One of the great things about the Six Nations is the way in which the TV producers and commentators go out of the way to over-dramatise everything – with a slow-motion montage, the dulcet tones of Eddie Butler’s voice and epic backing music, you almost end up with a sporting version of a Peter Jackson blockbuster, and that’s before a ball has even been kicked. But there are times when nothing needs to be added to alter or build on the occasion, and Saturday in Cardiff was one of them. Not that it stopped the BBC from trying though.
Of course, everything had to come down to Cardiff. Two sides, passionately competitive against
one another, with two fanatic sets of supporters with both a begrudging respect
(in most cases) and a catalogue of misinformed stereotypical views of one
another – with the English still be advertised as arrogant and the Welsh still
being viewed as a bit wishy washy, despite the brutal nature of their wins so
far. Adding to the intrigue was the fact
that both sides seemed to be on a reverse trajectory – Wales, in my opinion,
were on one of the more remarkable sporting comebacks in recent history after a
staggering 8 defeats on the bounce, whilst England, after smashing 7 tries past
the World Champions and then Scotland, had stuttered in recent performances. It seemed to be a key point for both sides –
would the Welsh continue to rise, or would England keep falling?
You could tell, from the moment the players stepped out, it
was a special day in the Millennium Stadium.
With the roof closed, the noise was almost deafening – even with the
telly turned down it seemed to be thunderous – and both sides positively blubbed
the national anthem. And it was here, as
Welsh fans, the crowd should have sensed this was their afternoon. This grizzled Welsh side, with many of the
squad veterans of at least 2 Grand Slams, could channel this raw emotion into a
positive performance, whilst England, whilst no doubt containing their fair
share of decent players, lacked that experience and were the rugby team version
of an adolescent – where perhaps it could all just get a bit overwhelming for
them. And so it proved.
In a cagey, but frantic, opening 10 minutes, it was England
who had (what would become rare) field position. It would perhaps sum up the day that they
would have the first opportunity, but only to see it squandered, with a well worked
first phase move putting Tuilagi in space and an almost clear run for the
line. Perhaps shocked at the room he
had, or unnerved by the cauldron of atmosphere, Tuilagi inexplicably dropped it
– this game was not lost by 1 moment, but a chance to score a try and silence
the crowd that early on? Absolutely
critical. But the Welsh were not so
unnerved, and gave a lesson in composure when they began to bully the English pack
into conceding penalties in their own half – something England had avoided all
year. Leigh Halfpenny, magnificent at
fullback throughout the tournament, kicked over 2 penalties to give the home
side a 6 point lead.
It was chaos, a mess, but fantastically watchable and
action-packed. The Welsh forwards were
storming over their opposition at the breakdown, with Alun Wyn Jones and Justin
Tipuric absolutely outstanding, but they were being foiled by a manic rearguard
action engineered in chief by the utterly inspirational Chris Robshaw and the
stubborn Dan Cole, who was working like a demon to pinch Welsh ball. A scrum penalty in England’s favour – which would
prove to be an anomaly – was converted by Owen Farrell, before Halfpenny
restored the 6 point lead with another well-struck penalty following a mammoth
shove by the Welsh pack in a scrum. The
game had been played at boiling point without any clear-cut opportunities, but
then 2 came in quick succession.
Firstly, Dan Biggar picked off a bizarre netball pass from Ben Youngs to
set George North away, who swatted off Ashton and only had Tom Croft to beat
before he was brought down by a sensational tap-tackle from Mike Brown. Brown then had a chance of his own when
Farrell placed a delightful dink through the Welsh defence for Brown to grab,
but he mistimed his inside pass and the Welsh defence gleefully took back
possession of the ball. The whistle went
for halftime, and the English were clinging on in a game that was well and
truly in Welsh hands.
