Wales’ on a march to the Grand Slam Crown

As David Strettle’s last minute surge for the try-line was referred to the television match official, the majority of the 82,000 supporters inside Twickenham, and countless others watching on their TVs at home,fought hard to ignore the memory of Mark Cueto’s left boot agonisingly brushing the touchline in the 2007 World Cup Final against South Africa. This one fortunately, for the hearts and nails of the nation at least, was a much clearer call, and one that ultimately rewarded Wales with their 20th Triple Crown.

Last weekend’s Six Nations clash between England and Wales at the home of rugby was quickly labelled as a potential epic between the fresh-faced talent amassed by Stuart Lancaster and the emerging force of the Northern Hemisphere under the tutelage of Warren Gatland, with the winner opening up a tantalising opportunity to claim this year’s Grand Slam title.

Both sides were coming off the back of successive wins at the opening of the competition, and yet the difference in the nature of those victories could hardly have been greater. Whilst Lancaster’s England were being applauded for their dogged determination and miserly defence, the Welsh juggernauts of George North, Jonathan Davies and Jamie Roberts, amongst others, were quickly creating an attractive brand of rugby at the Millennium Stadium that had supporters on the west side of the Severn salivating at the prospect of beating the English in their own backyard.

The question as the game loomed large surely seemed to be whether England, with the returning Manu Tuilagi in the outside centre berth, and Owen Farrell switching to fly-half in the absence of injured Charlie Hodgson, could start to play the expansive rugby that had been so lacking in the previous two matches. There surely could be no question marks over Wales’ strategy, with the mix of power and dynamism causing all sorts of problems for the other two British nations in previous weeks.

Within two minutes of kick-off, Wales stamped their intention on the match as the Welsh bulldozer George North came in from his wing to race through a gap in the English defensive line directly from a line-out to provoke squeals of anguish from the Twickenham faithful. It took a desperate tap tackle from David Strettle to deny North being one-on-one with Ben Foden, and surely sending a teammate in red under the posts.

Following that early break, the game became a cagey affair with both sides trying to force holes in the opposition defence through the aggressive nature of their abrasive centres, namely, Manu Tuilagi and Jamie Roberts, who both took the ball into contact several times in the opening exchanges. By the time England got within touching distance of the opposing line, messrs Farrell and Halfpenny (who appears to have completely taken over the kicking duties from fly-half Rhys Priestland) had traded penalties, with the scores at 3-3. Similarly to Wales’ best chance until that point, England built upon an attacking line-out, using the quick ball to allow Brad Barritt to crash through the midfield and provide England with a dangerous platform within ten metres of the Welsh line.

Quick ball again came through Dickson and Farrell, and it took an incredible tackle round the ankles by captain Sam Warburton to deny Manu Tuilagi a third try in three games against the Welsh, as he appeared destined to glide through the gap. With that opportunity spurned, neither side came close to securing a 7-pointer before the break, although Owen Farrell continued his exciting introduction into international rugby with a clever chip and chase which provided a decent attacking platform for his side, a platform he duly wasted when trying to repeat the trick twenty seconds later. Two moments that illsutrated the incredible potential but relative inexperience of league legend Andy’s son. Both kickers kept up their 100% ratio until the break, permitting England a slender 9-6 lead to ponder over the half-time oranges.

Four minutes into the second half, and the fans were witness to what appeared to be a defining moment in the game: echoing the efforts of Charlie ‘Stretch Armstrong’ Hodgson in the previous two games, lock Mouritz Botha charged down Rhys Priestland’s attempted clearance and gathered the ball to set up an attacking ruck just 5 metres out, with the Welsh defence backpedalling. When a try seemed certain for England, Priestland illegally prevented Dickson from cleanly getting the ball out to Farrell, and he received a yellow card for his troubles with Farrell duly converting the penalty to give England a six point lead.

