Starting the 2015 6 Nations off with a bang, Wales and England are set to attempt to bash one another to death in Cardiff. Will an injury-depleted England be able to keep up with a very strong Welsh side in the Dragon’s Lair?
England 21 – Wales 16
The match kicked off with a fired-up Welsh side playing classic Gatlandball going one-off, same-way and also straight down the field. Wales would proceed to bully England at the ruck and in general play on both sides of the ball, forcing some rushed kicks by George Ford.
The underbelly of the dragon would be exposed at scrum time with Gethin Jenkins and to a lesser degree, Samson Lee, being turned over by their opposites. Some heroics by Talupe Faletau off of a crumbling scrum would lead to Rhys Webb running in the first Welsh try.
England were throwing it wide fairly quickly attempting to attack in three or four man pods down the sidelines. Wales generally managed to contain the English out wide and push them back towards the center of the field – until Mike Brown saw Leigh Halfpenny enter the defensive line a moment too early and snuck a chip kick into the Welsh try zone for Anthony Watson to dive on.
Wales and England would continue to exchange blows with Wales dominating the ruck and open play, while England had the Welsh scrum capitulating almost on demand. As England were beginning to look as if they’d turn the momentum, George North would be taken off with possible concussion after catching a boot to the head while diving onto a loose ball (he would return 8 minutes later).
Dan Biggar would continue a remarkable performance by closing the half with a drop goal after more of the same and some moments of loose possession by both teams. As the teams retreat to the sheds it feels as if Wales are still well in control, but England are staging a fightback for the second half.
A fightback was absolutely in the works. England would come roaring back in the second half and would begin giving Wales a taste of their own medicine in open play. Coupled with their set piece dominance, Wales would struggle to regain their feet for the remaining 40 minutes.
The Welsh lease on space inside of the English 22 seemed to have expired over halftime and in fact, England would begin to spend long spells playing within the Welsh half. One of these spells would be a Herculean 14-phase effort that culminated in the dancing feet of Jonathan Joseph getting him around Dan Biggar and through George North to touch down.
The right post of the uprights would come between James Haskell and another English try. Shortly after, an Alex Cuthbert yellow card would leave Wales stranded further out at sea.
As the half progressed the English maul would spring to life as well, having fizzled out a few times in the first half. It seemed that everything was going England’s way – an entirely different team had come out of the tunnel after the half. Wales would struggle to find their feet for the scoreless remainder of the half.
The game would end a bit poetically with an English maul forming out of a choke tackle just outside of the Welsh 22. Winning away at Cardiff will be a huge feather in the hat of Stuart Lancaster’s squad as the open their Six Nations account. Warren Gatland’s men will be wondering what went wrong that caused them to lose their dominance in such a shocking manner.
The Wrap Up
Wales started this match very strongly and in spite of slip-ups at the set piece looked like they were comfortably in control of affairs. They will rue an inability to convert possession and territory into tries, settling for penalty kicks on a couple of occasions in the first half.
England were a team reborn in the second half and put Wales under enormous pressure for nearly the entire half. Once Jonathan Joseph’s try put Wales in a position to chase the match, it was all but over. It’s something that this Welsh team has struggled with in the past and they weren’t able to break the duck this evening.
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The Game Changer
Jonathan Joseph’s try was the game-changing moment for me. England had been dominating for the opening minutes of the second half but needed to put points on the board to solidify their lead.
After 14 phases, plenty of which had even gone backwards, Jonathan Joseph used his dancing feet to sneak over the Welsh line and dot down for George Ford to convert.
This put Wales in a position they have struggled to recover from in recent years and consistent English pressure after this point lead to Wales digging themselves further and further into their own grave.
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The G&GR MOTM
For mine, it was hard to look past Billy Vunipola for MOTM after the 80-minute shift he put in. He came storming out into the second half and lead the charge for England time and time again. Put in some big defence and was part of crucial turnovers late in the match that sealed Wales’ fate. He seemed at the heart of everything the English pack was doing during key moments in the match.
Honorable mentions go to the entire English front row and their replacements. The scrum dominance England experienced helped to keep them within reach during the first half of the match while the injection of their reserves was another nail in the coffin of Wales during the second half.
Dan Biggar was influential for Wales but has had better tests in the past year.[/one_half]
The Details
Score & Scorers
[one_half last=”no”]England 21
Tries: Watson (’14), Joseph (’43)
Conversions: Ford (’45)
Penalties: Ford (’31), Ford (’61), Ford (’78)
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[one_half last=”yes”]Wales 16
Tries: Webb (‘7)
Conversions: Halfpenny (‘8)
Penalties: Halfpenny (‘1), Halfpenny (’23),
Drop goal: Biggar (’40) [/one_half][one_half last=”no”]
Cards & citings
Alex Cuthbert – Yellow Card (’60)
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Crowd
74,500
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The Teams
England
1. Joe Marler, 2. Dylan Hartley, 3. Dan Cole, 4. David Attwood, 5. George Kruis, 6. James Haskell, 7. Chris Robshaw, 8. Billy Vunipola, 9. Ben Youngs, 10. George Ford, 11. Jonny May, 12. Luther Burrell, 13. Jonathan Joseph, 14. Anthony Watson, 15. Mike Brown.
Reserves: 16. Tom Youngs, 17. Mako Vunipola, 18. Kieran Brookes, 19. Nick Easter, 20. Tom Croft, 21. Richard Wigglesworth, 22. Danny Cipriani, 23. Billy Twelvetrees.
Wales
1. Gethin Jenkins, 2. Richard Hibbard, 3. Samson Lee, 4. Jake Ball, 5. Alun-Wyn Jones, 6. Dan Lydiate, 7. Sam Warburton, 8. Talupe Faletau, 9. Rhys Webb, 10. Dan Biggar, 11. George North, 12. Jamie Roberts, 13. Jonathan Davies, 14. Alex Cuthbert, 15. Leigh Halfpenny.
Reserves: 16. Scott Baldwin, 17. Paul James, 18. Aaron Jarvis, 19. Luke Charteris, 20. Justin Tipuric, 21. Mike Phillips, 22. Rhys Priestland, 23. Liam Williams.
