England vs Wales - minute-by-minute

[Puja]

Delayed, hopefully briefer than the usual cause I'm not flush with time at present, and with the first bits written on the train with ITVX in split screen on my phone, but still better belated than never, here is the m-b-m for Wales.


Initial preconceptions from watching the game once in the rugby club bar after my match:
- Ford was superb with ball in hand, but some of his kicks were exceedingly ropey and we were lucky the Welsh were terrible.
- Steward was better than people are saying, as was MSmith
- Dingwall was outstanding and has sewn himself into the 12 shirt
- Coles and Chessum were both outstanding
- Davison looked like a third team player who's been called up to the firsts for some reason and doesn't really know what he's doing.

Let's see whether those hold up?


Minute 1: Wales kick off long and we return the favour, not finding touch, but instead making the tackle just inside our half. Wales get slow ball which they take backwards for a few phases before accepting they'll get no change out of our defence and going for the caterpillar-and-box. It's a challenging kick that makes Steward come from deep and gives Mee the chance to take a free shot of jumping into him mid-air and barging with the excuse of catching. Steward spills, but his technique was good enough that he spills backwards and we sweep up.

Minute 2: No caterpillar for us though - back to Ford who clears long, once again not going for touch. Edwards gets back and takes it on the full, but there's no thought of a counter and we engage in pingpong that ends as a Welsh chaser gets a fingertip to Ford's clearance, barely changing the flight, but putting every Englishman onside. Underhill reacts incredibly quickly to the ref's call and catches LRZ in two minds, getting both hands to his chargedown which sprays off to the side. Earl has also reacted quickly as is first there to slide onto the loose ball and we are suddenly on the edge of the 22, going forward against a dishevelled defence. Rees-Zammit gives away a silly penalty for offside at the ruck and, while we show some good intent and attacking lines for a couple of phases, Pepper and Genge get in each others way for an accidental offside and we come back for a kick at goal.

Minute 3: Ford knocks over the straightforward 3 points.

Minute 4:: Repeat of minute 1 - Wales kick long, we gather and return, again keeping it in play, which appears to be a tactic. This time Rees-Zammit is indecisive about what he wants to do and eventually decides he can probably step Arundell, only to be rudely disabused of that notion and get bullied back 5 metres in the tackle. Wales recycle and caterpillar-and-box again, and again Mee gets a free shot to barrell into Steward in the air. This one is more forceful and does produce a knock-on, which upgrades to a penalty as England play it from offside. Not 100% sure what one can do about that tactic - it's unlikely to be given as a penalty as he is going for the ball, but just also determined to wipe the player out at the same time.

Minute 5: Steward is uninjured and Wales kick to the corner. We don't contest the lineout and just defend the drive, but it's a moot point as Jenkins gives away the most blatant blocking in the maul setup penalty you'll ever see, putting his jumper down and swinging behind him to prevent access. Tandy will be crying - not a lot you can do when that silly a penalty is conceded.

[FKAS]

Mee was a menace early doors. He's 6ft4 and gets up well enough and leads with two hands so as you say can get away with taking out the opposition in the air when he doesn't get the ball. Unsure why Wales stopped using that tactic when they were getting a bit of joy from it.

[Puja]

Minute 6: Ford's touchfinder isn't ambitious, so the lineout is inside our half still. We go straight up at the front and trust in our speed to get Pepper there first. Wales have done their homework and know that we traditionally bring the ball down and pop out to the deep-lying 9 for a kick from this position, but England are either double-bluffing or read the situation well on the fly, as the pass doesn't go and the two Welsh players shooting up are left helpless when we set the maul instead. There are probably two Welsh penalties there for jumping across the line and bringing down the maul, but the ref lets them away with it and we recycle for our own caterpillar-and-box. Wales do demonstrate a potential answer to my question about how you stop a winger barrelling into a full-back in midair, but unfortunately it's an answer from 2024 and the ref pings them for shepherding Arundell away from the contest.

Ford goes for touch and this one is a good kick, seeing us with a lineout 7m out.

Minute 7: We set a maul which is solid and commits numebrs, but doesn't make much ground, so we spin it out. Dingwall runs onto it, takes it flat on the gainline and moves the ball beautifully and quickly through his hands to set Freeman up on the crash ball off his shoulder. It's lovely play and compounded by Dingwall breaking away from the defender he'd attracted and then latching onto Freeman as he drives through the tackle. The two of them look like they're going all the way to the line, but Freeman wisely accepts the tackle just beforehand so that he's not held up.

