Killer blow: Scott Williams touches down
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A solo try from Scott Williams in the 76th-minute handed Wales a 19-12 Six Nations victory over England at Twickenham on Saturday and with it the Triple Crown.
The replacement back's breakaway try at the death put Wales into the lead for the first time in an enthralling battle after England had led 9-6 at half-time.
There was tension right up to the final whistle however as England wing David Strettle crossed after the final hooter but television match official Iain Ramage adjudged there to be insufficient evidence that he managed to ground the ball.
While Stuart Lancaster's team will be bitterly disappointed by the narrow defeat, the young side can take encouragement from their best performance of this year's Six Nations.
Wales meanwhile remain on course for the Grand Slam, with home games against Italy and France still to play.
Wales did most of the early playing but England opened the scoring in the 24th minute when Owen Farrell split the uprights. It took Wales less than two minutes to reply as Leigh Halfpenny landed his second attempt at goal to level the scores.
After a slow start England were growing in confidence and looking dangerous. A brilliant tackle from Sam Warburton denied Manu Tuilagi a try but Farrell was able to restore the hosts' lead with another penalty around the half-hour mark.
A beautiful strike from long range by Halfpenny drew Wales level once again as the game began to grow in pace and the big hits continued to rain down.
England would head into the changing rooms in front however as Farrell made it three-from-three on the stroke of half time.
The second period started terribly for Wales as Rhys Priestland was charged down and then shown a yellow card as he tried to make amends by preventing an England try by jumping the gun at the breakdown on his own try-line.
Farrell duly added three more but Halfpenny restored the status quo before Priestland's time in the sin-bin had been served.
Farrell missed his fifth attempt at goal before being limping off to be replaced by Toby Flood but Halfpenny was on target with nine minutes left on the clock to leave the scores locked at 12-12.
Williams then turned match-winner, ripping the ball off Courtney Lawes and chasing down his own kick to score, before Strettle was denied at the death.
Man of the match: There are a number of candidates with Owen Farrell belying his young age with another cool performance. Manu Tuilagi made an impressive return to the English midfield but Wales skipper Sam Warburton gets the nod after a top show. A try-saving tackle on Tuilagi in the first half was just one of countless hits.
Moment of the match: The 81st minute. David Strettle dives over. He is rolled over by Jonathan Davies and tries to ground the ball behind his head before it is pushed back over to the wrong side of the line. Does it graze the surface? The TMO looks at it from every possible angle. It could go either way. Twickenham waits...in vain.
Villain of the match: N/A
The scorers:
For England:
Pens: Farrell 4
For Wales:
Try: S. Williams
Con: Halfpenny
Pens: Halfpenny 4
Yellow card: Priestland (Wales - 45th min - professional foul)
England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 David Strettle, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (capt), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Courtney Lawes, 19 Phil Dowson, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Mike Brown.
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (capt), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Alun-Wyn Jones, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Richard Hibbard, 17 Paul James, 18 Ryan Jones, 19 Justin Tipuric, 20 Lloyd Williams, 21 James Hook, 22 Scott Williams.
Venue: Twickenham
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Pascal Gauzere (France)
TMO: Iain Ramage (Scotland)
Comments
Ramage says...
Commiserations APV1 whilst Wales were somewhat lucky they kept at it for the whole 80 minutes including the scramble that put doubt in the mind of the Scottish TMO, Ramage, who lives in England. The fact the rosary beads were out and I was saying many Hailies for Wales I hope you noted the name of that TMO. Is it a coincidence? Anyway one thing for sure I believe the English did read the Welsh game and when this team especially the back line have some more outings together there is the hint of some improvement on the horizon. I enjoyed the game and to all those who believe it was a try I say again the Welsh put enough doubt into the mind of the TMO to cause the denial.
Posted 06:24 26th February 2012
Jediboy says...
As an Englishman I'm obviously disappointed we lost. However my overriding emotion is that of happiness and positivity.
Yes we lost, but that was a great performance by a 'new' England side against a more experienced and settled Welsh team.
