Bath boys excel as England power past Wales

BATH RFC players George Ford, Jonathan Joseph and Anthony Watson scored 21 points between them as England overturned a 16-8 half time deficit to deservedly beat Wales in the opening clash of the 2015 RBS 6 Nations.

Much of the build up to the match had been dominated by the missing personnel in the England squad - but after trailing 10-0 early on Stuart Lancaster’s men, who had five players making their first Six Nations starts, produced a comprehensive display in both defence and attack to dismiss doubts over the depth of their squad ahead of this year’s Rugby World Cup.

Wales meanwhile, will head into next weekend’s clash with Scotland with much to ponder after a performance which saw them struggle at the set piece, and fail to produce the creativity and cutting edge that their backline seemingly possesses.

After all the pre-match talk of Lancaster’s refusal to allow the home side to shut the Millennium Stadium roof, organisers did their best to whip the crowd into a frenzy with an extravagant build up that included loud music, flash lights and pyrotechnics.

And sure enough, the home side got off to an explosive start when Taulupe Faletau collected Dan Biggar’s kick off, and when the Welsh were awarded a penalty moments later, full back Leigh Halfpenny landed a superb three points from wide out on the English 10 metre line.

Halfpenny was soon in the thick of it again when he caught Biggar’s cross field kick and chipped ahead, and although England winger Watson was alert to the danger, from the ensuing ruck the Welsh were awarded a scrum five metres out.

And despite a powerful shove from the visiting pack, Welsh No 8 Faletau did brilliantly to pick up on the back foot before going blind and offloading to Webb, who darted over in the corner.

Halfpenny converted to open up a 10-0 lead inside nine minutes. But the English soon got a foothold in proceedings; with a prolonged spell of pressure ending when full back Mike Brown when hammered into touch by Welsh winger Cuthbert.

The English front row, so famously mangled in Cardiff two years ago, were also in the ascendancy and after Dan Cole, Dylan Hartley, and Joe Marler earned their side a penalty from a scrum on half way, outside half Ford kicked deep into Wales territory.

And after a series of powerful drives from the pack, Brown collected a loose pass from skipper and flanker Chris Robshaw and put in a grubber kick which Watson gathered to score in the corner. Ford hit the post with the conversion.

The ever reliable Halfpenny struck back with a successful penalty when Cole was penalised at the breakdown, before Ford responded with three points of his own after home centre Jamie Roberts put in an early tackle on English winger Johnny May.

The same passage of play had seen George North leave the field with a head injury, although he controversially returned to the action just before the break despite still clearly feeling the effects of his accidental collision with English second row Dave Attwood.

Halfpenny then pulled a relatively straight forward penalty chance wide, but Gatland’s men ensured an eight point lead at the break by virtue of Biggar’s well struck drop goal with the final play of the half.

But if England had been guilty of a slow start in the first period, their opening to the second was anything but. A four minute spell of intense pressure, with flanker James Haskell and No 8 Billy Vunipola in particular hammering away at the Welsh defence, culminated with centre Jonathan Joseph brushing aside the tackles of both Biggar and North for a try that Ford converted.

Ford, looking increasingly assured after having two clearance kicks charged down in the first half, was then narrowly wide with a long range penalty – but his side remained on the front foot as the Welsh made little impact on the organised English defence. With 19 minutes left, the outstanding Haskell seemed destined to crash over but was denied by a combination of the post, Faletau and Cuthbert – but the latter was then yellow carded for not rolling away from the subsequent ruck.

Ford put over the simple penalty chance to give his side the lead for the first time. Gatland’s men appeared to be running out of ideas and after Biggar hoisted up a high ball that home centre Jonathan Davies narrowly failed to gather, the English threatened again when centre Luther Burrell broke upfield, but wasted a golden opportunity by delivering a poor pass behind Brown.

With five minutes left, it appeared the visitors had sealed a famous win when Attwood picked up from a ruck and drove over, but after lengthy consultation with his video official, referee Jerome Garces disallowed the try after it appeared Biggar had been impeded in his attempts to make a tackle. It gave the Welsh one last chance to attack but again, despite a series of phases around the half way mark they made no inroads against the blanket English defence, and it was of little surprise when replacement second row Charteris was penalised for holding on.

Man of the match Ford sealed a fine night for his side when he drilled over the resultant penalty from over 40 metres out, and give England a great start in their quest for a first Six Nations title since 2011.

In his post match press conference, Gatland said his side had paid the price for putting themselves under pressure in the second half, and dismissed suggestions the opposition were weakened by their long injury list. “I thought we were reasonably comfortable at half time – but started the second half poorly and they came back very well,” he said.

“They have massive strength in depth and I think players who didn’t play for them tonight will struggle to get back in.”

He added that Samson Lee was an early injury doubt for next Sunday’s trip to Murrayfield, but also brushed off the possibility of trying to call upon Adam Jones should lee be ruled out. Lancaster meanwhile, labelled the win one of his best days in the job. “We held our nerve in the second half, played for field position, and our power runners came to the fore – the back row in particular was exceptional,” he said.

Wales: Leigh Halfpenny, Alex Cuthbert, Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, George North (Liam Williams 31-39), Dan Biggar, Rhys Webb (Mike Phillips), Gethin Jenkins (Paul James 60), Richard Hibbard, Samson Lee (Aaron Jarvis 72), Jake Ball (Luke Charteris 69), Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton (Capt), Taulupe Faletau. Replacements not used: Scott Baldwin, Justin Tipuric, Rhys Priestland.

England: Mike Brown, Anthony Watson, Jonathan Joseph, Luther Burrell (Billy Twelvetrees), Jonny May, George Ford, Ben Youngs (Richard Wigglesworth 69), Joe Marler (Mako Vunipola), Dylan Hartley (Tom Youngs 55), Dan Cole (Kieran Brooks 62), Dave Attwood, George Kruis (Nick Easter 72), James Haskell, Chris Robshaw (Capt), Billy Vunipola. Replacements not used: Tom Croft, Danny Cipriani.

Referee: Jerome Garces (France). Assistant referees: Romain Poite and Mathieu Raynal (France). Attendance: 73,815.