The next three phases are big English runners charging onto passes from 9 and lunging for the line - none of George, Underhill, or Earl quite make it due to good Welsh tackling, but the pressure tells as another stupid penalty is given away (take your pick on the offence - not rolling away, coming in from the side, interfering with the 9...).

Minute 8: It's a penalty under the posts, but we're not interested in the 3 - Genge taps and carries, we go through two more forward lunges at the line off 9 passes, only just thwarted by Wales, and then Ford calls for it and has the choice of our entire three-quarters line who are all running lines inside the 15m channel and screaming for the ball. Ford spots LRZ has gambled on Roebuck and puts a gorgeous flat pass that goes across the face of three runners, cutting out both RZ and the covering defender scrambling across to try to get to Freeman, landing perfectly in Arundell's hands to let him walk in at the corner. Probably fair - he's the only one of the four of them that's **supposed** to be on the left wing!

Minute 9: Looking over the replays and it's just terrific attack from us. It's super-easy to say, "Oh, Wales were just terrible," but it's not that we're simply overpowering them or running through tackles or just seizing on errors. We are running good hard lines, all the passes are accurate and well-chosen, and we're spotting opportunities and flooding into the space. You wouldn't say Wales actually made any real mistakes in that defensive set - we were just good at them until we created a shortage of defenders and then overwhelmed that space with options.

Folks, I think we might actually be becoming a good team? What do we do?!

Meanwhile, Ford slots the difficult conversion and it's 10-0 to the good guys.

Minute 10: Seeing as it's worked so well for them so far, Wales kick off long, but this time it's Ford under it and he clears long for the lineout. Definitely a tactical choice - I wonder what's changed?

England do compete at the lineout, but it's safely taken by Wales at the front - they sling it into midfield and kick high, but the case is rubbish and Arundell takes without challenge (although does get a boot out in front of him, just in case). We recycle and Mitchell puts in a belting long box-kick for territory, pinning LRZ on the tiuchline. He kicks back long, but the angle restricts his options and Ford can take with ease and pick his spot to find grass in the 22.

[Oakboy]

This 'compete at the lineout' business interests me. Presumably one guy jumping anywhere in the line constitutes competition. Why do teams not do that even though they are not genuinely competing? By the letter of the law, the throw must then be straight reducing the comfort of gathering.

[Puja]

Minute 10: Seeing as it's worked so well for them so far, Wales kick off long, but this time it's Ford under it and he clears long for the lineout. Definitely a tactical choice - I wonder what's changed?

England do compete at the lineout, but it's safely taken by Wales at the front - they sling it into midfield and kick high, but the case is rubbish and Arundell takes without challenge (although does get a boot out in front of him, just in case). We recycle and Mitchell puts in a belting long box-kick for territory, pinning LRZ on the tiuchline. He kicks back long, but the angle restricts his options and Ford can take with ease and pick his spot to find grass in the 22.

Minute 11: Edwards makes touch, but the kicking duel has seen us convert Welsh possession into an English lineout and attacking position 8m inside the Welsh half. It's a well-worked one too - Chessum suckers the Welsh into going up at the front and instead takes a perfectly thrown back ball to tap down to Mitchell.

It's time for the commentator's favourite as Ford puts up the !!!SPIRAL BOMB!!! It's well placed, landing just outside the 22 - LRZ takes it cleanly, but then loses a couple of his rubs to Freeman's tackle. Wales do get it back though.

Minute 12: Caterpillar-and-box and it's a good kick for distance, but Steward gathers and gives it to Ford who decides that one !!!SPRIAL BOMB!!! just wasn't enough. Steward chaees after it like an alsation after a ball and obliterates Edwards as he lands from his catch. Excellent time to get him just as his foot hits the ground and Steward makes it better by bouncing to his feet before Edwards has stopped wondering what day of the week it is, and driving straight over the ball. Underhill and George are quickly on the scene to back him up and we drive Wales off it. There are some valiant Welsh attempts at cheating to hold onto possession, but a second effort by Heyes and.. is that Steward again?! It is! He's driven the Welsh support off, come out the other side, come back round, spotted we still haven't got the ball yet and immediately bound onto Heyes and given him the extra power to drive the last cheating sod off. Frankly, he can do as he likes for the rest of this m-b-m now - I **love** that kind of desire and workrate from a player (and the technique's great too!).

