Wales edge out England in Cardiff
By Mark Stevens
23/2/19
England's hopes of a Grand Slam in this season's Guinness Six Nations Championship were ended as Wales came from behind to defeat them 21-13 in Cardiff.
Despite leading 10-3 at half-time, Eddie Jones' side - which included Exeter Chiefs quintet Ben Moon, Jack Nowell, Henry Slade, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Harry Williams - were undone by tries from Cory Hill and Josh Adams as Wales secured a record 12th successive Test win.
That success means Warren Gatland's side, which featured Exeter Chiefs prop Tomas Francis at tight-head, maintained their 100% record in this season's competition and lead the standings by two from England, whose points came from a Tom Curry try and the boot of skipper Owen Farrell.
Post-match, Jones said: "It was one of those nip-and-tuck games of small margins. We gave away far too many penalties and they beat us in the air."
Adams' 78th-minute try came after he out-jumped England full-back Elliot Daly to claim a high ball, while Wales full-back Liam Williams' aerial dominance in defence kept the visitors at bay.
"The penalty count was against us and that gave them the opportunity to gain field position," added Jones. "It was a tough game. I don't know whether we lost our heads but they put us under a lot of pressure. I think a few of our players were a bit off today and that happens. Full credit to Wales, they deserved the victory and played very well.
"It's all about ebb and flow - we had a fair bit of flow, but we'll come back for the Italian game. We didn't attack space well today and we will find a different way to attack Italy."
England play Italy at Twickenham on Saturday, March 9 following a rest weekend in the Six Nations, while Wales still have to negotiate an away trip to Scotland followed by a home meeting with 2018 champions Ireland on the final weekend.
But whilst Jones was left to reflect on defeat, opposite number Gatland was full of praise for his side's showing.
"It is nice and pretty special," said the New Zealander. "We created lots of problems for ourselves in the first-half but we were much better in the second. All that pain and hard work last week (in training) paid dividends, in the second half tactically we were really good. It's a pretty special group of boys at the moment in fact a brilliant group at the moment."
Gatland will step down after this year's World Cup in Japan and there was a knowing smile on his face when asked if his team could provide a fairytale finish to his reign.
"Not a lot of pundits seem to think we are (contenders) so we will just keep our heads down and below the radar," he said.