really peculiar- The English player wasnt actually tackled with the ball- he had already passed! Certainly a penalty but a yellow card? The Pofs in box seemed of same opinion
Then the tipping of Warburton in line-out. You do not fall on your head if no-one interferes with you.
England definitely look good. Wales can do better
12-19 enough said. oh by the way our welsh team are younger than that english team
Well played Wales the best Team won!!
BOB B - Spot on with our observations. As a England supporter, Rugby has to be the winner and it makes me wonder at some of the comments being made.
Good luck to Wales in the remaining matches.
Have they found foden yet?
Still dont know where he was for the Welsh try
any time piggy i hope you behaved your self the weekend sweetie , and hey is that right ashton slept right through the game .
Ahhhh thanks Terry, your such a sweetie.
one real good thing came from the wales v england game and it has made me really proud to be a neighbor of the english, and that is not one english player ended up in court this week , so they must be improving a little because they all seemed to have behaved them selves , so well done england i am very very proud of you ,10 out of 10 for behavior
very good.
David 699, i think you need to check out the facts before commenting and then you wouldn't be embarressing yourself so much.
When England are not quite at their best, no one ever mentions their best players are southern hemisphere visiters to these shores who claim residenency to play for England, when there are more players in England than all the remainder of playing Nations.
I guess the only thing that I was dissapointed with on Saturday was WALES allowing themselves too be dragged down to Englands level after the first 10 minutes or so. But give England credit, they played amazingly well and better than the team they had at the world cup. The wins against Scotland and Italy means they avoid the wooden spoon and Lancaster should take some credit for that.
Wales should know by now how too - put away - these lesser teams, in the same way Australia, NZ, South Africa and Englands World Cup winning team would do. Still some way to go for this young Welsh side. They need to play at a 100% and not the 60% they did on Saturday.
Anyway, whatever is said about the game, the score stands at... England 12 : WALES 19
England has nothing rubbish yet again. England cant last 6 months with a decent team before it gives up. England has not played well for more than 6 months for 8 years now. I have no faith in England. Playing international Rugby is for England is game by game now, 1 result at a time. No thought of progres what-so-ever. Over the last 8 years England has lost any foundation it had as a unit. From the RFU to the subs bench. England the glass is broken. Lancaster is not the answer he is 15 in defence and hope for a mistake type manager.
Just a quick reminder to A and anyone else accusing the English of 'whinging', all through the world cup we had to listen to your moaning about 'the kick that went through the post but the touch judges didn't give it' and 'Warburtons sending off'. What is that saying about kettles and pots?? Although you would like the English fans to be devestated the truth is we're not, we're all extremely happy that England are buiding to a promising future. Do not confuse the English fan with the English media, they dont speak for the genuine fan.
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