I wonder if when the dust settles, England will be happier than Wales. After all, England were supposed to get humiliated by Wales and that didn't happen. Not by a long way. Will Wales be left wondering if they are as good as they thought they were??
However, great game and well done to both sides. Especially England.
Posted 06:05 26th February 2012
hayj05 says...
It's done now but really the try should of been awarded & I wanted Wales to win. Yes it's a difficult one but surely he gets benefit of the doubt because there is no Welsh player getting under his arm & he doesn't lose the ball.
Who knows the conversion may have missed anyway but Wales should feel very thankful for that decision.
Posted 01:15 26th February 2012
Hermes says...
I didn't see Strettle getting the ball down at all so where is the clear try some people are talking about. Advantage was clearly over once England had the try scoring opportunity. The real story of the endgame was Halfpennys heroic tackle! Watch it again he put all he had into it and was not able to get up afterwards. That team will go far with commitment like that.
Posted 23:58 25th February 2012
jontheref says...
chubbylugs
Also why was the game stopped by the tmo, when England were playing penalty advantage?
TMO cannot stop the game, he can only reaxt to what the ref asks.
Walsh was consistent onhis advantage, Waleshad one, he played and wales were turned over, about to score.
He palyed the same way at the end.
It was as tight a game as I predicted, and would willingly have taken a draw 6 minutes out.
Dross about standard of play, and France (who England and Ireland stillhave to play) getting the grandslam are premature to say the least.
Good performance from England, I wonderif they can match it against France and Ireland and do us a favour!
Good to see melkdave finally realises, it is whatis on the scoreboard matters, even if there was some luck!
remember, like NZ you have to make your luck, if onlywe could emulate them more often.
Posted 23:47 25th February 2012
tafflad says...
Not our best game but to play below our own standards and still win I will take that. England played well and I didn't expect anything less from them on their own turf.
Fitting though that it took a bit of individual brilliance to separate the the sides. How can people say it was a try at the end? there was only one angle that showed the ball possibly grounded but couldn't tell if it was over the line. The rest of the TV angles clearly show an arm under the ball when it was over the line before he was pushed back into play. So the tmo got it dead right. I will be recalling the moment of individual brilliance as the moment of the match not a obviously non try.
Posted 23:37 25th February 2012
Wheelieb says...
As a neutral, I thought better team lost this one.
I agree, I thought strettle scored but was surprised didn't go back for penalty. Wales had a lot of infringements at end also, Walsh was slow with cards. The call for a penalty try when priestland was carded is a bit much though. Eng will be favorites for ireland match, just what we want.....
Posted 23:22 25th February 2012
thewalker says...
Think it was a case of Wales having a bit of an off day and England played out off there skins as for the try it wasnt one
Posted 23:18 25th February 2012
any1buttheABs says...
Great game, even though we lost, Congrats Wales, Try at the end ? maybe, maybe not ! some decisions go your way some don't. Happy to see England play like they did.
First time I looked at the clock 30 minutes had gone by, felt like 5 minutes, more of the same next game please.
Posted 22:35 25th February 2012
DampAardvark says...
Two really good sides I thought. No humiliation for England as many were predicting. The French are good too so I think there's some good rugby potential around in Europe at the moment. I must say i thought Lancaster made some substitution mistakes today and this didn't help to settle the side in a second half where England started to get out of shape somewhat. Ashton needed to be replaced after 60mins (or earlier?). Youngs still making too many errors and not adding anything. Don't know why he came on.
Posted 22:33 25th February 2012
Westy10 says...
Deserved win-great effort from both sides.
A couple of things:-
Why was priestland binned when he was no-where near off?
How did strettle have downward pressure with his arm under the ball?
Any player knows he had lost control of that.
Saying that, Farrell was class and will be an awesome player. Play him at 10!
Warburton won Wales the match, wat a legend!
Posted 22:33 25th February 2012
richardjones says...
