Two-try hero: Alex Cuthbert
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Wales claimed the Six Nations title on Saturday as they emphatically shut out rivals England 30-3 at the Millennium Stadium in a humdinger of a match.
Two tries from Alex Cuthbert, who ends with four scores to his name, proved to be the turning point in the game after a first-half that ended try-less.
It was a performance that brought back memories of their 2011 World Cup form and showed the potential this Welsh team has going into 2015.
Put simply, England were outplayed and could not cross the whitewash - now having done so just once in their last four games - as the Six Nations and Grand Slam both disappeared into the night.
As it was the defending Grand Slam champions that bettered a 108-year-old record to clinch their biggest ever win over England, surpassing the 25-point margin recorded in a 25-0 win in 1905.
The first-half was a rip-roaring affair in Cardiff as both teams went at each other hammer and tongs in an entertaining spectacle that had both fans in the stadium and viewers watching at home on the edge of their seats.
After building a 12-3 lead early in the second-half, through four penalties by full-back Leigh Halfpenny to one from England ten Owen Farrell, Wales surged ahead through Cuthbert.
That Welsh try - like in 2012 for Scott Williams - was one that came from the English losing possession in contact and when the ball found its way to Cuthbert on the right wing, the finisher fended off England back Mike Brown en route to a 35-metre run in.
That put them 17-3 in front and minutes later Farrell missed his second shot out of three.
Dan Biggar added a drop before Cuthbert stormed in for another try after good work from Sam Warburton and then Justin Tipuric, with Biggar completing the rout with a penalty.
This was Wales's second victory in a row over England, with the Welsh the only side to defeat the English in Six Nations action since Stuart Lancaster became coach in 2012.
Man of the match: So many Welsh players put their hands up as the pack as a whole, Dan Biggar, Jamie Roberts et al all stood tall in Cardiff. But we go for Justin Tipuric, whose fine showing on the openside flank was capped off by a superb assist for Alex Cuthbert.
Moment of the match: At 12-3 with over 50 minutes gone, the ball squirting out of a ruck and eventually finding Alex Cuthbert was the last thing England needed. The Cardiff Blues wing showed great pace to go around Mike Brown for a massive score in the context of the game.
Villain of the match: Nothing nasty to report.
The scorers:
For Wales:
Tries: Cuthbert 2
Con: Biggar
Pen: Halfpenny 5, Biggar
For England:
Pen: Farrell
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Sam Warburton, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Alun-Wyn Jones, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Paul James, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Andrew Coombs, 20 Aaron Shingler, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 James Hook, 23 Scott Williams.
England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Tom Wood, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 David Wilson, 18 Mako Vunipola, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Billy Twelvetrees.
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), John Lacey (Ireland)
Television match official: Marshall Kilgore (Ireland)
Comments
Headhunter99 says...
Just got back from the match and the night in Cardiff and Bristol, as an Englishman tough and painful but brilliant humour from all the welsh fans and very little carping on. Unlike certain elements on this forum with rabid anti-English comments
Let me tell you if you were not there yesterday you have no idea... Wales were utterly brilliant, England were not awful the Welsh out played and out thought them. The support was monumental and painful as it was it was great to be part of it.Whilst Walsh confused me at scrum time none of his decisions had any bearing on the result.
@jontheref - There are times when you have to stand there and do the right thing and applaud the winners at the presentation, the English team stayed on the pitch and clapped their opponents... any English fan who bu**ered off at the whistle is not showing real respect to a worthy opponent.
Finally great credit to the WRfU announcer who consistantly kept on asking for silence during the kicks at goal... a small element of fans from both sides really let themselves down.
Well done Wales, we now see how good SL is in picking up the team and taking it forward over the coming year.
Posted 10:55 17th March 2013
Frooschman says...
Dear God that hurt. Watching your team lose is one thing. Watching them get spanked is quite another. Congratulations to Wales. Deserved winners.
Posted 10:44 17th March 2013
J_Hdk says...
Great win by Walsh, I mean Wales. Wales showed great commitment and pace and England failed to live with the worst scrum ref around.
Posted 10:37 17th March 2013
Sirjona says...
Well done Wales there are a lot of PR posters who should be waking up and having a large plate of humble pie for breakfast after comments earlier in the campaign.
