February 2, 2008

England 19 Wales 26

Wales ended a 20-year famine at Twickenham when they produced a memorable fightback to win this RBS Six Nations Championship game after England had dominated the opening period and built up a 10-point interval lead.

The only alarm bells for England at the break, when they led 16-6, was the fact that they might easily have been out of sight and impervious to the Welsh refusal to concede. Instead, while they had much the better of the game territorially and profited from a handful of turnovers, they had only a single try from centre Toby Flood to show for the labours.

That came after 23 minutes when Lesley Vainikolo, replacement for the injured David Strettle after 13 minutes, gathered a perfectly-weighted kick from fly half Jonny Wilkinson and kept his poise in the tackle to give Flood a walk-in try with a smart one-handed pass.

With Wilkinson keeping England in the driving seat with the conversion, two penalties and a drop goal against two penalties from his opposite number, Man of the Match James Hook, England were clear at the break and came within inches of possibly sealing the game two minutes before the interval whistle when the TV official ruled that wingman Paul Sackey had not grounded the ball after a fine run by full-back Iain Balshaw.

A third penalty from Wilkinson eased England into a 19-6 lead five minutes into the second-half, but rather than being the signal for England to take control, the balance then tilted dramatically in Wales’ favour.

Two penalties by Hook brought his side back into striking distance and gave them a momentum that they preserved to the end, parity coming at 19-19 came after 67 minutes when Hook sent in full-back Lee Byrne, the immaculate Ospreys No 10 converting.

Three minutes later Wales completed their haul of 20 points in 13 crucial minutes when scrum-half Mike Phillips charged down a clearance kick by Balshaw and after the ball had passed through two pairs of hands, he was in position for the scoring pass. By that stage, Hook’s conversion from the touchline was a formality.

England’s injury worries involved the departure of David Strettle (foot), Lewis Moody (calf), Tom Rees (knee) and Mike Tindall (ribs), but coach Brian Ashton refused to blame the consequent disruption for the defeat.