By AP
February 7th 2010 @ 5:24am
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England battle past Wales 30-17 in Six Nations
England scored three tries on Saturday to open their Six Nations rugby campaign with a hard-fought 30-17 win over Wales.
England again gave away a string of needless penalties but the match hinged on a cynical trip by Wales lock Alun-Wyn Jones.
He lock stuck out a leg in the 36th minute to trip the charging Dylan Hartley and was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes, during which England touched down twice.
Flanker James Haskell and scrumhalf Danny Care scored tries before Adam Jones and James Hook brought Wales back to within three points.
England looked to be faltering but Haskell rounded off a counterattack following an interception and Jonny Wilkinson struck another conversion and penalty to finish the match with 15 points.
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(11)
Look, it was...
Dave said | February 7th 2010 @ 8:36am | Report comment
England were flat and completely uninspiring the likes of Flood and Tate are out of place at test level.
Colin N said | February 7th 2010 @ 11:11pm | Report comment
Flood has played the majority of his rugby in the past two years at 10. It’s not surprise he was poor. Because of that Tait had very little ball to work with and he did quite well with the little ball they had. Both were defensively solid against a dangerous centre performance.
preciouspress said | February 7th 2010 @ 11:19am | Report comment
It was certainly an ordinary game with both sides handling badly and making poor decisions. In general I believe N. Hemisphere referees outperform those from Aus/NZ/Sa particularly in handling the scrum. however I thought Roland was very poor in that area of today’s game.
Keith said | February 7th 2010 @ 1:40pm | Report comment
Not the best game, but a wonderful try from James Hook. Had so much to do when he got the ball.
Frank O'Keeffe said | February 7th 2010 @ 5:27pm | Report comment
Frank is angry the games are delayed in Australia.
Frank is angry the games are no longer on Setanta sports.
Frank is angry that the professional Sky broadcasts are available in Australia now. Frank yearns for Austin Heeley’s analysis, and the pre-match comments of Keith Wood and Rapeal Ibanez.
I fell asleep watching the Ireland game. England and Wales were both pretty patchy, condusive perhaps of it being the first Test of the year. A very error-ridden game.
mattamkII said | February 7th 2010 @ 5:56pm | Report comment
Frank needs to stop talking about himself in the 3rd person.
Mr cheese said | February 7th 2010 @ 11:50pm | Report comment
Fair point, well made.
scarlet said | February 8th 2010 @ 5:59am | Report comment
was very disappointed with the Welsh handling in the first half but the substitutions, and a big rev at half time from Gatland, made for a more incisive second half. The Welsh backs showed a desire to run the ball and the ability to penetrate the defence. Hook and Roberts could be a very exciting centre combination along the lines of O’Driscoll and Roberts for the Lions, but it will take a few games for them to gel. Cooper was shown to be one dimensional, as was Tom James. AW Jones should have had the crap kicked out of him at half time by his team mates as he lost the Test through an act of crass, schoolboy stupidity. Overall I was not too depressed by the Welsh performance. If I was English I would be more concerned as the backs still lack any penetration or subtlety. The Welsh scrum suffered from the loss of two outstanding Lions front row forwards and the lack of a quality scrum half also meant that delivery in to the backs was often laboured by the Greganesque two steps before passing off the base of the scrum/ruck/maul that was evident with Cooper. It is no coincidence that the arrival of Richie Rees saw improved performance from the backs as he passed quickly and flatly without taking a couple of steps, maybe Wales will be able to develop further strength in depth with him to support Phillips and Peel. Also Andy Powell is too predictable and maybe Jonathan Thomas should take his place.
Wales gifted this game to England….bugger!
Colin N said | February 8th 2010 @ 6:27am | Report comment
“Wales gifted this game to England….bugger!”
I like it when people say this. You could argue the same thing happened last season, just the opposite way, England played all the rugby, but suffered from ill-discipline.
Hoy said | February 8th 2010 @ 9:59am | Report comment
I like the english jersey. Nice.
I have liked Hook for ages, however again, I think he has been ruined by not being able to play in the one position. There is no doubting his talent, however from memory (and please correct me if I am wrong), he has been around since playing a leading role in the 16 all draw against the Wallabies, around 5 years ago, and still can’t quite secure the one spot in the team.
I am of the opinion that Wales would be an awesome team if they had a more attacking 5/8 than Jones. I thought Hook was that fellow, until being shoved around into all positions but the wing. Now I don’t know if he will ever fill his potential.
Daniel King said | February 8th 2010 @ 11:50am | Report comment
Was a limited edition centenary jersey, my brother sent me one. Looked great on the TV covered in mud, the way rugby shirts should look.