Posted 10:26 17th March 2013
choky says...
i think that the autumn tour was very misleading as to what was really england and france value - france beat a disappointing australian team and a weak argentinian team and should have lost agnst samoa but people just remembered that they won 3 games and that france was the real deal - england lost agnst australia and south africa and then there was this incredible victory agnst nz - but i think that people forgot that the blacks all got sick few days before the game and think that england amazing and great victory could have been a result of that (nz clearly running out of steam at end of game) - if you take out england victory agnst new zeland then you left with what for england ? - defeast agnst australia and south africa - 1 decent victory agnst scotland at home - 1 narrow victory agnst a weak irish side in a game which could have gone either way - 1 lucky victory agnst france due to psa silly changes and 1 illegal try - 1 lucky victory agnst itay and a thrashing defeat agnstb wales - seems to me that this england team (like france) is way overrated and has nothing really special
as for wales .... as a neutral guy (i am french) i am very very happy for that team - i thought after the world cup that this was going to be the team frm the nh for a very long time and could not understand how they could loose 8 games in a row - i love the way they play rugby and on what they showed today i believe that they are the only north team which can have real hopes i the next world cup - what a game they did today and what a fantastic rugby they played - congratulations for their well deserved victory and title
Posted 10:25 17th March 2013
JamieTheProp says...
England we'rent good enough and Wales deserved to win - that is a fact. But I wouldn't be that smug if I were Welsh - losing 7 in a row and losing against a poor Ireland and then scraping home against a very poor France - hardly imperious!
I think, no matter how painful, this will be part of a big learning curve for England and in the long run will be more valuable than the win. The 2003 team had to go through some beatings and came out the other side - hopefully this one will too!
And England players don't get picked for the Lions - all good! We need to improve our team and the more players we have together in Argentina the better!
Well done Wales - but be careful - beating an average England side doesn't make you world beaters and it is the results you've had against the SH giants that should worry you!
Posted 10:21 17th March 2013
Physiodan says...
Firstly. Well done Wales! After the disappointment of watching Steve Welsh (I mean Walsh) I have had time to reflect! England front row was hugely improved with Mako and his tackling was awesome! Parling and Launchberry have a long future together. England's back row needs a quality 7! Crofts return was not his best and Wood did a job at 8 but Tipuric showed England why a seven is needed. Good bye Robshaw! Youngs and Farrell don't work! When playing with Farrell youngs plays a more conservative game as Farrell stands too deep so there are no runners. Barrett offered nothing yesterday meaning that both Roberts and Davies could work together to marshal Tuilagi, who didn't have his best game ( you can't drop that pass in a game like that!) The back three! The worst I have seen in a 6 nations by any team! Only Brown is in the top 10 try scoring in the premiership (sat in 10th). One two and three are all English with Varndell Wade and Elliot with Thompstone and Biggs also higher up! Put Brown at full back and get 2 decent wingers! If England want to score tries then they need to look at Vunipola, Youngs, Cole, Launchberry, parling, Croft, kivesic, Vunipola, youngs, Flood, Elliot, twelvetrees, tuilagi, wade and brown!
Posted 10:20 17th March 2013
hellovanite says...
jamesliveinhope... I agree with your comments entirely, spot on!
Posted 10:16 17th March 2013
KiwiJoe says...
Only match I,ve got to watch all the way through this year but worth it.
Well done Wales for a famtastic atmosphere and outstanding recird breaking win, with commiserations to Stuart Lancaster and his team also.
They don,t deserve the bile they,re getting, but Farrell must now realise that it takes more to become a legend like Johnny than a few wins, a pot of hair gel and the odd snidey nudge here and there. You have to turn up for the ones that matter like Wales did.
Along with the Italian win, an excellent day of Six Nations rugby.
Posted 09:58 17th March 2013
sneggy1983 says...
Has i predicted we would dominate the scrum and the breakdown. Was nice to see our back perform better and like i said few days before the game if the backs found some form to back up our immense forwards we would beat England easily. Frighting to think what we could do if our back line hit their top form.