I am watching this on a phone screen on a train at present and my first thought was that Ford was standing flat, called for the ball and put in a lovely accurate pass to Freeman, who was running an outside arcing line that Wales only just manage to haul down to prevent a try. As it turns out, it was Ben Earl and Ollie Chessum! I am old enough to remember when we got quite excited because Danny Grewcock made one (1) offload out of a tackle. Our current pack are very much spoiling us.

Earl makes a good run on the next phase, jinking inside and going over the gainline, but our momentum stalls as Genge overruns a pass from Ford/Ford's pass isn't accurate enough and he fumbles it trying to bring it in. Shame, cause it was a good run and, if he'd held it, probably would've created enough turmoil for another try. We are coming back for a penalty as Wales were offside trying to shut down the Earl/Chessum axis and we opt to go for the easy 3 points.

Minute 13: I was just about to say that I didn't remember us kicking another penalty, and this is why - the video director does the dirty on us by showing a slow-motion replay on the big screen of Genge giving Mann a nudge with his forehead and the referee reverses the penalty, solely from seeing that. Wild really - the French use the big screen to avoid showing any of their offences and highlight every opposition infraction, and yet when we're at home, we actively reverse our own penalties!

Can't really see what instigated it, but Mann is well known as being a windup merchant and Genge should be grown-up enough to be able to ignore it. It's not really a headbutt, but he's probably fortunate to escape a yellow and there's just no benefit to doing it. Hopefully he's had the riot act read by Shoulddo Bettermate this week, cause I've no doubt the Scots are busy writing their comedy routines for if he drops a ball on Saturday in the hope of getting a reaction.

Wales kick for touch and have a lineout just past halfway.

Minute 14: Alex Coles rescues Genge from further repurcussions by putting in a great jump and getting a fingertip to the Welsh throw-in to flip the ball back our way. Heyes reacts fastest to take the loose ball and we manage to wrangle it back under heavy Welsh pressure.

Mitchell puts up the box-kick and it's well-weighted - Arundell wins the aerial battle and Pepper sweeps up the tap-back. We get it back to Ford who kicks behind Adams, weighting it to stop just before the tryline - the Welsh can clear, but it ends up with an England lineout about 35m out.

Minute 15: Chessum spots that the Welsh aren't paying enough attention and gets quick clean ball up at the front. We form a maul to tie the forwards in before George breaks and passes to Mitchell in midfield. Dingwall shows another nice touch at first receiver and Ford takes to the line before offloading to Roebuck on the charge. It's basic training ground stuff, but it's crisp and accurate.

We run a couple of one-out forward carries that don't reall go very far, so Ford drops back into the pocket and puts up a !!!SPIRAL BOMB!!! into the 22. It's a touch too long and LRZ can catch it unchallenged, but he's wobbling about all over the shop trying to track its flight and would've been in dire straits if we could've got a chaser closer to him. As it is, Wales have the mark.

[Which Tyler]

This 'compete at the lineout' business interests me. Presumably one guy jumping anywhere in the line constitutes competition. Why do teams not do that even though they are not genuinely competing? By the letter of the law, the throw must then be straight reducing the comfort of gathering.

It's not that - you have to be in a position to compete for the ball - go more-or-less high enough, at the rightish part of the lineout, at the right time.
It's all about materiality. Had the ball been thrown straight, and you could not have competed for the ball because you got it wrong, then you're not competing for the ball.
Early on a couple of times a SH was put at the front of the lineout, to just jump as high as he could and wave his arms in the air - it fooled precisely nobody.



Thank you for doing this @Puja

[Puja]

Minute 16: LRZ attempts to go quickly and kick long and there is space, but he's a distance in front of the mark, so the ref brings him back. Instead he goes for touch and it's an England lineout 35m out again.

We get clean lineout by Chessum once again suckering the Welsh to go to the front before moving and taking good middle ball. His skill at running a lineout is so important to us. His movement means that our maul sets up to little opposition and we rumble forward, pivoting around the Welsh when they make resistance, until eventually the ref has had enough and pings one of the several Welsh offences, before giving Lake a stern talking to and a final written warning of a yellow.

Minute 17: Ford kicks for touch - it's not hugely ambitious as it's only 15m out, but I remember how this bit goes so it's not important.