If England hoped a breather might help them get back into
the match, they were dead wrong. For the
first time this tournament, Jamie Roberts was making decent yardage up the
middle and Mike Phillips was a threatening presence around the fringes. Soon they were hammering away on the Welsh
line, and it was only magnificent defence from Brad Barritt, Robshaw and Geoff
Parling that was keeping the home side from crossing the whitewash. Eventually, a penalty was conceded and Halfpenny
made no mistake once again, and elsewhere England were just giving up field
position on a plate as they got hammered in the scrum over and over. Marler in particular was getting smashed by
Adam Jones, who now looks to be back at his best after a difficult start to the
tournament, whilst Dan Cole wasn’t faring too much better against Gethin
Jenkins although there were some justifiable complaints about the binding on
his part. However, if Walsh wasn’t going
to penalise it, the England scrum should have found another way to cope, and
they couldn’t; in the end, they were utterly obliterated by the Welsh tight
5. Bringing Vunipola and Hartley on for
Marler and Youngs didn’t provide the answers England needed.
And soon, with 25 minutes remaining, Wales nearly lifted the
roof off the Millennium Stadium. With
the Welsh pack snaffling a turnover on halfway, the ball went into the hands of
Alex Cuthbert, who left Mike Brown for dead and went over in the right hand
corner. It sent the crowd wild as they
realised that the dream was now not just a possibility – it was a likelihood.
The English players slumped.
Despite the valiant efforts of Robshaw and Parling – the two men who
seemed to be carrying the England pack – the Welsh were now utterly
dominant. Following another penalty, Sam
Warburton, who had a quietly impressive afternoon (when compared to the display
of his fellow flanker, Tipuric) burst forward from the base of a ruck, brushing
off a flimsy Danny Care tackle before being brought down close to halfway. The ball was recycled with surgeon-like
precision, and fed into the hands of Justin Tipuric. Leaving Barritt in his wake, the flanker
appeared like one of the great Welsh centres, dummying drawing in the last 2
men, and offloading to the onrushing Cuthbert who grabbed a sensational double. The conversion from Halfpenny, followed by a
final penalty, hammered home an utterly resounding victory. The cries of “Easy! Easy!” were both humiliating,
to the English ears, and entirely justified.
This was as close to a complete performance as we have seen this Six
Nations. No side could have lived with
them in this form.
There was still time for Danny Care to fluff an overlap with
an inaccurate kick, which summed up England’s day, but this wasn’t about
English mistakes. They had been forced
into making mistakes, bullied over the pitch and destroyed in the set piece –
this was about a superb Welsh victory.
This might not have been the Grand Slam, but the taste was just as
sweet. And you don’t need an Eddie
Butler voice-over to improve on that.
Wales Player
Ratings
L Halfpenny – 9 – Just so, so good. An absolute rock at full back and, for all people bang on about Farrell being ‘the Ice-Man’, this guy is the real deal when it comes to goalkicking
A Cuthbert – 8 – I’ve not always been convinced by him but he gave a great display of his raw talent with two cracking finishes to take the game away from England
J Davies – 6 – A quiet day at the office for the talented centre, didn’t see too much of the ball and thankfully Tuilagi saw very little of it as well so didn’t get as involved as he would have liked.
J Roberts – 7 – Better performance from the big man, finally showing some aggression and remembering to catch the ball in a series of hard carries
G North – 7 – Was on the wrong side of the pitch to finish off the two scores, but gave a couple of notable examples of his exceptional power and pace
D Biggar – 7 – A solid if unspectacular performance from the fly half – but perhaps this is what this Welsh team needs from its 10; someone to do the basics well without cutting teams apart.
M Phillips – 7 – The best 9 on the pitch, but had it all done for him by his pack. Showed a couple of nice touches around the fringes but in my opinion he takes it in too much.
G Jenkins (capt) – 9 – Magnificent stuff from the captain. Got well on top of Cole in the scrums and was his usual robust self in the loose
R Hibbard – 7 – Lineout wasn’t always clean but it was solid and he was a powerful presence with the ball in hand
A Jones – 8 – Marmalised Marler in the scrum and finally looks back to his best, although I’d still like to see him compete more in the loose.
A-W Jones – 9 – Absolutely outstanding. Mobile and so, so aggressive at breakdown, he intimidated the English pack off the ball. Tipuric may have got the limelight with his assist, but Wyn-Jones was the heartbeat of the side. Man of the Match.
I Evans – 7 – Not as industrious as his colleague but a strong presence in the tight and contributed thoroughly to a dominant forward effort.
S Warburton – 8 – Had a quiet opening 40 but grew into the game and stood out once the Welsh pack got on top, with one gallop in particular getting the crowd on their feet.