The ten minutes that followed, with Priestland donning his tracksuit on the touchline in ‘the bin’, proves possibly more than anything else that Wales’ credentials as possible world-beaters are not exaggerated, as the red-shirted forwards kept the ball close and retained possession for almost the entirety of the sin-bin period; Halfpenny even added three points via the boot to decrease the deficit to just three points at 12-9. As Wales’ number 10 took to the field again, every white or red-clad supporter inside Twickenham knew that a tense final 25 minutes would ensue.

It took until the 68th minute before another bona fide try-scoring opportunity arose, and it fell to the Welsh, as quick ball inside the English 22 allowed the backs to fling it wide and Scott Williams ghosted past the challenge of David Strettle to set up a seemingly academic three-on-one opportunity. However, he held onto the ball too long as Ben Foden wrapped him up before he could lay the easy pass out to Jonathan Davies, who was screaming for it on his left shoulder. Williams’ embarrassment at wasting such a key opportunity would, of course, last less than ten minutes…

With the scores tied at 12-12 going into the final vestiges of the match (Halfpenny knocking over his fourth penalty of the afternoon after Matt Stevens was adjudged to illegally play the ball in the ruck), it appeared that it would take either a moment of magic or a horrendous mistake to decide the outcome of this key Six Nations clash, and that magical moment came through the unlikely figure of Williams, who had earlier replaced Welsh favourite Jamie Roberts, forced off
due to a knee injury.

As the clock ticked past 75 minutes, England replacement Courtney Lawes had the ball ripped from his grasp in midfield by Williams, who streaked through the gap and then put an audacious chip into the chasm left by the absence of Ben Foden who had raced into the English back-line when sensing an attacking opportunity beckoned. Whilst the ball bounced kindly on in the direction that Williams raced, Leicester’s Tom Croft galloped across to try and intercept theWelsh replacement, but the ball sat up perfectly for him to gather and dive in satirical Ashtonesque fashion under the shadow of the posts, to the delight of the travelling fans and the dismay of the English followers; Leigh Halfpenny’s simple conversion meant Wales led 19-12 with less than four minutes to go.

And so, with England facing defeat directly in the face, the self-preservation attitude came into play. The English forwards rumbled on from an attacking line-out deep inside Welsh territory, gaining a penalty advantage courtesy of referee Steve Walsh, and so with the clock going dead, England tossed the ball out wide via the hands of Ben Youngs and Toby Flood (both on as replacements for Dickson and Farrell respectively) to Mike Brown, who rapidly shipped the ball on to Strettle and watched him crash over the line amidst the sprawled bodies of Halfpenny and Davies. TMO Iain Ramage took several minutes to decide whether Strettle had forced the ball down with downward pressure, but he eventually ruled that the ball had merely been placed over the line and thus the try was disallowed, ending the game as a contest and rewarding Gatland’s Wales with a 20th Triple Crown and a massive step towards their first Grand Slam since 2008.

In hindsight, Wales probably just deserved the victory due to their tenacity and bravery, especially during the time that they were down to 14 men. However, this was not a bad performance by England by any means, and it in fact spelled the most promising moment of Stuart Lancaster’s laconic tenure, with notable mentions immediately given to England’s young guns of Farrell and Tuilagi. Both showed why they are being touted as the new hopes of English rugby, and it seems certain that those two should be the axis around which the back-line is built for the next World Cup or two. England’s pack more than managed the Welsh eight and forced turnovers on five occasions, matching their red-shirted counterparts, but it was ultimately the moment of magic by Williams and the sheer tenacity of the Welsh side that has arisen due to their impressive form and undeniable talent.

So then, after an ugly and yet undeniably beautiful victory over the English at Fortress Twickenham, surely even the most pessimistic of pessimistic Welsh supporters would struggle to hold back those two words that mean so much to the rugby-loving nation, as Italy and France must both travel to the Millennium Stadium and attempt to halt the Warren Gatland’s runaway train of a team.

Even the history books point towards the hallowed title: last time Wales won at Twickers, in a 26-19 victory in 2008, they went on to achieve that most inspiring of northern-hemisphere feats.

Welsh fans, don’t deny it: the Grand Slam is yours for the taking.