Wales 19 England 26:FRIDAY NIGHTS are all right, as far as England are concerned. There is a long way to go in this Six Nations Championship but already there is every prospect of Martin Johnson's team being involved in the final shake-up. A first win in Cardiff since 2003, achieved without playing remotely close to their best, is about as good a start as the visitors could have desired beneath the sealed roof of Wales' raucous sporting cathedral.
Warren Gatland, in contrast, will be sweating. Three away games now loom and his side have not won a Test for 10 months. An awful lot was invested in beating the English but, in truth, it rarely looked likely to happen once the initial home fires had been doused.
The visitors took a 10-point lead and, despite a slight second-quarter wobble, they exerted far more territorial pressure. Chris Ashton’s two match-winning tries were neatly finished but they owed much to Welsh generosity.
Perhaps England’s biggest failing was their loss of concentration after they had taken a 23-9 lead with 24 minutes left. Rare space out wide was duly exploited, with Morgan Stoddart twisting over from Jonathan Davies’ pass, ensuring a more tense finale than had looked probable.
It would have been rough justice on Ashton, Toby Flood and the debutant flanker Tom Wood had the outcome been any different, although Wales will point to two early missed penalty kicks which proved costly. Ultimately the hosts were not quite good enough to take the final giant leap, but they did at least salvage some much-needed pride in front of their frustrated supporters.
Wales’ prospects took a dive inside 40 seconds when Stephen Jones came off second best when attempting to tackle Ben Foden. He stayed on but looked unsteady, setting the early tone.
The first scrum collapsed and yielded a free-kick for England, the second headed skywards and produced a penalty for Wales which James Hook could not quite land from 50 metres. When Jones missed a second attempt from virtually straight in front, following a needless ruck penalty conceded by Andrew Sheridan, it was a waste of a promising opening home salvo.
England duly took advantage. Dylan Hartley’s first two throws safely found the outstretched arms of Tom Palmer – proof that pre-match mind games, as indulged in by Gatland, do not always work – and the visitors’s confidence grew accordingly.
Soon enough they worked their way into the 22, where Flood was presented with a yawning gap between the home props. Ashton, as he loves to do, materialised on his outhalf’s left shoulder and cruised over untouched.
A conversion and a subsequent penalty for Flood and England were 10-0 up, having applied the ideal tranquilliser dart in terms of quelling the home crowd.
Jones did punish an ill-advised boot by James Haskell at a ruck, but with his team camped comfortably in the Welsh half, Johnson could hardly have wished for more.
One turnover later it was a totally different scenario – England were so stretched in defence that the secondrow Louis Deacon was sent to the sin bin by Alain Rolland for attempted ball-killing. Jones slotted the resultant penalty and Wales were back within four points with a one-man advantage.
So early in a Six Nations, it was hardly a shock to see both sides blowing hot and cold. By the time Deacon returned to the field, a couple of minutes after the interval, the initiative had swung again, England having been boosted by a second Flood penalty and then having waved off the Wales number eight Andy Powell, a victim of a damaged shoulder.
There was even the faintly surreal sight of England opting for a scrum when Mike Tindall was packing down at openside. The message was pretty clear.
Whenever Shane Williams is around, though, danger will always lurk. It is hard to imagine Wales thriving without him when he departs the international scene but he remains single-handedly capable of lifting an entire nation with a single stride.
It took a good Foden tackle to deny him down the right touchline and, right on half-time, another arcing run and chip from the Wales wing caused momentary red-rose palpitations
They should have been eased by Ashton’s second score, another run-in when the Welsh were reduced to 14 men, following a yellow card for the prop Craig Mitchell, for another ruck offence.
Wales, at this point, were looking about as decisive as Gavin Henson, but England, on the cusp of a triumph, dozed off. Stoddart’s try transformed the atmosphere and it took the arrival of Simon Shaw to re-boot the visiting forward effort. The last few minutes were far from pretty but the white line held firm and a 76th-minute penalty by a certain Jonny Wilkinson, not for the first time, kicked the Welsh where it hurts most.
Next stop is Italy at home, followed by France and Scotland, also at Twickenham. England will hope to progress to a grand-slam showdown in Ireland. From an opposing point of view, there is something of the night about them.
WALES: Hook; Stoddart, J Davies, Roberts, Williams; S Jones, Phillips; James, Rees, Mitchell, A Jones, B Davies, Lydiate, Warburton, Powell. Replacements: Yapp for Lydiate (52 mins), Byrne for S Jones (67 mins), Peel for Phillips (69 mins), Hibbard for Rees (70 mins). Not used: R Jones, Thomas, Priestland. Sinbin: Mitchell (46 mins).
ENGLAND: Foden; Ashton, Tindall, Hape, Cueto; Flood, Youngs; Sheridan, Hartley, Cole, Deacon, Palmer, Wood, Haskell, Easter. Replacements: Wilson for Sheridan (61 mins), Care for Youngs, Worsley for Haskell (both 62 mins), Wilkinson for Flood (66 mins), Thompson for Hartley, Shaw for Deacon (both 69 mins). Not used: Banahan. Sinbin: Deacon (28).
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland).
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