J Tipuric – 9 – Sensational. Hadn’t lived up to his club form thus far this tournament but thrust himself into Lions contention with an all-action display that showed off pace and intelligence, none more so than when he set up Cuthbert’s second
T Faletau – 6 – A couple of big tackles were good to see but he’s still not the presence we know he can be with the ball in hand.
K Owens – 7 – Another strong cameo, filled with energy and
helped the pack stamp its authority of the game.
P James – 7 – Walsh was well against the English scrum by
the point he came on and the man from Bath took full advantage, earning another
couple of penalties. A Coombs – Not enough time to make an impact
A Shingler – Not enough time to make an impact
L Williams – Not enough time to make an impact
J Hook – Not enough time to make an impact
S Williams – Not enough time to make an impact
Alex Goode – 7 – Had a very decent first half but became
less prominent in the second half. Good
under the high ball but needs to have more conviction on his run backs
Chris Ashton – 4 – In all honesty, he needs to see a sports
psychologist. He was never this bad at
tackling before; something has changed in his approach. Tried hard and ran a couple of lines but made
no real impact. Manu Tuilagi – 4 – He’s been a standout player since his breakthrough so it’s about time he had a bad day at the office. Fluffed a chance in both halves, once dropping a pass and once ignoring an overlap. Had no decent ball to speak of otherwise.
Brad Barritt – 6 – A solid effort, made some decent yards on the ball and dealt with Roberts well enough, although he did fall off a couple of tackles late on, for once.
Mike Brown – 6 – Earns a couple of points for his aggressive running and stunning tap tackle on North, but loses one for a silly offload in the first half when a try scoring opportunity beckoned
Owen Farrell – 6 – A delightful kick through in the first half nearly provided an inspirational for try for Brown, but missed a couple of difficult attempts on goal under pressure. Still not a natural ball player.
Ben Youngs – 5 – Had no front foot ball to speak of, so tried to make things happen himself. Most of the time, it didn’t come off – including one intercept. Frustrating afternoon.
Joe Marler – 4 – Smashed in the scrums and we haven’t seen the powerful carries that are so common at Harlequins. A harsh lesson for the young loosehead.
Tom Youngs – 6 – Struggled in the scrums but the lineout was solid and is so good on the carry and in defence. Never gave up but the scrum took it out of him.
Dan Cole – 5 – First time since his breakthrough season he’s come off significantly second best in the scrum. Had reason for disgruntlement at some of Walsh’s calls but didn’t adapt well enough, although his work at the breakdown remained a minor thorn in the Welsh’s side
Joe Launchbury – 5 – A harsh lesson for the youngster. He won’t have come across aggression like this before, and may not again, but he seemed more hesitant and less forceful than normal. Maybe was a little overwhelmed by the occasion?
Geoff Parling – 7 – Along with Robshaw, seemed to be leading from the front in a losing cause. Absolute commitment and some strong carries were pillars of a strong performance.
Tom Croft – 5 – Great to see him play 80 minutes, but was on defensive duties all day. No sight of him in the wide spaces as England just didn’t have the ball. Will be glad to get the experience done and dusted and move on with his season
Chris Robshaw (capt) – 8 – England’s best player once again. Topped carries, tackles and metres made, what more could you want from your captain and flanker? Didn’t deserve to be on the losing side.
Tom Wood – 5 – Came off second best at the breakdown and couldn’t inject any real yardage into his carries. Not necessarily his fault, but England could have done with Ben Morgan against Wales.
Subs
David Wilson – Not enough time to make an impact
Mako Vunipola – 7 – Good impact once again. Couldn’t rectify the scrum completely but smashed the ball into contact with relish and tried to get England going forward.
Courtney Lawes – 6 – Got stuck in straight away but couldn’t dislodge the unstoppable force that was the Welsh pack.
James Haskell – 6 – Won his 50th cap and toiled manfully to help England emerge with some credibility
Danny Care – 3 – As a sub, your contributions are magnified, and all Care contributed was a missed tackle on the build up to the 2nd try and an awful kick to waste an overlap. Abysmal contribution.
Toby Flood – 6 – Looked sharper than Farrell and made some decent half breaks. Maybe he should have been on for longer.
Billy Twelvetrees – Not enough time to make an impact
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