Six Nations Review - Wales 16 - 21 England

 Two years ago, I had just started writing this blog having become fed up with sitting about watching my old side play, having ruled myself out for a year with torn knee ligaments.  The 2013 Six Nations was mostly a joy to write about as an Englishman, until the Welsh selfishly decided to ruin it for me in Cardiff on the final weekend.  The nerve.  Back on that day in 2013, all sheep jokes were firmly directed at England as they were timidly sent to the slaughter by a ravenous Wales side which looked like they were on the cusp of dominating northern hemisphere rugby up until the next World Cup.  They were physically superior, more aggressive and more accurate.  England wilted under the sheer ferocity of the Welsh physicality and the vocal er...’enthusiasm’ of their vociferous fans.  Since then, England managed to get the one up on their old rivals at Twickenham but, with an injury list as long as the M4, the memory freshest in the mind was the 30 – 3 drubbing at the Millennium Stadium.  History, according to some, was set to repeat itself.

The hosts certainly went the extra mile to pile the pressure on their visitors, with a build up that was almost as intense as the game itself.  First, Warren Gatland named his side a week early, hammering home the fact that he had a first choice side that picked itself available, whilst his opposite number, Stuart Lancaster, was being forced to blood new talent and combinations given the plethora of crocked key players.  Gatland then ‘dared’ England to agree to having the stadium roof closed (a request that was denied), Shaun Edwards chipped in with a claim that England, more than other sides, cheat by using ‘blockers’, and the event organisers even ensured that the big screen above the spot where the England players were warming up was showing extended (and painful) highlights of their demise on their last visit.  To cap it all off, the plan was to have England emerge into the cold Friday night and sit through 5 minutes of a light show in what had become Cardiff’s largest disco before the hosts emerged.  Captain Chris Robshaw, wisely, held his ground until the last possible moment.  Two things occurred to me whilst all this was happening – firstly, if it had been the English pulling off all these stunts, the claims of arrogance would (quite rightly) echo deafeningly in the mouths of the fans and the scribes of the media and, secondly, the Welsh management would look like plums if this all backfired.  Even if, at this point, nobody expected it to.

And nothing changed that prediction as Wales started the game where they had left off two years ago, in rampant control.  After winning the ball back from Dan Biggar’s well-weighted kick off, Johnny May gave away a silly penalty in the tackle area after just 1 minute to give Leigh Halfpenny a long-range crack at goal.  Halfpenny, of course, nailed it – a timely reminder of his phenomenal ability with the boot.  England then tried their turn at attacking but, although there were a couple of promising moments, they were turned over when Luther Burrell was isolated in the tackle.  A clever kick by Halfpenny later and a knock on 5 metres out by George Kruis, and the hosts had their first scrum.  At first the danger for England seem to have been averted as the front row marched forwards, but Toby Faletau brilliantly (and arguably illegally) pulled the ball out of the tunnel, palmed off James Haskell, drew in two defenders and offloaded superbly for the looping Rhys Webb who ran over for the opening score.  Barely 8 minutes played and (after the inevitable two points from Halfpenny) Wales were 10 – 0 up.  It all looked unnervingly familiar.

But something was different this time – instead of upping the tempo to frantic levels, throwing hail mary passes and generally impersonating headless chickens, the visitors went on to continue their gameplan of attacking the fringes of the Welsh defence, and with real accuracy and intensity.  They also had the upper hand in the scrum and – after Dan Cole had marmalised Gethin Jenkins on one engagement (a regular occurance), England set up camp in the hosts’ 22.  A half-break by Ben Youngs got the visitors going forward, before slick hands and a deft grubber from Mike Brown gave Anthony Watson the chance to pick up and dive over superbly for his first test try.  George Ford hit the sticks with a difficult conversion, but it was definitely game on.

England were starting to look the more dangerous side without making any clear inroads, but flashes of fine footwork from the Bath trio of Ford, Jonathan Joseph and Watson were giving Lancaster and co plenty of encouragement, and the power game of James Haskell was also beginning to have an effect with the ball in hand.  But silly mistakes were costing them – such as Hartley getting himself isolated and turned over by the quick-thinking Dan Lydiate, and then Cole was penalised for going off his feet in a ruck when there did not seem to be any real danger.  Halfpenny completed the formalities with another 3 points, but Ford then responded in kind when Jamie Roberts was penalised for an early tackle on May following another snipe by Youngs.

