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
NHsaints says...
Too many silly mistakes and loss of good field position (I'll put that down to inexperience) but at least we put in a good performance...my only other comment is that Wales have been proven one dimensional in the opposite way to Italy or Say France (at the world cup) as they appear to be lost without the ability to break the midfield which means they'll not beat the all blacks (with Ranger, SBW, Kahui, Nonu, Smith and Freuan the likely candidates for the NZ midfield) and they'll seriously struggle against France. Good performance and heart from the Lads though, a little bit more time to settle and we'll be 'there' especially if we replace ashton (who is both listless and formless) with Sharples, Stevens with Doran-Jones and Croft with Wood. The England we knew (aka the passionate, creative, well structured England) are back. I think Lancaster will target Ireland as a must win to give us a positive end to the tournament. France would be nice too and if we find the form on the day we could well be in the mix for the 6 nations title at the end of the 6 nations.
Posted 19:43 25th February 2012
panzerattack says...
The reason I personally don't think this Welsh team is over-rated is because despite winning at Twickenham for only the 3rd time in 24 years and winning a triple crown there for the first time ever, somehow as a Welsh supported I'm feeling disappointed after that match.
Under normal circumstances I'd have taken a result like that and been well happy no matter how it was won.
Posted 19:38 25th February 2012
ben7 says...
Even as a kiwi i must say that was a superb game! that was the best ive seen England play since their win over the wallabies in november 2010. Great on attack, even better on defense, lucky bounce of the ball for the welsh try, unlucky bounce of the ball for botha from the charge down.
Wales you were lucky, that was a try at the end and overall England deserved to win that one
Posted 19:32 25th February 2012
Chubbylugs says...
I'm sorry to state the obvious, but am I the only person who can't understand why firstly strettle's clear try wasn't given? Also why was the game stopped by the tmo, when England were playing penalty advantage?
2 clear wrong decisions - Davies knock on whilst tackling Ashton which led to 3 points, the other being George north intentionally palming the ball out whilst strettle was in pursuit. A penalty in the very least
sorry rant over. It's a shame that major decisions decide agame that deserved to be a draw
Posted 19:23 25th February 2012
backnforward says...
As an Englishman, I believe Wales deserved to win - JUST!!!
But cracking game only spoilt by a couple of very odd decisions: -
Why was Dickson replaced by Youngs???
Why, when Strettle (did not) score the 'try', did the referee not go back for penalty advantage?
However, even with some of the curious tactical decisions taken by both sides, it was an enthralling match. Wales possibly lucky, England probably unlucky. But a fair result? It could have gone either way and as Viriato says "Great game! How beautiful this sport is!!!"
Posted 19:23 25th February 2012
quietbrit says...
First up: Well done Wales. A game decided on the scoreboard by a moment of Welsh brilliance is a fair reflection of the game I watched.
England played so much better than they have to date. They were not flawless by any stretch of the imagination but Stuart Lancaster can take a huge step up in status for his 8,9,10,12,13 selection. He got it right.
A greatly improved England need to raise themselves again from this.
Posted 19:21 25th February 2012
blametheref says...
England lost this when Farrell left the pitch and more so when Stevens, Lawes and Youngs came on, up to that they looked like winning, Lancaster has to be careful with his substitutions in future...I said after the Irish match with Wales that Wales were a lucky team, getting two major match turning decisions (one a match winning decision) that were clearely wrong, well that's been proven again in a lesser sense for this match. For one, when Priestland was miles offside to deliberately prevent a try and was carded, should that not have been a penalty try? And getting the nod on the try decision at the death and that the scrum couldn't be awarded with Walsh rightly checking that time had been up when the ball was grounded...Besides getting a good return from Lady Luck, Wales have played adventerous rugby and deserve to be where they are right now....I called the result wrong today on this game but I'm actually delighted to see England playing the way they did today as when Ireland visit Twickenham we're most likely going to witness another great game like today....What it's all about really!!
Posted 19:18 25th February 2012
munster13 says...
i think it was a try to be honest. it would have been an interesting conversion for flood.
unfortunately ireland are going to have to improve if they want to beat england in twickenham.
Posted 19:10 25th February 2012
Carpelone says...
I feel that England were the best team today.
Both Ashton and Strettle were impalpable, England need to consider other players for those positions.
Farrel and Tuilagi seem to have their grip on the white jersey for many years to come.
What the hell happened to Youngs???
Well done, Wales, even though they lack the sparks I saw in recent games.
Posted 19:07 25th February 2012
J_HDK says...
So far this is the poorest quality 6N of the professional era. The fixture timetable must get cleaned up
Posted 18:59 25th February 2012
luckyron says...
There was an element of luck in the result, but far less luck than in Englands win against Scotland and Italy. I suppose if Hodgson had been on the pitch England prob would have scorred.
To be fair England played well and were miles better than they had been and made Wales look far less impressive than their first two games. I'd say the teams looked evenly matched and it could have gone either way. Scott Williams try was a good solo effort, he ripped the ball clean and raced from half way line to score, you cant take that away from him.
Posted 18:58 25th February 2012
Viriato says...
Great game! How beautiful this sport is!!!
Posted 18:41 25th February 2012
jehosophat says...
Credit to Wales, they are the better, more settled team, should have won, and did.
While I am gutted we lost, having started to think we had a shout, I said I'd be happy with a better showing and this was better. Wales play at a ferocious pace and this young England side looked increasingly comfortable with that, too comfortable with it in the end as one cheeky attack too many by Lawes lost it.
I am happier with Barrit/Tuilagi than I have been with the England midfield for some time. Farrell was good. The new players were all improvements so credit to Lancaster. I can't be too happy about a loss though, we have to win one of these tough three matches that on paper we should lose, and that was a chance lost.
Posted 18:36 25th February 2012
redcoat2806 says...
England never overcommitted to the breakdown, had Wales' game plan sussed, and came so close.
Agreed that Youngs and Stevens didn't help. Well played Wales but can't help think they got lucky but hey a win is a win
Posted 18:14 25th February 2012
caramba13 says...
England robbed. How Roberts and Davies stayed on the field without seeing yellow is a mystery. The jammiest Triple Crown I've ever seen.
Posted 18:13 25th February 2012
peterpump says...
Very proud and a happy Welshman but strettle did score a try at the end.
Posted 18:12 25th February 2012
jose_jones says...
Nurse,.... oxygen!!!!!!!!!
Posted 18:03 25th February 2012
TVaddict says...
Wow! Such an improvement by England! So lucky by Wales really!
So happy with the performance! No stupid penalties given (until Stevens came on). Good running play, Tuilagi was great. Defensively brilliant! How many tackles did Barritt, Farrell and Botha make?! Still work to be done, need to be more clinical, but so much better than the Italy match. After the first half alone I'm happy to have Lancaster as the permanent coach.
Still, just shows how over rated Wales are! France to beat them by 11 points. France to win this 6 nations.
Posted 18:00 25th February 2012
ciaran1792 says...
Im the furthest thing from an England fan but they were robed.
Posted 17:59 25th February 2012
melkdave says...
Well what a game and just how good can /will England be when they get a setteled offensive system .England still looked like head chickens at times going forward and really pushed Wales who imo where a little lucky to get then win but whats on the scoreboard is what counts .Congratulations to Wales who are now on for a grand slam showdown at home against France imo
Posted 17:51 25th February 2012