When Wales were at their pomp in the 1970s the sound of the crowd in Cardiff singing Bread of Heaven as the visiting team were about to run on to the field put a wobble in the step of even the most hardened player in opposition colours. It was not enough on Saturday as England, who have fast become a team in the mould of their head coach Eddie Jones, art and soul, looked through the open roof to the heavens and received their Daly bread.
Elliot Daly’s match-winning try four minutes from the end summed up the essential difference between the sides in a match that combined unrelenting commitment with intent.
England were sharper in broken play and, even though they trailed throughout the second half, they were always within a converted try of a winning score. Wales, as so often this decade, struggled tofashion space.
As the clock ticked down and the home crowd started to believe, England showed the mental strength they have developed under Jones. They had wasted two try-scoring opportunities before Jonathan Davies’s clearance kick gave George Ford the time and room to launch a counterattack. Wales lined up narrowly as if expecting a kick return or an attack down the middle and Ford exploited the space out wide with Owen Farrell to deflate their hosts.
Wales had played close to their maximum, which made defeat all the more chastening, but as long as they resist a 10-12 axis in the mould of Ford and Farrell they will rarely score enough points to win tight matches. It was their fourth consecutive defeat by England in the Six Nations: the last time they endured that run was in 2003, the year their opponents won the World Cup. An appreciable gap has opened between the sides and Wales, close to full strength and enjoying home advantage, came up short against a team who were missing five forwards and had an unfamiliar back row.
Wales had opted for experience in selection but it was trumped by England’s vision and precision. The home side’s spirit was summed up by the outside-half Dan Biggar, who had spent most of the week with his feet up nursing sore ribs after an injury he had suffered in Rome the previous Sunday which forced him off at half-time. Biggar started by winning a turnover on his own line and six minutes from the end prevented a try with an interception one metre out that he turned into a Wales lineout in England’s 22. It should have provided the means to wind down the clock but, while England’s minds were clear, the home side, who had had one day less to prepare, were struggling to focus.
The lineout was lost, a penalty conceded and England had the launchpad for their final assault. When Wales had the chance to clear their lines after Kyle Sinckler had been turned over five metres out, the ball was passed to Davies, a centre, rather than Biggar or Halfpenny. For all the increased variety Wales had in their attack, and a stunningly simple try from a scrum they brought from the training ground, they were more rushed and less calculating than the champions. As long as they look to the future while clutching hold of the past a team without the depth of England will struggle to maximise their resources; valiant though Biggar was, Sam Davies gives their outside backs more time and options.
Wales were high on emotion, stirred by their captain, Alun Wyn Jones, who along with Ross Moriarty – surprisingly replaced 52 minutes in – Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric and Ken Owens took the fight to England who, after dominating the opening 20 minutes, found themselves in retreat for the next two quarters.
“There was a lot of emotion in the game but I do not think it was played solely on that,” said the Welsh captain. “We tried to be smarter, a bit more clinical, and use the ball more. Ultimately it was a performance that fell five minutes short. We matched them physically but we hurt ourselves at the end when we did not open out in the kick chase. Winning is a habit and England are on a strong roll.”
Victory would have taken Wales above Ireland into the top four of the world rankings before May’s draw for the 2019 World Cup pools. They should avoid their fate in the 2015 tournament, when they slipped out of the top eight just before the draw and drew England and Australia, but they have to address the gap that has opened up with Eddie Jones’s men. They will need more than commitment in the next round against a resurgent Scotland.
Warburton last week compared England to New Zealand and the outcome on Saturday was like so many of Wales’s matches against the southern hemisphere’s big three in the last nine years: matching them physically and close to them on the scoreboard for 75 minutes but falling short because of an inability to finish opportunities and a tendency to concede late on.
England were like a southern hemisphere side in the way they were able to construct the winning try with time running out. Instead of heaven’s bread Wales were once again left with crumbs of discomfort.