Although the Welsh backs were still not clicking, the likes of Sam Warburton and Faletau were still carrying with athleticism and power and making some yards, and occasionally causing England problems.  Another soft penalty from Cole saw Halfpenny line up what we all thought was a gimme, but he inexplicably shanked his effort, but it proved not to matter as Dan Biggar rounded the half off with a sweetly struck drop goal, giving the hosts a 16 – 8 lead at the break.  But, despite the comfortable margin of the lead, there remained the feeling that England were somehow the ones in control of the match, and they had been since the opening 10 minutes.

That became increasingly apparent after the break, as the England pack began to exert complete dominance on their opponents.  Once again, Youngs was the catalyst, making another half break as he sniped his way between Samson Lee and Richard Hibbard – a bit of go forward ball was all that was needed.  Several telling carries later from the likes of the industrious Chris Robshaw and Haskell, and England were perched on the Welsh line.  Ford almost went through after picking a smart line off Youngs but, after the ball came back quickly, Jonathan Joseph stood up his man Dan Biggar with some electric footwork and wriggled out of a pair of poor tackles from George North and Dan Biggar to dive over for a try.  Ford added the extras, and England were now within a point.

You could almost physically feel the momentum shift in the game – suddenly the Welsh lineout, solid in the first half, began to crumble and the kicking game, in particular from Rhys Webb, fell to pieces, allowing Mike Brown to counter attack with real verve and to great effect in his best display since last year’s Six Nations.  It led to Ford missing a long range shot to put England in the lead but, in truth, it felt like it would be sooner rather than later that he would get another shot at goal.  The hosts were simply unable to generate anything of note themselves, with Robshaw protecting Ford from the physicality of Roberts and Jonathan Davies and Cole effecting one key turnover as the Welsh made a rare foray to enemy territory.

The one-way traffic soon told.  After a driving maul had made metres and Luther Burrell had offloaded smartly, Youngs once again scampered off the side of the ruck and found James Haskell, who stormed through the gap and looked for all the money like he would score, until a combination of fantastic work from Alex Cuthbert and the padded rugby post got in his way.  It had been a great piece of defensive work by the winger, but he also (perhaps necessarily) deliberately slowed the ball down and was shown a yellow card for his troubles.  Ford added the extras for 3 and the lead for the first time – but it should have been 5 or 7.

Wales, to their credit, managed to stem the flow of penalties and points whilst Cuthbert was off the field, with some sloppy handling by both sides beginning to creep into the game, but England should have been home and hosed on the 70 minute mark when Luther Burrell picked up a loose ball and strode through a gap, only to throw a shocker of a pass to Brown when, in all likelihood, he (or his support runner) would have scored.  With England’s bench adding some serious go forward in contact – particularly the front row – more opportunities were presenting themselves, and they thought they had taken one when Dave Attwood dived over following a big rumble by Keiran Brookes.  Jerome Garces though, ruled that there had been crossing earlier on in the move (as Edwards had foretold) and, once again, Wales emerged unscathed.  It was a marginal call - although Biggar appeared to have decided to hit Easter (the blocker) in any event, the veteran Harlequin was in front of the carrier.

They were now, however, chasing the game and began to run from deep, desperate to get into the English half where the boot of Halfpenny could do so much damage.  But the defence was solid, organised and aggressive, with Robshaw, Haskell and George Kruis in the thick of everything, and when Billy Twelvetrees forced a turnover penalty within minutes of taking the field, George Ford slammed over the 3 points from distance and under intense pressure to make the game safe. 

Wales tried to run the ball out from deep but, as they had been for 70 minutes of the game, found themselves hitting a brick wall and, when Nick Easter (re-emerging from the international wilderness at 36) held up Davies in the tackle, it was game over.  England had waded through the mind games and produced a win of 21 – 16, and a performance to which the score did not do justice.

For Wales, it was a confusing day at the office.  Too much poor kicking, not enough power runners down Ford’s channel, they seemed unable to cope when their two-out runners were being hammered behind the gainline, the aggressive defence ruining the foundations of ‘Warren-ball’.  It would be easy to over-react – but this is still a world class Welsh side stuffed full of unbelievably talented players; they have the ability to play in ways to get around aggressive defences like England’s, but they need the gameplan to execute it.  Better find that out now though, than in the middle of a World Cup.

