England 25-28 Wales
by David Nicholson
at Twickenham

THE Welsh came, they saw and they conquered at Twickenham as they outfought and out-thought the old enemy in this most familiar of Rugby Union clashes.

The World Cup “group of death” has struck and has left its first victim limping and facing the ignominy of being the first host nation not to qualifiy for the knockout stages.

As England coach Stuart Lancaster conceded immediately after the game: “Our match against Australia is now a knockout game.”

His wily opposite number Warren Gatland also seized on this noting that his battered side needed “to beat Fiji on Thursday and put a lot pressure on England to defeat Australia.”

Lancaster’s side had come into this match as bookies’ favourites. 

But his side’s long-standing faults of ill-discipline, the inability to think on their feet during games, a failure to take their chances and making mistakes at crucial times had not been ironed-out.

Each time the home side moved ahead of Wales they conceded the same sort of ill-disciplined penalty, allowing Wales back into the game through the faultless boot of fly-half Dan Biggar.

Biggar was deservedly the man-of-the-match kicking 23 of Wales’s 28 points.

Midway through the first half this febrile contest flared into open warfare as full back Mike Brown poured petrol onto the flames of a forward confrontation after a nasty tackle on Tom Wood.

The resulting melee was only soothed when Sam Burgess intervened to calm his more experienced teammates.

This sparked England’s best patch, as they took the lead for the first time with a penalty and then scored a well-worked try with Jonny May going over from a flowing move.

But as half-time loomed England transgressed again and allowed Biggar the opportunity to peg the lead back to a more manageable 16-9 as the two sides trudged off.

At that stage England were dominating up-front, with a secure scrum causing Wales all manner of problems. The English defence was secure and the men in white looked far livelier in attack.

The sides traded penalties with the scoreboard reaching 22-9, which should have been the end of the contest.

But English indiscipline kept Wales in the game as Biggar kicked six more penalty points to keep the match tight.

The injury-ravaged Welsh lost further players as both Scott Williams and Liam Williams were stretchered off and Hallom Amos left the field with a dislocated shoulder.

Wales had to re-jig their backline with winger George North moving into the centre and scrum-half Lloyd Williams onto the wing.

But unbelievably make-shift winger Williams kicked cross-field with pinpoint accuracy for Gareth Davies to score under the posts and put Wales level.

With just five minutes left on the clock England transgressed yet again and were penalised on the halfway line. A monstrous kick by Biggar flew over to put Wales in front.

With four minutes left on the clock Wales conceded a penalty that England captain Chris Robshaw inexplicably decided not to let the accurate boot of Owen Farrell kick for goal and level the score.

His gamble backfired as Wales easily defended the attacking line-out move.

That decision could cost England dear as a draw would have been a fair result and put pressure on Australia to beat both England and Wales.

It was symptomatic of what is wrong with Lancaster’s side as ill-discipline is compounded with a lack of on-field leadership. The inability to take tough decisions under pressure, change tactics  and put sides away has been a continual theme of the coach’s reign.

“I’m so frustrated to have allowed Wales back into the game in the way we did,” said Lancaster. 

“We’ve talked a lot about discipline and breakdown penalties, and we gave some dumb ones away which kept them in the game.”

Gatland admitted Biggar “kept us in the game. I don’t think I’ve shown quite as much emotion in 80 minutes as I have today. 

“This game was about this team wanting it badly enough and if you want that it can happen for you. As a coach, the way they stuck at the task, I can’t ask for any more. We wanted it more in the end.”

Wales limp on with a ever-increasing injury list, but in good heart and sky-high confidence. 

A deflated England face southern hemisphere champion’s Australia next in a must-win match.