Having conceded two tries to wing Jonny May in the opening 20 minutes, Alun Wyn Jones' side kept England scoreless for the remaining 60 minutes of a compelling match.
Wales were delivered a huge blow in the build-up to kick-off when Leigh Halfpenny, scorer of 24 points in the win over Scotland a week earlier, was forced to pull out with a foot injury. It meant Gareth Anscombe came into the side to fill the No 15 jersey and Owen Watkin came onto the bench.
Wales forced an error out of Anthony Watson at the kick-off to earn a scrum, but the first points of the game went to the home side when Gloucester wing May picked up his first 6 Nations try. Danny Care launched a box kick that Watson tapped back and wonderful vision from Owen Farrell saw the England centre kick deep into the Wales 22 to allow his wing to race onto the ball and beat Josh Adams on the slide.
Rhys Patchell was just wide from 45 metres with a long range penalty shot three minutes later and midway through the first half May picked up a second try as England turned a 26 phase period of possession into a try out wide that this time Farrell improved.
Wales were unfortunate not to be awarded a try in the 23rd minute when the TMO ruled out a score for Anscombe. Patchell kicked across the 22 for Steff Evans and the ball bounced off his knee and into the England in-goal area.
Anscombe won the race for the touchdown ahead of Watson, but his right hand didn't do enough to control the ball in the eyes of the officials and the try was ruled out. Wales still got a penalty, which Patchell kicked from in front of the posts. To make it 12-3 at the break.
England brought on the former Ospreys flanker Sam Underhill at half-time in place of the injured Sam Simmonds and the first major break of the second half came when Aaron Shingler raced 40 metres and kicked into the England 22.
That attack ended in a penalty to England, who were able to relieve the pressure thanks to some superb defensive play from Farrell, but Wales hung in the fight. Just after the hour Scott Williams was denied a try after a superb cover tackle in the left corner by Underhill as the Scarlets centre slid in for the try.
Wales rung the changes in the second half and began to dominate territory and possession, but couldn't come up with the points they needed to close the gap.
A superb piece of ripping in defence by Justin Tipuric allowed Wales to break up an England attack in their 22 and develop another brilliant counter-attack that earned them a penalty on the other 22 that Anscombe kicked to provide the first points of second half with six minutes left to play.
That put Wales within losing bonus-point and then went all out for the winning score. England kept them contained out of range and a knock-on in the final phase of the game gave the home side the chance to kick the ball dead and claim the win.
Current Form
Current Standing
5
Eng
2
Wal
Head to Head
England
|
Wales
|
|
---|---|---|
3 | Wins | 1 |
1 | Losses | 3 |
0 | Draws | 0 |
Last Time
12 - 6
10th Feb 2018
England 12
Wales 6
England 12 | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
P | D | C | T | Pos | Player | ||
15 | Mike Brown |
|
|||||
14 |
Anthony Watson
Jack Nowell 44
|
|
|||||
13 | Jonathan Joseph |
|
|||||
1 | 12 | Owen Farrell |
|
||||
2 | 11 | Jonny May |
|
||||
10 |
George Ford
Ben Te'o 67
|
|
|||||
9 |
Danny Care
Richard Wigglesworth 64
|
|
|||||
1 |
Mako Vunipola
Alec Hepburn 76
|
|
|||||
2 |
Dylan Hartley
Jamie George 0
Jamie George 51 |
|
|||||
3 |
Dan Cole
Harry Williams 64
|
|
|||||
4 |
Joe Launchbury
George Kruis 67
|
|
|||||
5 | Maro Itoje |
|
|||||
6 | Courtney Lawes |
|
|||||
7 | Chris Robshaw |
|
|||||
8 |
Sam Simmonds
Sam Underhill 41
|
|
|||||
Replacements | |||||||
16 |
Jamie George
Dylan Hartley 0
Dylan Hartley 51 |
|
|||||
17 |
Alec Hepburn
Mako Vunipola 76
|
|
|||||
18 |
Harry Williams
Dan Cole 64
|
|
|||||
19 |
George Kruis
Joe Launchbury 67
|
|
|||||
20 |
Sam Underhill
Sam Simmonds 41
|
|
|||||
21 |
Richard Wigglesworth
Danny Care 64
|
|
|||||
22 |
Ben Te'o
George Ford 67
|
|
|||||
23 |
Jack Nowell
Anthony Watson 44
|
|
6 Wales | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Pos | T | C | D | P | ||
|
Gareth Anscombe | 15 | 1 | ||||
|
Josh Adams | 14 | |||||
|
Scott Williams | 13 | |||||
|
Hadleigh Parkes | 12 | |||||
|
Steff Evans | 11 | |||||
|
Rhys Patchell
George North 55
|
10 | 1 | ||||
|
Gareth Davies
Aled Davies 65
|
9 | |||||
|
Rob Evans
Wyn Jones 57
|
1 | |||||
|
Ken Owens
Elliot Dee 64
|
2 | |||||
|
Samson Lee
Tomas Francis 57
|
3 | |||||
|
Cory Hill
Bradley Davies 73
|
4 | |||||
|
Alun Wyn Jones | 5 | |||||
|
Aaron Shingler | 6 | |||||
|
Josh Navidi | 7 | |||||
|
Ross Moriarty
Justin Tipuric 64
|
8 | |||||
Replacements | |||||||
|
Elliot Dee
Ken Owens 64
|
16 | |||||
|
Wyn Jones
Rob Evans 57
|
17 | |||||
|
Tomas Francis
Samson Lee 57
|
18 | |||||
|
Bradley Davies
Cory Hill 73
|
19 | |||||
|
Justin Tipuric
Ross Moriarty 64
|
20 | |||||
|
Aled Davies
Gareth Davies 65
|
21 | |||||
|
Owen Watkin | 22 | |||||
|
George North
Rhys Patchell 55
|
23 |
England | |||
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Try
|
Jonny May
|
2
|
![]() |
Missed Conversion
|
Owen Farrell
|
3
|
![]() |
Try
|
Jonny May
|
19
|
![]() |
Conversion
|
Owen Farrell
|
20
|
Wales | |||
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Missed Penalty
|
|
6
|
![]() |
Penalty
|
|
23
|
![]() |
Penalty
|
|
76
|
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