Speaking of which, is this the first blow with these two sides meeting in the World Cup  September this year?  Perhaps.  Wales won’t allow the same mistakes to plague them again, but England have shown they have the depth, intelligence and ability to defeat a top side in their own backyard.  Ford and Youngs clicked superbly, with Haskell and Vunipola working well off their shoulders right on the gainline, Jonathan Joseph demonstrated his raw ability and England’s pack is simply up there with the best in the world when it comes to bruising the life out of the opposition.

The 2015 World Cup might be a little way away yet, but Friday night proved one thing – that Cardiff night in 2013 is much, much further.

 

WALES PLAYER RATINGS

15.  Leigh Halfpenny: 8.  Wales’ best back by some distance.  As reliable as ever under the high ball and counter-attacked with real conviction and purpose throughout, even in a turgid second half for his side.  He’ll regret that one sitter of a missed kick, though.

14.  Alex Cuthbert:  5.  Cuthbert was largely a spectator for the majority of the game and was brought into play/got himself involved far too rarely.  A superb try-saving tackle on James Haskell was then annulled by the subsequent yellow card for slowing the ball down.

13.  Jonathan Davies:  5.  Davies was quiet throughout and looked as rusty as you would expect for a man who is struggling for first team action in France.  A smart tackle on Joseph in the first half aside, he had very little impact on the rest of the game.

12.  Jamie Roberts:  5.  Much was made of Roberts’ performance against Burrell at club level a couple of weeks ago – and rightly so, he was superb.  But it took 50 minutes for the big man to be launched down Ford’s channel, to decent effect too.  How much of this was Roberts’ fault, I don’t know, but we do know he was far too quiet for ‘Warren-ball’ to work.

11.  George North:  4.  A couple of promising touches early on faded from memory following his first concussion, a result of a stray boot from Dave Attwood.  From then on his contribution was minimal aside from missing a howler of a tackle on Jonathan Joseph for England’s try and suffering another concussion courtesy of Richard Hibbard’s rather solid bonce.  Staggering that he was left on.

10.  Dan Biggar:  7.  Made good decisions and executed well when he had the ball, and soldiered on despite an ill-advised nose-first inspection of Gethin Jenkins’ skull.  But his influence faded from the game as his pack imploded and he couldn’t spark his backline to life.

9.  Rhys Webb:  6.  Started so well with a smart support line for the try and threatened the fringes, but his kicking game collapsed as the match wore on and all that did was heap more pressure on his side.

1.  Gethin Jenkins:  4.  When he wasn’t headbutting his own fly-half, the Lions loosehead was getting marmalised in the scrum.  Busy about the park, but his bread-and-butter should be the set piece and he struggled throughout, denying his side a platform.

2.  Richard Hibbard:  5.  Another in the front row to have problems in the set piece, with the lineout wobbling in the second half at a crucial time.  But his contribution in the loose was impressive, weighing in with some aggressive carries and big hits.

3.  Samson Lee:  5.  His side of the scrum was relatively even but he struggled to have a tangible impact elsewhere on the field.  A big learning experience for the talented tighthead with a big future ahead of him.

4.  Jake Ball:  5.  Toiled all evening but not always to great effect as he was turned over twice, but in defence he did chip in with some big hits.

5.  Alun Wyn-Jones:  5.  It may seem like a fairly harsh rating for a player who didn’t make any obvious mistakes, but a man of Jones’ calibre and experience would be expected to lead his side out of the trough they found themselves in early in the second period.  Instead, he faded.

6.  Dan Lydiate:  5.  As industrious as you would want and expect in defence, of course, but there has to be a time when we ask “what else does he do”?  Three carries for one metre is simply not good enough for a loose forward and 2 penalties he gave away were costly.

7.  Sam Warburton:  6.  A brave display but he was clearly outshone by his opposite number.  Carried with athleticism and tackled aggressively all night, but he was unable to have an influence at the breakdown and found himself going backwards more often than not.

8.  Taulupe Faletau:  7.  Another to have a solid game, he was one of the few Welsh players who could have claimed to have matched their opposite number.  Great dexterity, strength and awareness to set up the first try but – like many of his colleagues – was significantly less conspicuous in the second 40.

Replacements:  5.  We can of course question how and when they were used, but those that came on were unable to have any positive effect on the Welsh game or spark a revival. 

