Welsh backlash buries Poms
2 Feb 2008
Wales scored two late tries to snatch an outrageous 26-19 victory over England at Twickenham – their first win at the English fortress in 20 years.
Leading 19-9, England made the unforgivable mistake of releasing the pressure in the final 30 minutes. Play grew progressively disjointed which suited the Dragons. When Wales levelled the scores through a converted Lee Byrne try in the 68th minute, the alarm bells were ringing.
A minute later, Iain Balshaw’s kick was charged down in midfield. The Welsh swarmed round the loose ball and it was Mike Phillips, the man who charged the kick, who scored in the corner.
Few would have predicted this result after England’s complete dominance in the first half. The Roses were as robust as ever at the tackle points, forcing turnovers and disrupting the Welsh halfbacks to an overwhelming degree. The set-pieces also went the way of the hosts, and even though Wales did exhibit the odd flash of brilliance they never had an adequate platform from which to launch a sustained attack. They were also highly susceptible on the restart with England regathering each kick with consummate ease.
It was Jonny Wilkinson’s pin-point cross kick that sparked England’s try in the first half, with replacement winger Lesley ‘The Volcano’ Vanikolo plucking the ball from the air and flipping a clever inside pass to an unmarked Toby Flood. But from that moment, they failed to cash in on their opportunities and completely lost the plot when they returned in the second period.
James Hook was in fine touch for the Dragons, nailing four penalties and two touchline conversions. Hook also made the break that led to Byrne’s try and was well supported by the smart-stepping Gavin Henson throughout.
The victory is a dream start for new Wales coach Warren Gatland, who must have given some half-time pep talk to initiate this kind of result.
To make matters worse for the Poms, three players look to have suffered serious injury. David Strettle, Lewis Moody and Tom Rees all left the field early on, which meant lock Ben Kay had to shift to loose forward in the second half.
England - Try: Toby Flood. Conversion: Jonny Wilkinson. Penalties: Wilkinson (2). Drop-goal: Wilkinson.
Wales - Tries: Lee Byrne, Mike Phillips. Conversions: James Hook (2). Penalties: James Hook (4).
170 Comments
Pages: « 1 2 3 [4] Show All
3 Feb 2008, 13:02 pm
#127
Can you remember those 2 games in a 20 year period.
1 point margin is a win just like 50 point margin.
Biggles i feel sorry for ya,then again the welsh are really not that bad,or was it there provincial team you played isnt bad.
3 Feb 2008, 13:24 pm
Big Hit
To beat Wales you had to do better than your average against them.
At the moment between England and Wales you have played 116 times and England have won 53 games.45% of the time you will win.So the odds were against you from the start.
We wont go into the stats against SA,NZ and OZ.The best three top teams in the world
3 Feb 2008, 13:28 pm
Red Dragons 26——Shirtlfters 19.
A great day for rugby.
And at the Wellington 7′s, The Cook Islands. (Could you even find this Country on a map Biggles) defeat England.
From the IRB website:-
Cook Island Senior Registered Players = 350.
England senior Registered Players = 147944.
Yes indeed, a great day for Rugby.
3 Feb 2008, 13:43 pm
Yes we will Hurricane, yes we will.
England’s winning percentage against NZ is a somewhere between 24 and 25%.
Which is better than the Lions who have approx 18% winning record.
Should England do the unthinkable and almost totally dominate World Rugby forever, from this point forward……..it will take about 100 years to match NZ’s record against them.
Sad, but true. Biggles is long way from achieving gloating rights.
3 Feb 2008, 14:41 pm
126
“Robinson, Catt, Cueto, Easter, Corry, Kay (Borthwick), Tait were all injured/retired.”
Nonsense about Tait Big Hit!Get your facts straight!
Ashton was on “Rugby Club” defending his decision not to pick him and basically admitted that he wasn’t good enough at 15.
3 Feb 2008, 15:26 pm
So England bravely managed to pull off another loss.
3 Feb 2008, 17:19 pm
Credit where due, BH did at least come into this vipers nest to admit that his team choked, more than many others who would most likely have laid low for a few months or weeks while the pain wore off.
3 Feb 2008, 17:22 pm
7-3 France – Scotland, off to watch the game.
3 Feb 2008, 17:35 pm
within fifteen minutes its 17-3 sorry make that 17-6 France, any chance of a similar turnaround such as yesterday, who knows?
3 Feb 2008, 17:45 pm
Cant help noticing on BBC news that Rapport has reported Jakes wife Debbie is sueing for divorce, must be she knows a little more than most bloggers on here, especially the likes of LH, PA, etc.
3 Feb 2008, 17:59 pm
France doing all the playing early second half except Elissalde keeps knocking on.
3 Feb 2008, 18:04 pm
And then coughing it up right on the Scotland try line.
3 Feb 2008, 18:10 pm
This close quarter passing game does not work, seen it fail a hundred times over and over again, close quarter fringe attacking is most often counter productive and asking for turnovers to be punishing the attack.
Get the ball to the centers and attack the gain line simple old fashioned conventional rugby strategy works wonders every time.
0
3 Feb 2008, 18:21 pm
This game could go just the same as yesterday, France doing all the playing but not closing out, Scotland could come back and steal it with a couple late tries if France don’t make their possession count.
3 Feb 2008, 18:30 pm
Well that should be the ball game Vincent Clerc rounding off a miss fielded kick ahead.
Scotland come back from here will be a minor miracle, can’t see it happening in ten minutes left.
3 Feb 2008, 18:32 pm
Wales and France to battle out this years 6N looks like
3 Feb 2008, 18:44 pm
Scrappy business but France still the form side in the NH and playing the most attractive rugby, this new French coach looks like he’s molding a running attack minded team effort, little better than Laport did before him, maybe next 4 years sees the eventual fruition of French flair and skill.
3 Feb 2008, 18:48 pm
Dusetoir is a class act loose forward, consummate no. 7.
3 Feb 2008, 18:53 pm
so too the Polish hooker
3 Feb 2008, 22:49 pm
1,2,3,4
We don’t wanna be your enemy,
But when we’re on the field,
It’s red, white and green,
Get beat by the Irish,
Get beat by the Scots,
The French ought’ta struggle,
But you’re the one we want,
We want…
As long as we beat the English,
As long as we beat the English,
As long as we beat the English, we don’t care
As long as we beat the English,
As long as we beat the English,
As long as we beat the English, we don’t care
We don’t care
Welsh Anthem by Stereophonics…
Pages: « 1 2 3 [4] Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.