To say the ref was at fault is typical from the fans who lost. Walsh was very consistent all game after all we got penalised 7 times to the English 12. Its rugby when one team dominates the scrum you will get majority of the decisions its common sense. Why would the team in the ascendancy risk penalties when they are dominating. Good to see most of the English fans accepting and taking it on the chin but you will always get some uneducated fans complaining about the ref for the defeat.
The lions is very interesting now. I think Jenkins Hibbard and Jones have cemented their places in the starting team. Youngs got outplayed yesterday by Hibbard and Best had a dreadful game , well 6 nations if you ask me. Alan wyne is a defo starter best lock in NH and Evans has been awesome for Wales all throughout. You could argue for an all Welsh back row Heaslip not been great Falateua has been ammense and been doing most of the work you shouldnt notice and he carried awesome yesterday. Warburton played himself back into contention and Tupuric is amazing been the form player in the Rabo out of all the Welsh forwards so case for him starting at 7 to match Hooper who are both very similar players. Halfpenny, North are nailed on starters. Cuthbert awesome in attack but suspect in defence. No centre has impressed in 6 nations so thats wide open. Philips back in the fram with two awesome performances and outplayed Youngs. Outside half likelly to be Sexton no need for Farrel with Halfpenny in the team.
Posted 09:48 17th March 2013
kybone says...
jamesliveinhope- Great point about the midfield. 36 has to play. If Tuilagi had caught that ball early in the game yesterday a try was deffinitely on- then what might have happened. To be fair there was another instance later on where Barritt took the ball into contact instead of passing when he had an overlap to his right. I think both have been guilty of wasting chances this year. Our best performance by a million miles was with 36 in at 12. Hopefully SL can see that.
Posted 09:41 17th March 2013
kybone says...
Stag- The Irish in 09 had a team full of players that had been on the international circuit for 8 to 10 years. The majority of this England team weren't on the scene even at the WC only 18 months ago. Completely different.
Look at the Irish team now, but for a good 45 mins in the first game they might have finished this campaign winless- something England have never come close to doing in 6N era.
Posted 09:37 17th March 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
12trees and Joseph. Morgan 8, Wood 7, Croft/Robs 6. But the real prob all 6 nations has been front row. Parity at best. Wales crushed us there. And crushed us with commitment at breakdown. Maybe we have same prob as France at 10. Too many foreign props. I hope top England clubs let their foreign props go and buy British as Saints had to do. Let France take them. But this can be turned around and England have learned plenty. Wales have a challenge to maintain that and if they do its an era in the making.
Posted 09:13 17th March 2013
kybone says...
ruckingkiwi- You do realsie that Gatland wasn't in charge of Wales for this 6N right?
Posted 09:11 17th March 2013
kybone says...
liam2me- Arrogant, arrogant, arrogant- Have you got this stuff written down so you can remember what to call us everytime you post?
Posted 09:08 17th March 2013
Mayhem says...
@3in4,
The six nations table and world rankings will suggest that wales are better than you. In the opening game you took advantage of a side that was still asleep. We haven't let in a try since and remain unbeaten. You have since lost to all and scraped a home draw with France. I concede your injuries have been pretty special tho. But we WILL beat you in Dublin next year.
Posted 08:58 17th March 2013
lacroix says...
and of course one of the reasons this was such an entertaining game was an excellent performance by referee steve walsh.
Posted 08:56 17th March 2013
lacroix says...
one match doesn't prove that all the progress england have made was an illusion but the signs that this could happen were there in the games against france and italy.
MBLP's analysis is as ever right on the money.
i also think that the talk about the immense superiority of englands bench might need to be revised- bringing on flood and care didn't strike any one as likely to reverse the tide and both were very poor. again.
still think that with the core of excellence in this young team they will be a genuine force for 2015.
as for wales? superb performance.
halfpenny nailed on for lions full back surely especially after kearney's progressive decline.
Posted 08:54 17th March 2013
TheGreatOne says...
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Posted 08:39 17th March 2013
Stag says...
Looks like Lancaster and Farrell prepared their team poorly. No game plan, no answer to the welsh commitment. A lot of English players go missing in grand slam deciders. Ben youngs is one, Tom wood is another, Ashton of course and Farrell showed why he can't be considered for the lions. Puts the irish performance in 09 in context when we went to Cardiff and got the job done. England bottled it big time, lovely to watch.
Posted 08:37 17th March 2013