Can i just say, as a welshman, wales were not the true winners today, and neither were England. Our Beautiful sport was the true winner. Ive just come in after a few pints out in my town of Llanelli, and witnesses men in red shirts, and white shirts, sharing a pint, and deliberating the rights and wrongs of the game, all good humored, good banter. For gods sake there is another game tomorow in another sport between an English and Welsh side where they cant even play the national anthems for fear of violence. Long live the 6 nations, and long live the true sport of gentlemen!!!!
Posted 22:25 25th February 2012
Dingbat32 says...
Ignoring the probable England try at the end (I thought it was good), Wales got away with murder again. Penalty after penalty given and only the one yellow card. That said, if England had a vaguely competent scrum then they could have forced a penalty try or two from these penalties.
Fake suntan running into Walsh's eyes?
Great game though
Posted 22:25 25th February 2012
pembs says...
That is the worst Wales will play,but the best england will play
Posted 22:01 25th February 2012
lawynd says...
Well done Wales, not the best performance I've seen from you and England did well to stop the midfield, but you came up with the big play when it mattered.
Now that I've got that out of the way, Steve Walsh should be taken outside and put out of his misery. I'm not in the habit of criticising referees, but several key decisions were completely and utterly wrong. I can forgive the TMO for not awarding Strettle's try as, even though I thought it was down, it wasn't 100% conclusive on any of the replays, but why did we then not go back for the penalty? England should have at least been a penalty try to the good from Priestland's deliberate foul play, and I could have sworn that deliberately batting the ball into touch was a penalty offence, which North did to prevent Strettle chasing the cross-field kick. There was also the Jonathan Davies knock-on and Adam Jones binding on the arm all afternoon.
That said, England shot themselves in the foot at times; quite why Farrell kicked the ball back to Wales during the sin bin I'll never know, and that was the dumbest penalty ever conceded by Stevens near the end. The substitutions were also a mystery - Youngs ruined the tempo and Dowson was yet again anonymous. Still, an overall far more impressive showing than seen previously and I think a firm tick can be given in the 10, 12 and 13 combination box. Props also to Geoff Parling for improving England's lineout and for his carrying and tackling, and I thought Croft had his best game for a while, some big hits, a couple of steals at the lineout and ruck and good work in the loose too. Overall, I'm a happy bunny.
Posted 21:40 25th February 2012
jamiec says...
The TMO¿s decision was correct. Even if the ball did touch over the line (which it did'nt) there was no downward pressure, so no try. Great scramble defence by the Welsh youngsters.
Posted 21:17 25th February 2012
jamiec says...
Superb and fully deserved Welsh Triple Crown. For a young Welsh team to go to Twickenham and keep their cool under so much pressure, with an England team with no particular expectation ¿ immense.
Posted 21:13 25th February 2012
bad_robot says...
Good game all round. In the confusion at the end there, I think Walsh may have forgotten that he'd given England a penalty advantage about three plays earlier right on the line, I doubt that he would have called advantage over.
Posted 21:00 25th February 2012
Tq45 says...
I thought I watched two evenly matched teams - Wales were lucky but I think on small margins these games are won and lost. Never did believe the hype, England were at home and and won 2 away games.
There's no conspiracy regarding Strettle's try, yes could have gone either way, but then the ref could have also spotted the two English knock ons in the build up to the charge down, binning and penalty sequence.
Posted 20:56 25th February 2012
kissed_punt says...
Congratulations to Wales, a deserved win.
Re the "try" at the end, refer to last week's "the good, the bad and the referee": quote:
"downward pressure is required when a player is trying to make a touch down in-goal, but is not in possession of the ball. ... When a player is in possession of the ball no pressing down is required, only contact with the ground"
Stretttle was clearly in control, but even if given the conversion would have been difficult, so the result probably wouldn't have been changed.
Vastly improved England performance which was great to see, but for me Stuart Lancaster lost it for England. I know there are pre-arranged plans for substitutions, but surely these can be changed on the hoof.
To take off Botha, Morgan and paticularly Dickson who were all having good games was madness imo; also replacing Corbisiero with Stephens who is a liability these days was madness.
England lost composure and structure with these changes, so imo SL lost it for us.
Having said that, I would still appoint him full time as this England team has the potential to develop into something good.
Posted 19:56 25th February 2012