WALES 30 - 3 ENGLAND
In what should have been a real spectacle and climax to the RBS 6 Nations championship with the title decider at the Cardiff Millennium Stadium, It turned into a complete and utter nightmare for the men in St George colours. As the Welsh Dragons completely outclassed a very poor English side on all sides of the game. Whether it was Scrums, runs, set plays or kicking Wales had all the answers as they massacred England by 30-3. Comments before the kick off abound were "Are England really that good and the Italian performance was a one off?" Are they the real deal? ". All questions were set to be answered in an 80 minutes nightmare infront of a packed out emotional Millennium Stadium.
Pregame gave the players a taste of what was to come as "Bread of Heaven" was bellowed out by the Welsh fans as the players went through their warm up and the noise was deafening inside the stadium and more so with the roof closed and made the atmosphere even more louder as it reverberated. The game was by many would England try to defend the 6 point different they held over their rival or go for it.
So as the players headed off the noise was building and the anticipation to the clash was growing by the minute. Time grew nearer t game time and as England came out into the cauldron of Welsh fans and were greeted to a warm reception. But then Wales came out to one of the loudest roars in International rugby as the pyrotechnics and smoke welcomed the Welsh side onto the pitch. The National Anthem was sung both with gusto and emotion by both sides, though the Welsh anthem "Land of my Fathers" was sung more loudly than ever before and with people in the crowd crying to, everyone was emotional.
New Zealander Steve Walsh was the Referee for this big clash, It became apparent that Wales were far more up for this game than England seemed to be as the defence was solid all game for Wales as England were struggling to make much if any head way in the Wales half. England had to weather a lot of continued pressure by the Welsh, Eventually England were penalised for Not rolling away and up stepped Leigh Halfpenny to boot it over for an early 3-0 lead the hosts.
A penalty on Dan Cole for not rolling away resulted in Mike Philips taking a quick tap and running through a static English defence as Tom Croft managed to stop the run and Wales ploughed on. Biggar got the pass and when he tried to pass left the balls slipped out going backwards as Barritt jumped on the loose ball as England gained possession back. England then found a gap as the forward spread play to the left wing Tuiliangui passed to Mike Brown and tried to pass his way out of trouble with no White shirts in support of him and threw in Welsh hands and they kicked deep into England half.
England gave away yet another penalty inside their half as they were penalised at the breakdown, so ref Steve Walsh blew, giving Wales or Halfpenny at least a chance to extend the lead and pull back the points difference. Halfpenny kick from 45 metres went over and Wales led 6-0 after 18 minutes.
The visitors then won a penalty of their own as Sam Warburton was guilty of hands in the ruck and gave Owen Farrell the chance to cut the lead in half. His kick just went over with help of the post to knock it get over the crossbar.
Wales were so dominant in all aspect especially the scrum as they turned England and gained a penalty with Halfpenny yet again converting for a 9-3 lead and Wales had confidence oozing all over as England were in danger of being embarrassed as they were at sixes and sevens and giving away penalties in good areas.
Wales then conceded a penalty straight away and Farrell kicked to reduce lead but his kick went wide and so missed a glorious chance to bring the score lines closer.
England started to get a bit of a foothold in the game for the first time as they started to make some progress but were still being snuffed out by the men in red.
Both sides had spells mini passages of play and right on the stroke of Half time Biggar tried a drop goal attempt and just went the wrong side of the posts as Wales headed into the break up by 6 points 2 points shy of the winning margin on points difference.
Second half started with Wales getting a put in to the scrum and yet again dominated the English pack as the forwards collapsed and was being a massive problem and over concern for the Stuart Lancaster and his side. Phillips & Tipuric both made breaks for the welsh as they made yards and was eventually stopped by the white shirts. England found themselves on the end of another advantage for the Welsh as they were still giving away stupid penalties to the home side. Leigh Halfpenny does what Leigh Halfpenny does best and that kick the points necessary for his side as they got out to a 12-3 lead and were now in Championship winning territory being 9 points up and 2 ahead.
England made changes to try and find any weakness in the Welsh armour as Wales was having everything go their way. Decisions going in favour of Wales and England making mistakes was leading to their downfall, and things got worse for the English as a quick break by the Welsh on the England left, Had the English in trouble as they were outnumbered by red shirts as Jonathon Davies pass to Alex Cuthbert was taken and as he run off the tackle of Mike Brown the Millennium stadium erupted in joy for the home side as they were now had one hand on the Six Nations trophy and England heads were starting to drop as well. Halfpenny missed the conversion but he was having a great game for Wales and so could be let off this once.
Owen Farrell then missed another penalty for England and it seemed the occasion had caught up to the English players, As while the England players were like rabbits in the headlights with the atmosphere and the play their opponents were producing. Wales on the other hand were playing great rugby and had certainly used the occasion as motivation as they asked England questions and had no answers to the men from the valleys. Biggar then knocked over a drop goal to make it 20-3 and this was becoming a rout now against the English and was bordering on embarrassing for the Lancaster and his troops.
They lack all motivation and a leader on the pitch as they fell apart and Wales rubbed salt in the wounds even more making it more painful for the England faithful, As Warburton cut through the English defence and was brought down halfway in the England half, Fast passing outlet came as they sprayed the ball out to the right and found Halfpenny, His pass found Tipuric with Cuthbert in support and as he dummy passed he made space before offloading to the supporting Alex Cuthbert and Wales and the fans were in dreamland as they scored another try and Cuthbert`s 2nd of the game and the champagne was already flowing as they dismantled England with fantastic team play and was giving them a royal beating.
England were downtrodden by the Welsh as they out muscled, out thought and out played the English and were far more clinical in all play. Defence wise they were magnificent and hardly gave England a sniff of a try. England were penalised again going in at the side and gave Dan Biggar the chance to kick the penalty and he duly obliged as his kick sailed over the bar and 3 more points added to the Wales score, Making it 30-3 and a demolition of the Pre tournament favourites.
England then had a mini spell where they finally reached near to the Wales try line and was pushing the Welsh defence hard for the first time all game, Only for Danny Care to try and dink a kick to corner but his kick went right out of play and summed up how England was in the game AWFUL!
England had the ball and were on the attack only for them knock on and feel just got worse for England as they lacked confidence and belief going forwards and didn`t look like a team that could score. The final 5 minutes Wales were pushing for more points and every attack looked menacing from the Welsh, Onwards they tried and all England could do was containing the Wales forwards.
Wales then kicked a ball into the England half and Captain Robshaw knocked on as he tried to grab it but knocked on and then kicked it down field in pure and utter frustration as the England Skipper and team mates on this day, it wasn`t be their day.
So as Steve Walsh blew for the full time whistle, Wales who came into the Six Nations on the back of 9 successive losses having last beat the Barbarians back in June 2012, They were crown the 2013 Six Nations Champions and the joy and jubilation was there for all to see as the Valleys were alive with the sounds of Victory & made especially sweeter for a any Welsh fan that they beat their enemy to not only clinch the title but to stop pinch it right at the end when it seemed that all along that England were going to cruise to the title. But credit to Wales they dug in deep and battled hard and grounded out wins and went to another gear when they had to barring the Ireland game.
Worthy winners overall and a lot of Welsh players hope to have booked their place on the flight to Australia for the Lions tour in the summer with British & Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland certainly pleased that his side under the tutelage of his Assistant Rob Howley winning the Championship for his side.
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