Five takeaways from Wales v England

Colin Newboult

Wales' Liam Williams dives in to score his sides second try during the Guinness Six Nations match at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff. Picture date: Saturday February 27, 2021. See PA story RUGBYU Wales. Photo credit should read: David Davies/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: Use subject to restrictions. Editorial use only, no commercial use without prior consent from rights holder.

Following a 40-24 victory for Wales over England in their Six Nations game, here’s our five takeaways from the match at the Principality Stadium.

Topline

Fortune favours the bold and today, in both fortune and discipline, Wales were fully deserving of their 40-24 win in Cardiff. With a superb display from player of the match Taulupe Faletau, supported ably by Adam Beard and the evergreen Alun Wyn Jones, the Welsh precision and calmness under pressure allowed them to pull away from England in the last quarter, as English indiscipline prevented them from gaining any form of platform or consistency in phase attack.

It was a game that will live long in the memory for a variety of reasons, with controversy reigning over tries, penalties and a variety of close calls. However, to denude the Welsh win in any way would be an injustice. This was a victory hewn from clear decision-making, calmness under pressure and teamwork, three key qualities where the hosts were far superior to their visitors.

Hwyl

There’s a reassuring serenity about this Welsh side when pressure comes on them. With two cap centurions in their ranks and four others rapidly approaching that momentous landmark, they’ve seen it all, done it all and have the scars to prove it. Despite some of the whimsy of the officiating, England played some great running rugby in this match, got up off the canvas on two separate occasions and, at 24-24 with a quarter of the match to play, many recent Welsh sides might just have just crumbled under the pressure their old enemy exerted.

Not this side though. Alun Wyn Jones picked the game and his team up by the scruff of the neck with those enormous hands and dragged them, with willpower, conviction and pride, over the finishing line to record the highest points that Wales have ever made against England.

The discipline, poise and intellect were on another level to that what we saw from England. The back-row battle, a key match-up of the fixture, was won fairly and squarely by Wales (in part due to their willingness to adhere to the laws of the game) and their efficiency in attack netted a far greater yield from their incursions into the red zone that England managed, with Wales scoring 40 points from eight red zone visits and England managing only 24 from 28 trips into the Welsh 22.

It was a win based upon belief, clear thinking and logical rugby, seasoned with an implosion of discipline by England. Tonight, Cardiff may be in lockdown, but you can hear the voices strident and proud in victory.

Indiscipline

England have conceded five penalties in the first eight minutes of their last three internationals. Not through brutal illegality but rather sloppy technical infringements and today was a case of plus ca change. It’s not only their momentum that’s suffering; referees are human and once they start to believe you’re illegal, they’ll look even closer to detect any perceived infringement. Errors that are marginal become obvious; close calls go only one way and soon enough, you’re 10 behind on the scoreboard and nobody quite knows how.

Eddie Jones says his players are ‘trying too hard’; too hard at what, precisely? Being pinged is the only possible answer, because the notion of trying suggests a commitment to improvement rather than a resignation to the same old mistakes. There were moments of running brilliance from England today, with Ben Youngs, Anthony Watson and Jonny May having some magical moments. It was great to see the ambition, but having ambition without foundation is rather futile, as England found to their cost.

The man in the middle

It’s almost an unwritten rule of the sport of rugby that, as both a player and a commentator, the referee is immune from your criticism. However, let’s be absolutely honest here, Pascal Gauzere produced a display of comedic incompetence that would have been more befitting to Inspector Clouseau on April Fool’s Day than to any international referee, past or present.

His affect on the scoreline was absolutely quantum. His influence on proceedings was huge and in a manner that is absolutely unacceptable at this level and, if he were wearing a shirt of red or white, there’d be a good case to dismiss him from the field for consistently infringing.

With rugby a game of fine margins, a performance of this nature is unacceptable at this level and World Rugby need to apply absolute honesty to their assessment of his ability. For the post-match discussions to be absolutely dominated by discussions over both the veracity and the ability of an official robs the sport of one of its core qualities and also detracts enormously from a superb and worthy Welsh win.

The bigger picture

In all the controversy, it’s easy to forget that Wales have just secured a Triple Crown, put their record points total on England and are three from three with a Grand Slam beckoning. Wayne Pivac’s men are on a roll, look to be improving game on game and today, took a massive step to reclaiming their dented pride from 2020’s poor performances.

Their Lions have stood up, reminded all of their deep quality and knowledge and are contributing, bringing on the youngsters around them and forging a strong style for the future. In short, Wales are on the up and that’s great to see.

For England, this is now a crisis, make no mistake about that. The same mistakes are being made time and time again, on pitch leadership is cataclysmically poor and there’s no ability to stay calm, legal and effective. George Ford said, openly and honestly post-match, that ‘yes, there’s something going wrong, we cannot deny it.’ For a player of that quality to front up so honestly within 10 minutes of the final whistle is admirable; quite what ‘something’ is and how they fix it is quite another. England are, quite frankly, now in tatters.

By James While