ENGLAND ON FIRE AGAIN
(Image taken from BBC)
Well the last time England faced the Welsh was back in the Six Nations. Last days of the campaign, at the Millenium Stadium and the men in red made idiots of us! Twickenham tends to be a much happier hunting ground though, it's usually the Welsh that'll go back accross the Severn looking stupid. That's what happened in the '06 Six Nations at Twickers with England winning 47-13 in what was one of the brighter moments of that year's tournament.
It's rare that the two sides bother with friendlies though but this is what the Powers That Be had in mind in the final run in to the World Cup. The rumble went down at Twickenham and given that England needed form and confidence of some kind before heading to France, a game against the Welsh at home looked to be as good a way as any to get it, particularly as the Welsh XV for this game was said to be experimental! England looked pretty solid though so it was time for the show.
The game started with the two sides feeling each other out though it wasn't long before England were basing themselves in the Welsh half and after Shaun Perry surged through, Nick Easter picked up the ball to finish the job for England's first try and the number 8 then got his second after exploiting holes in the Welsh defence, Wilkinson converting after an iffy start. The Welsh had their attacking moments after that but England were ruling the set piece battle and Steve Borthwick soon found himself in the right place to join the try scoring party, Wilkinson converting. Increasingly dodgy Welsh tacking got one of their guys sinbinned and Wilkinson slotted in a penalty to finish the half 22-0 up and it was game over already!
The Welsh improved their defending at the start of the second half but their wall still broke with Easter completing his hat-trick after the big guys at the front left the Welsh crying for mercy with none coming, a now on-form Johnny converting both that try and a drive through that Shaun Perry claimed credit for. Finally the Welsh got back on the attack and it did actually come to something, Tom Shanklin soaking up the attention before setting up Daffyd James. That was as good as it got though. Exit Easter and enter Lawrence Dallaglio with the veteran making the scoresheet after bursting off a scrum, Wilkinson converting. Wipe yourselves off Welshmen, you're dead and just to make sure, Jason Robinson blew his way through an opposition defence for one try, Dallaglio set up Perry for another try and Johnny had the cockiness to punt the ball towards the Welsh tryline where Matthew Tait picked it up. Johnny converted the lot, final score 62-5.
That is officially England's biggest ever win over Wales and given the hammerings the Welsh usually get at Twickenham that says one heck of a lot, even if some would argue that it says more about the Welsh reserves than England's quality in general. Still, after the disasters in South Africa, it was the sort of result that we needed with two more friendlies to go before the World Cup. France are the next visitors to Twickenham and that'll be more of a match.
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