Wales pass England test

Steve Borthwick will have a lot of tough decisions to make going into Monday when England announce their final 33-man Sqaud for the World Cup. On the other hand, Welsh fans can walk away with a glimmer of hope after a stellar second half performance that saw them come back to win the match 20-9 at the Principality stadium.

With all eyes on the England pivot role and Wales’ form, Marcus Smith seemed to have a bit of a shaky opening five minutes, understandable considering it’s the level. However, the nerves were quickly shaken off as he had converted two quick penalties at the 15th minute mark. From there on Smith eased into the role of leading the England attack completing clinical passes, all while running at the Welsh defence.

Although both teams seemed to display a bit of ring rust, Wales seemed all the sloppier conceded penalties. However, after finding their groove, a lethal attack by the home side saw them come close to crossing the line, before opting to go for poles as Halfpenny added the 3 points on the 17^th minute. The game seemed to be a chess match with Wales responding well to the English high ball. Smiths composure and kicking would be the difference on the stroke of halftime, as he converted another penalty for the roses. It was a rather lacklustre affair for the rivals ending the half on 9-6 to the visitors.

It seemed as though Wales exorcised the ghost of the six nations, as they came out firing in the first half, the forwards being the major difference. There were two key moments that seemed to make a difference for home side. The first, a powerful scrum from prop debutant Keiron Assirati won Wales a penalty. A quick tap from Wales resulted in a ruck. A beautiful Cross kick from Costelow found Wainright on the right who completed a superb offload away to Morgan who charged deep into the 22 and found Davies to finish.

The second difference being veteran Dan Biggar. From the moment he came on in the 15^th minute, Biggar’s high balls began to frustrate England. Wales applied pressure to allow legendary centre George North to cross the line in the 57^th minute, as Wales began to look like the Wales we’ve all come to know. Two minutes later, Smith was taken off. England were kept scoreless for the whole second half, meanwhile the Welsh made sure to put everyone on notice on the road to France.