Battling Wales pipped at the death at Twickenham
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Wales led for 54 minutes at Twickenham as they made England dig deep to come from behind to eventually win 16-14.
Wales were good value for their 14-5 interval lead and were almost faultless as they build up a lead to give themselves a chance of winning for the first time at Twickenham since 2015 – and since 2012 in the Six Nations.
Warren Gatland and Dafydd Jenkins had demanded a better start than Wales had had at Principality Stadium seven days ago against Scotland and the message clearly got through because they initially frustrated England as they went for a fast start and then struck from their first foray into the home 22.
He set-piece, which had creaked so badly at times against the Scots was rock solid and England lost the first of two players to the sin-bin in the 12th minute when Ollie Chessum was caught putting his shoulder into the head of Kieron Assiratti in the Welsh 22.
Wales worked their way upfield and picked up a penalty at a scrum on the home 10 metre line. Ioan Lloyd drilled the ball into the right corner and from the line out the drive was faultless.
Elliot Dee found his Dragons teammate Aaron Wainwright at the tail, the forwards piled in and England flanker Ethan Roots was deemed to have pulled down maul. New Zealand referee James Doleman had no hesitation in running to the posts to signal a penalty try and he also gave former Ospreys flanker Roots a yellow card.
That meant England were down to 13 men, although it didn’t cause them too many problems. From the re-start, Wales got themselves in a muddle in their 22 and Maro Itoje hauled down Lloyd in the shadow of his posts
From the ensuing scrum five metres out, No 8 Ben Earl picked up and bulldozed his way through four tacklers to reach the line for a quick try in response. George Ford stepped up to take the simple conversion, but was denied the chance to take his kick when the Welsh players charged at him when he took a step to his left.
Ford felt it was part of his pre-kick routine, but Doleman said he had started his run up and Wales saved two points. Wales went back onto the attack and went through 23 phases without success on the home 22 as they went in s search of another score.
It did eventually come a few minutes before half-time – and it was a beauty! Tommy Reffell was involved twice and it was his offload that set Tomos Williams in the clear 40 metres out. The scrum half had Alex Mann inside him and his pass allowed his Cardiff Rugby colleague to gallop the length of the 22 to make it two tries in his first two international appearances.
Lloyd added the extras and that meant Wales were 14-3 ahead at the break – and good value for their lead. They didn’t concede a penalty in the opening 40 minutes, but then gave away two in as many minutes at the start of the second half to allowed Ford to cut the gap with a penalty in front of the posts.
England went on the offensive right from the start in the second half, but a brilliant break by Cam Winnett put Wales back on the front foot. After sailing past Henry Ford he gave Josh Adams a run and his inside pass in the home 22 to fellow wing Rio Dyer went to ground.
England eventually got back to within a single point thanks to a scrum penalty they then kicked into the left corner. The heavy lifters banged away at the Welsh line before Ford released it wide and Fraser Dingwall scored in the corner.
Ford couldn’t hit the target from the touchline, but all the momentum was now with the home side. After a stream of penalties from Wales, Ford eventually edged England in front from a penalty in the 22 after Mason Grady was adjudged to have deliberately knocked-on to break up a back line move.
