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Some rugby days are hard to beat. Saturday was one of them, particularly for those with Welsh blood pulsing through their veins.
In terms of gladiatorial combat, passion, fellowship and emotion, it is hard to imagine a more vivid piece of Six Nations theatre. The Welsh Rugby Union’s pre-match entertainment would impress even PT Barnum nowadays.
Wales 21-13 England: talking points from the Six Nations match
By most available measures, Wales also now have a team capable of rising as surely to huge occasions as any. At this rate Warren Gatland’s grand slam-chasing squad may yet head into the autumn World Cup as the European team to beat, having already racked up 12 successive Test wins and leapfrogged England into third place in the world rankings. The green, green grass of home has seldom appeared as lush in the professional era.
Once the hangovers have finally worn off – the streets of Cardiff were awash with rather more than joy – both sides will also reflect on a contest which revealed a significant amount about their respective mental strengths and weaknesses. Not for nothing did Gatland suggest afterwards that England, for all their physicality and recent progress, still have a propensity for “choking”. At times this felt like Cardiff 2013 and Twickenham 2015 all over again, with dull thinking and an inability to locate another tactical gear costing England up the final straight.
With one eye on the Japanese horizon, Gatland knew exactly what he was doing when he observed that England remain vulnerable under screeching pressure. “I look back on England in the last few years and when it’s really mattered I’ve questioned whether they can win these really big games,” he said. “We’ve had a record of being pretty good in them.” Given Wales have advanced further than England at each of the past two World Cups, it is hard to dispute his opinion.
As Wales ready themselves for the challenge of defeating Scotland and Ireland in successive weekends to claim a first slam since 2012, it is clearly an issue which cannot be ignored by Eddie Jones and his lieutenants. Two years ago, after England’s narrow win in Cardiff, Jones was trumpeting England’s smart use of tactical periodisation, having travelled to Qatar to meet a sports scientist with close links to José Mourinho. In 14 of Jones’s first 15 Tests, England won the second half; now, suddenly, it is England who are being caught at the death.
On this occasion they lost the second half 18-3 and the final 15 minutes were a horror show. At 13-9 ahead and in possession in Wales’s half they were in control of their own destiny until Owen Farrell, standing at acting scrum-half, slung out a bullet pass which Mark Wilson was unable to hold. From the turnover Wales regained crucial momentum and, after 34 relentless phases, the unstoppable Cory Hill gave Wales the lead. Despite Dan Biggar’s fine conversion the visitors still theoretically had a chance only for Wales’s aerial excellence, combined with England’s stubborn refusal to vary their original box-kicking game, to give Gatland the last laugh.
Blaming Kyle Sinckler for a couple of cheap penalties conveniently ignores Welsh excellence and English deficiencies in other respects.
Not only was the host side’s discipline better – three penalties conceded – but their bench made much more of an impact. Quite why Jones chose not to use three of his “finishers” and kept on some understandably footsore forwards until the game was gone was a mystery. The freshness of body and mind evident in Dublin was only rarely in evidence.
Last year England trailed in fifth having been overtrained in midweek; there were hints of it again here. In contrast, Gatland felt his side’s preparation, having rotated his team in Italy, had been among the best in his time with Wales. Nor was he fooled by his side’s sluggish form in Rome. “My experience with Wales is that we always get stronger as tournaments go on. When it really matters, we’ve fronted up in the past and tended to perform.”
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Jones, who would have loved to have a fit Mako Vunipola in Cardiff, is not giving up the fight just yet. “To me the championship is about the title. Grand slams are like when you buy a car and you get tinted windows; it’s an added extra.” He needs to locate a gameplan, however, which makes better use of Manu Tuilagi’s strengths and withstand the rare days, such as this one, when Farrell is not at his sharpest. Now teams have seen that disarming England’s kicking threat, hassling their half-backs and going hard around the tackle area can thwart their ambitions so effectively, everyone will be doing it.
This is not, of course, what was being said after England’s commanding start to the tournament. Jones had a point when he criticised the “boom and bust mentality” in English sport when the truth usually lies somewhere in between. Equally, there can be no hiding from reality. England are not yet bullet-proof and need to work on matching Wales’s gunslinger composure under heavy fire. Until then, grand slams and World Cups will remain frustratingly elusive.