TWICKENHAM MATCH: England 30 Wales 17: THE DOG days are over for England – at least for the moment. Significant improvement is still required if they are to seize this year's championship by the scruff of the neck but the adrenalin rush of victory in Saturday's Test will surely massage their fragile confidence and self-esteem.
Lady Luck always has a cameo role to play on these occasions and the English embraced the old girl like a long-lost relative.
That was the post-match view of the Wales coach, Warren Gatland, who had seen his side compose their own suicide note thanks to a scattergun lineout, Alun Wyn Jones’s 34th-minute yellow card for a trip and Stephen Jones’s intercepted pass which led to England’s third try. “At 20-17 I thought, ‘We’re going to win this game’,” said Gatland. “England went out to try and play a little bit of rugby but didn’t really have much success with it. On attack they didn’t really put us under a lot of pressure. I thought their gameplan was essentially pick-and-go and box kick.”
Gatland’s disappointment was easy to understand. Neither he nor anyone else will ever know how the hosts, clad in retro cream, would have reacted to falling behind, having led 20-3 after 48 minutes. Then came Jones’s fateful pass, Delon Armitage’s interception, Mathew Tait’s neat reverse flick and James Haskell’s charge for his second try. Without the 17 points conceded by Wales when Jones the lock was in the sin-bin, three missed penalties and a scoring chance which bounced off Tom James’s chest, England’s mood at the final whistle would have been totally different.
From Martin Johnson’s perspective, it was no bad thing that three Welsh Lions, Gethin Jenkins, Matthew Rees and Mike Phillips, were missing through injury. While Paul James did well on the loosehead, the two stand-in Gareths – Williams at hooker and Cooper at scrumhalf – were nowhere near as accurate or influential as they needed to be. With Steve Borthwick and Nick Easter having towering games and Danny Care upping the tempo, England’s ruthlessness against a 14-man opposition was crucial.
Johnson has been around too many Test matches to sympathise with Wales – “We scored those points, they didn’t give them to us, trust me” – but he knows England still have hard yards to negotiate. If both sides looked rusty – Lewis Moody said he had never been so nervous before an international – England’s coaches have pivotal issues to address. Life should be easier if, as expected, Riki Flutey is available to face Italy next Sunday but the contrast in invention between the back divisions raised further questions about Jonny Wilkinson’s presence at outhalf.
This was the trademark latter-day Wilkinson display, with deadly goal-kicking and defensive solidity set against some mixed tactical punting and precious little in the way of subtle midfield prompting. It is a trade-off most club coaches would settle for but it questions England’s aspirations. If they really do want to play unpredictable rugby with the handbrake off they may well have to revisit the Jonny debate. As Danny Cipriani proved against Ireland two years ago and James Hook hinted here, even the best defences can be wrong-footed if they are unsure what is coming at them. That is increasingly not the case with Wilkinson and those outside him are being stifled accordingly.
“In the past if you went 11 points down to England here you’d expect England to run away with it,” said Gatland, pointedly.
Then again, defence wins championships and England continue to be solid in that respect. Only when Adam Jones, ignoring Shane Williams on his outside, outpaced his opposite number, Davey Wilson, and Hook’s eel-like elusiveness took him past another prop, Tim Payne, did the Welsh choirs begin to clear their throats. It could have been one of the great Six Nations finishes had another mazy run by Hook yielded a try for James, a flailing arm from Wilkinson distracting the big Cardiff man with the line at his mercy.
Gatland suggested the referee, Alain Rolland, should have requested a television replay but wingers who chest balls over the line can hardly claim daylight robbery. Instead it was Haskell, having scored from close range just prior to the interval, who applied the coup de grace with five minutes left, leaving a relieved Johnson to be cautiously optimistic about the future. “The mood of the guys was not euphoric but satisfied,” he said. “It’s important we turn up again next week.”
Guardian Service
ENGLAND: D. Armitage; Cueto, Tait, Flood, Monye; Wilkinson, Care; Payne, Hartley, Wilson, Shaw, Borthwick, Haskell, Moody, Easter. Replacements: Hipkiss for Flood (77 mins), Hodgson for Care (76 mins), Thompson for Hartley (60 mins), Cole for Wilson (60 mins), Deacon for Shaw (70 mins), S. Armitage for Moody (76 mins).
WALES: Byrne; T James, Hook, J Roberts, S. Williams; S Jones, Cooper; P James, G Williams, A Jones, A Jones, Charteris, Powell, M Williams, R Jones. Replacements: Halfpenny for T James (65 mins), R. Rees for Cooper (68 mins), Bennett for G Williams (54 mins), B Davies for Charteris (54 mins), Thomas for Powell (68 mins). Sin Bin: A Jones (35 mins).
Referee: A Roland(IRFU).
