England vs Wales
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6 February 2010, 7:07 pm ::Match Report by SportsbeatHaskell double steers England past Wales
James Haskell grabbed a try in each half as England held off another famous Welsh RBS 6 Nations fightback at Twickenham in their 30-17 win.
England turned the screw when lock Alun-Wyn Jones was sent to the sinbin racking up 17 points to establish a 20-3 lead.
Two years ago Wales overturned a 13-point deficit to earn their first win at Twickenham in 20 years and they threatened to do the same when tries from Adam Jones and James Hook made it 20-17.
However Haskell’s try with four minutes remaining saw England home after Delon Armitage had intercepted a desperate Wales attack.
A bright opening by England soon gave way to a disjointed display from both sides in the first half.
Hook missed with a long-range penalty on six minutes before Jonny Wilkinson dissected the posts with a kick of his own after Wales were caught offside.
On 19 minutes Nick Easter at the back of a maul was held up by determined Welsh defence and that allowed Stephen Jones to get the visitors back on level terms nine minutes later with a penalty when Toby Flood was penalised for holding on.
With both teams struggling to generate any sort of momentum England were given a gift by Wales when lock Jones deliberately tripped Dylan Hartley on the run. Rolland duly sent Jones to the bin and Wilkinson knocked over the resulting penalty.
His punishment was not to end there for the British and Irish Lion as England dominated the end of the half with the extra man.
Twice they were held up on the line before Haskell finally found a gap past a desperate Welsh defence.
Wilkinson converted to give England a 13-3 halftime advantage and they remained on the front foot after the break.
And just seconds before Jones was due out of the bin, England struck again.
Captain Steve Borthwick won a turnover and from there the ball was carried upfield by Ugo Monye and Nick Easter before Danny Care darted through a gap to touch down. Wilkinson added the extras.
Yet Wales’ response was immediate on 48 minutes when captain Ryan Jones opted to take a scrum rather than a kick in front of the posts.
His decision paid dividends as England’s defence was stretched left and right allowing prop Jones to barrel his way over. Stephen Jones’ conversion was on target but soon after he missed a long-range penalty attempted that would have got Wales to within a converted try.
Welsh winger Tom James failed to gather an offload with the tryline at his mercy but with eight minutes left Hook handed off Tim Payne for a brilliant individual try.
But when Armitage picked off Stephen Jones’ pass, Tait broke down field and Haskell was there to apply the coup de grace with Wilkinson adding a conversion and then a penalty to make the game safe.