 

ENGLAND PLAYER RATINGS

15.  Mike Brown:  8.  A return to the form from last year’s Six Nations, as he rediscovered that knack of beating the first man with seemingly every counter-attack.  A delightfully-weighted grubber for Watson’s try and an inch-perfect touch finder late on showed how much his game has grown.

14.  Anthony Watson:  7.  Had some lovely touches in the first half where he showed great ability in the air, fabulous footwork and good composure to finish for his first test try.  Less involved in the second half, but more promise from the Bath man.

13.  Jonathan Joseph:  7.  Some players struggle to replicate club form on the international circuit – but not Joseph.  He wasn’t involved in the game a huge amount but everything he did was top drawer –picking dangerous running lines, tackling well and, of course, wriggling free for a very well-taken score.

12.  Luther Burrell:  6.  A bit of a mixed bag for the Saints centre.  He gave some lovely offloads in the second half but also lost the ball twice in contact, which was disappointing for a man of his stature.  Also gave a howler of a pass after a fine break when Mike Brown might have been in.

11.  Johnny May:  6.  A solid, if unspectacular, showing from May, but in many ways this was a performance which answered a lot of critics.  After conceding a silly penalty early on, May didn’t make a mistake – collecting the high ball well and counter-attacking with purpose instead of floating around laterally.  Couldn’t get the space to show off his speed, though.

10.  George Ford:  7.  Huge credit has to be given for his ability to bounce back from missing what looked to be a crucial kick in the second period.  He was not flawless – a couple of charge downs could have been costly – but his game management and execution was top drawer (as was his nerve for that final kick) and, crucially, he seems to have a natural understanding with Ben Youngs.

9.  Ben Youngs:  9.  It was only on second viewing that I realised in the first half what a fine game the Leicester man had – probably his best since 2010.  His work around the breakdown and caused no-end of problems for the Welsh defence throughout the game and he picked his runners superbly.  Sharp service and smart management throughout – man of the match.

1.  Joe Marler:  6.  A solid performance in the scrum and worked hard around the loose, too, showing good eagerness to get his mitts on the ball.

2.  Dylan Hartley:  5.  Probably England’s most disappointing performer.   The lineout creaked a couple of times and more than once he foolishly got himself isolated and turned over.  Still a force of nature when it comes to hitting rucks, however, and – notably – he wasn’t yellow carded.

3.  Dan Cole:  7.  Considering that he hadn’t played for a month, this was a fine display.  He had Jenkins on toast in the scrum, earning a couple of penalties – although he did give a couple away with lazy work at the breakdown, one of which was slotted by Halfpenny.  But his work around the rucks was once again exemplary, with one turnover in the second half, when Wales were building ominously, particularly key.

4.  Dave Attwood:  7.  Attwood seemed to relish the role as the experienced half of the second row combination and went about his work with a brutal efficiency.  He was unlucky to be denied a first test try and threw himself about at the breakdown.

5.  George Kruis:  7.  I had my doubts but he proved me wrong – Kruis looked right at home in the most pressurised of environments and recovered well from a costly early fumble.  A good option in the lineout and his athleticism was a real bonus for England.

6.  James Haskell:  8.  He made just two mistakes all game – unfortunately, they were rather glaring...missing a simple tackle to concede a try and then running into a post instead of scoring.  But aside from that, he was superb.  Relentlessly physical on the carry, he added a real dynamism to the visitors’ game.

7.  Chris Robshaw:  8.  26 Tackles, 0 missed.  That was the remarkable statistic to emerge from Robshaw’s performance on Friday night in yet another display that might not have produced the spectacular, but certainly produced a result.  Led from the front and his refusal to go out and wait in the cold at the beginning of the match was not only great theatre, it was the right thing to do.   

8.  Billy Vunipola:  7.  He was well-shackled in the first half with chop tackles but his influence grew as the game went on, making big metres in the heart of the Welsh defence.  The good news was that he didn’t seemed to lose energy as the match progressed, a nod to the hard work he has done with the conditioning staff at Saracens.

Replacements:  7.  Everyone who came on contributed well to the cause, especially Tom Youngs – who made 9 tackles in 24 minutes – and Billy Twelvetrees, who threw his weight around in the last 5 minutes and won that key penalty late in the game.  Great to see Nick Easter back, too.