England finally buried the painful memory of their 30-3 defeat in Cardiff two years ago with a rousing second-half comeback to beat Wales 21-16 at the Millennium Stadium. Stuart Lancaster described his side’s win as one of the best moments of his career and the England head coach believes his team are now genuine challengers for this season’s Six Nations title.
The visitors, who trailed 16-8 at half-time, scored 13 unanswered second-half points and can also now claim a psychological advantage ahead of their Rugby World Cup pool meeting with Wales at Twickenham in September. Lancaster singled out his back-row forward James Haskell for particular praise and admitted that winning in Cardiff for the first time as England coach was a special feeling.
“I remember being interviewed here two years ago and it was the lowest point of my coaching career without a doubt,” said Lancaster, who had to cope with the loss of 12 players through injury in the build-up to this fixture. “Today’s win is definitely one of the highest points because of the pressure and emotion leading into it and the challenges we had in terms of getting our combinations together. It also confirms to the lads that we’re going in the right direction.”
England’s players also had to cope with a pre-match stand-off in the tunnel when they refused to take the field prematurely, unwilling to be left standing out in the cold while Wales delayed their entrance. “We were determined to stand tough and we did,” said their captain, Chris Robshaw. Earlier Warren Gatland had also expressed his displeasure that England had insisted on the stadium roof staying open. “It’s our stadium … we shouldn’t be dictated to by the opposition,” complained the Wales head coach.
Once on the pitch, however, it was England who took increasing control, tries from Anthony Watson and the outstanding Jonathan Joseph giving them a crucial edge. “We probably created three-to-four different opportunities in their 22 but the one ‘JJ’ took was a special try,” stressed Lancaster. He also suggested Haskell had played “his best game for me in my time as England coach” and felt the No8 Billy Vunipola had also “come of age”. England’s backs coach Andy Farrell added that England had always felt they would outlast their hosts. “We were confident at half-time, very confident. We knew that if we stuck to the plan that we would get them in the last 10-15 minutes. Our fitness came through, there’s no doubt about that.”
Gatland also acknowledged afterwards that England had been worthy winners: “In fairness to England they played well in the second half. I thought Haskell was absolutely outstanding and the players who came in did a fantastic job. Tom Wood will find it difficult to get back in the team the way Haskell played. Unfortunately we also weren’t as accurate as we should have been after half-time and put ourselves under pressure.”
Wales must also now await fitness updates on George North and Samson Lee ahead of next weekend’s trip to Scotland. North received a couple of bangs to the head and will now be required to go through the obligatory concussion protocols. England do not have any further injury problems, with the prop Davy Wilson among those hoping to recover in time to feature in England’s next game against Italy next Saturday.
