England 30-17 Wales
- England celebrate Twickenham centenary with win over Wales
- Three tries and 15 points from the boot of Wilkinson ensure comfortable scoreline
Three sumptuous tries, two of them from flanker and man of the match James Haskell, his first at Test level, rewarded England’s steely resolve in the Twickenham Centenary match to launch their RBS 6 Nations Championship campaign with style.
They deprived Wales of possession and field position and punished the Grand Slam champions of two years ago with 17 points while lock Alun-Wyn Jones was in the sin bin bridging half time after tripping England hooker Dylan Hartley.
Jonny Wilkinson landed all his six kicks, converting Haskell’s maiden tries and another by Danny Care. Wilkinson also put over three long and awkward penalty goals to turn England’s line out steals and ferocious tackling on the gain line into points.
Wales were unsettled by the proficient jumping of Steve Borthwick, who led by example, and Nick Easter, whose ground-consuming drives imbued confidence into England and cut deeply into the Welsh energy reserves.
England led 13-3 after a pedestrian first half, typical of a championship opener but it ushered in a helter-skelter finale to a game in which Wales had parity for only 18 minutes overall. They were never ahead but their second try by James Hook with nine minutes remaining cut their deficit to 20-17. However, Haskell’s vivid second try following an interception by Delon Armitage of a pass from Stephen Jones cut their lifeline to possible victory. Toby Flood and Mathew Tait linked for Haskell to power over five minutes from time.
History men
Back in 1910, England had beaten Wales 11-6 at Twickenham in their first meeting there in the distant era of lower scores and no yellow cards. This time, England ruthlessly punished the exit of Alun-Wyn Jones, first with a 35th minute penalty by Wilkinson following the offence and then when Haskell plunged over around the short side of a maul in the final moments of the first half.
A turnover by Borthwick triggered the second try four minutes after the resumption. An Easter surge and acceleration through a gap by Care did the rest and suddenly it was 20-3. England used six replacements, including new cap Dan Cole and Dan Hipkiss, a late inclusion on the bench after the uncapped Shontayne Hape, of Bath Rugby, withdrew because of a sickness bug.
Adam Jones, the Wales prop, scored his side’s other try, only his second in 57 Tests and six years since his previous one but indelibly it was England’s day on an occasion to savour.
England
1 Tim Payne (London Wasps), 2 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), 3 David Wilson (Bath Rugby), 4 Simon Shaw (London Wasps), 5 Steve Borthwick (Saracens) Captain, 6 James Haskell (Stade Français), 7 Louis Moody (Leicester Tigers), 8 Nick Easter (Harlequins), 9 Danny Care (Harlequins), 10 Jonny Wilkinson (RC Toulon), 11 Ugo Monye (Harlequins)), 12 Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), 13 Mathew Tait (Sale Sharks), 14 Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks), 15 Delon Armitage (London Irish), 16 Steve Thompson (CA Brive), 17 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), 18 Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers), 19 Steffon Armitage (London Irish), 20 Paul Hodgson (London Irish), 21 Dan Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers), 22 Ben Foden (Northampton Saints)
Tries: Haskell (2), Care
Conversions: Wilkinson (3)
Penalty Goals: Wilkinson (3)
Replacements: Wilson off for Cole (60), Hartley off for Thompson (60), Shaw off for Deacon (70), Care off for Hodgson (77), Moody off for S Armitage (77), Flood off for Hipkiss (77)
Unused: Foden
Wales
1 Paul James (Ospreys), 2 Gareth Williams (Cardiff Blues), 3 Adam Jones (Ospreys), 4 Alun-Wyn Jones (Ospreys), 5 Luke Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), 6 Andy Powell (Cardiff Blues), 7 Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues), 8 Ryan Jones (Ospreys) Captain, 9 Gareth Cooper (Cardiff Blues), 10 Stephen Jones (Scarlets), 11Shane Williams (Ospreys), 12 Jamie Roberts (Cardiff Blues), 13 James Hook (Ospreys), 14 Tom James (Cardiff Blues), 15 Lee Byrne (Ospreys), 16 Huw Bennett (Ospreys), 17 Rhys Gill (Saracens), 18 Bradley Davies (Cardiff Blues), 19 Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys), 20 Richie Rees (Cardiff Blues), 21 Andrew Bishop (Ospreys), 22 Lee Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues)
Tries: A Jones, Hook
Conversion: S Jones (2)
Penalty Goal: S Jones
Sin bin: Alan-Wyn Jones (35)
Replacements: Charteris off for Davies (13-16 & 54), G Williams off for Bennett (54), James off for Halfpenny (65), Powell off for Thomas (68), Cooper off for Rees (68)
Unused: Gill, Bishop
Referee: Alain Rolland (IRU)
Assistant Referees: George Clancy (IRU), Simon McDowell (IRU)