What I didn't spot on my first watch was that we put Arundell in at the front of the lineout, which ends up in a moment of unintentional humour because he is comedically confused about what he's supposed to be doing, almost to Jonny May scrummaging levels. We throw over his head to Chessum and set a maul and Arundell, for reasons known only to himself, lines himself up to try and defend the blindside from a Welsh attack, despite it being our ball?! George has to actually shove him out of the way to get by to join the maul himself, at which point Henry realises he probably doesn't have to eyeball the Welsh winger and might need to go get himself involved in that forwardy nonsense. He makes a brief effort by placing his hands on the back of the maul like he's planning on helping someone push a hatchback out of the mud, but at this point George has retrieved the ball and is trying to break away to go down the 5m channel (which is presumably why we had a wing in the lineout in the first place), only now Arundell's in his way. George gives up the dream of running something clever and takes contact, presumably in the hope that Arundell will know what to do there, but Henners has at this point panicked about being in the way, leapt backwards like a scalded cat, and left George entirely isolated and at the mercy of three horrible Welsh forwards.

Thankfully, Wales have already given the penalty away by driving early and taking out a lifter, so it's all entirely irrelevant, but I suspect that move needs a bit more time on the training ground. And a copy of the Penguin First Book of Lineouts for the poor befuddled back.

Brousset has lost his patience and follows through on his threat of a yellow card. Still, at least the Welsh know that he's a ref of his word and they'll be squeaky clean next phase to avoid more trouble?

Wales have got their heads on at this lineout and are watching Chessum like an absolute hawk, tracking his every move to make sure they don't get suckered again. That must make it even more dispiriting when it turns out that Chessum is just the decoy this time and the ball sails over their head to the unmarked Coles at the back. The best thing about this is that it's not an on-the-fly decision, but pre-called - Heyes does some hugely impressive footwork to 1) very obviously dummy-lift at the front, 2) run around to very obviously dummy-lift Coles at the back, 3) abandon his clear fake and go to make a real lift as Chessum's rear lifter, 4) have a moment of satisfaction as Wales realise he's a better actor than they thought, 5) turn around and be ready to join the maul that Wales are woefully unprepared to defend.

Wales get players back to defend the maul, but the rush leaves them vulnerable to England rolling around the side and suddenly Dewi Lake finds himself the only defender in a position to do anything about the phalanx of six unopposed English forwards heading for the line at brisk jog speed. His only move is to come in at the side and tackle the ball carrier, which does stop the try, but does it in such a blatant and cynical fashion that Brousset is left with no choice but to wield another yellow. Frankly, I wouldn't've blamed him for just giving us the penalty try - the only thing stopping that wedge of forwards was either cheating or one of them tripping over their shoelaces.

Minute 18: Jamie George does make a prolonged protest to Brousset as to what exactly would've stopped him from scoring if Lake hadn't intervened, but Brousset sticks by his guns. Probably a pointless use of a referee's patience there - not like he's going to say, "Ah yeah, you were right," and change his call, is it? The replays don't look any less damning for Lake though - not only is he coming in the side, he's then wrapped an arm around George's head, dragged the maul to ground, and then lain on the wrong side to slow the ball. Can't really complain there!

Ford has a confab with Genge about what we'll do with this penalty and Genge is openly amused as he informs him "We'll be having a scrum." Right enough, George agrees and Wales have to choose which two players they want to bring off for their replacement front rows.

Wales only have 7 in the scrum, but it is still minorly embarrassing to watch Carre get his metaphorical pants pulled down by Heyes. Embarrassingly easy destruction, milks a penalty advantage, and gives the scrum the openside wheel for England to attack from. With all those advantages and Wales one down in attack, it'd be easy to just wang the ball wide and expect to score, but England make it 100% - Dingwall runs a hard out-to-in crash ball off Mitchell's service, Freeman is immediately there to clear out, and Mitchell gets the ball back out again in less than a second, with England having committed four Welsh defenders to the near side of the posts before the Welsh back row have even recovered their way into the backline after the scrum. One wide pass to Ford and it's a 3-on-1 across half the pitch, where Ford once again picks the right option and perfect execution to dab the ball cross-field to see Arundell score in the corner again without having to break stride.

Minute 19: Ford doesn't make the conversion. Sack him!

Minute 20: Wales attempt a slow march back to half-way, but are thwarted by the ref getting annoyed and calling time off until they are ready to restart. The additional time doesn't give them any additional imagination, as they kick long for Ford to gather and kick long back. Wales engage in pingpong and it looks like Ford's going to join in, but he gets overexcited and has a run - beats the first man with a dummy, but then gets hauled down and probably turned over... except that Wales are ahead of the kick, so it's our penalty or scrum back where the kick was. Ford absolutely didn't know he had advantage there - that was just a fuck-up.

The Welsh kick was a long one, so we take the scrum for a massive territory gain.

[Epaminondas Pules]

What I didn't spot on my first watch was that we put Arundell in at the front of the lineout, which ends up in a moment of unintentional humour because he is comedically confused about what he's supposed to be doing, almost to Jonny May scrummaging levels. We throw over his head to Chessum and set a maul and Arundell, for reasons known only to himself, lines himself up to try and defend the blindside from a Welsh attack, despite it being our ball?!

We did this a few times in the match, of having the blindside wing in or very close to the lineout. The reason came to light very late on with Freeman's try. I was really curious on this lineout why Arundell was there, and then noticed it a couple of other times, and then finally a slight variation for Freeman's try. It is a sneaky move to use the winger in the tight space against a fatty close to the line.

[FKAS]

Excellent as always Puja.

What I really liked for the kick to Arundell was that it was such a nice shape. Arundell keeps his width, doesn't get overexcited. Steward runs and nice line to stop the defence just sprinting to the touchline and to give Ford another option should he had needed it. Lovely waves of attack, the Blackett shapes in attack do make a difference.

[Puja]

Minute 21: We get a scrum in this minute, but only just. Heyes once again takes the absolute piss out of Carre and the minute ends with Brousset signalling our advantage as we march forwards.

Minute 22: Earl plays the ball out of the collapsed scrum and we spread it wide - not doing anything interesting this time but just throwing it down the line. Freeman gets himself caught in two minds - he makes an outside arcing run and looks like he's going to beat the centre to make it through a gap, however he's got Roebuck outside him and there's a non-zero chance that, if Freeman goes for it, the Welsh winner will pincer in to cut him down and this will end up another clip on the video wall of pundits proclaiming Freeman can't play centre because he's a selfish bastard who never gives a scoring pass. On the other hand, if Freeman doesn't go for the gap, then the Welsh winger will drift onto Roebuck and cut him down. Freeman ends up doing the worst of everything - he goes for the gap, decides that he has to pass even though he's probably making it through, and then throws the worst loopy bullshit that you have ever seen over Roebuck's head and into touch.

David Flatman says, "I hope he's able to laugh about that at some point," but any parents of lip reading children are having to extemporise why that sports star just shouted "Funk!" several times in between apologies to his winger, which suggests that "at some point" is not today.

Again, not the most ambitious of touch kicks from Ford, only seeing us to 10m out from the tryline. We take the lineout quickly, throwing Pepper up at the front to take uncontested as Wales's lineout defence is demoralised by this point. We still have some trickery - they are expecting a maul or for us to bring it down and then play away, so Pepper passes it off the top and the ball is away while the Welsh forwards are still looking to bind into the non-existent maul. That means Freeman gets a free run at the fly-half without any forwards.

Minute 23: He bursts through Edwards's tackle and pumps his legs to drive through Mann and Mee's attempts to stop him, getting right up to the line before being dragged down. He probably could've stretched and gone for the line, but he flips on the ground to present the ball rather than try his luck. Turns out to've been a poor decision - we run one phases where George nearly gets to the line from a nice tip-on pass by Earl, then Wales mess about at the breakdown to slow it and Mitchell decides to go left to a forward instead of right to Ford who is screaming for it. Said forward is Genge who barrels over the line with a Welsh player turning turtle under him and gets held up. Really stupid play.

Minute 24: Wales kick the goalline dropout poorly and Earl gets the chance to run it back hard to 30m out. We spread it wide and lovely quick hands under pressure from Dingwall and Ford release Steward in the 13 channel. He draws and passes to give Freeman and Roebuck a 2v2 in a bit of space - Freeman runs at the gap in between the two defenders and I've seen people criticising this as him "not giving a scoring pass", but it's actually good defence by Edwards on the wing who blocks the passing lane long enough that there pass would never have been more than a 50/50 - good decision-making by Freeman to hold on and recycle.

He's rewarded for his prudence this time - a nice bit of interplay between Pepper and Underhill narrows the defence and quick ball again gives us space down the left. Four fast, flat, accurate wide passes by Mitchell, Ford, Dingwall and Steward, move the ball from one side of the pitch to the far left wing where Earl runs through Ellis Mee to score.

I need to take a moment to properly laud those passes. The ruck where Underhill is tackled is 13m in from touch on the right and about 7-8m into the 22. Mitchell picks up from the base at 23.19 on the clock. Earl receives the ball on the 5m line over the other side, about 7-8m into the 22, with the clock at 23.25. Every single one of the passes hits a man running onto it without him needing to break stride and (apart from Mitchell's from the base), every one was delivered on the run, having straightened, gained ground, and held the attention of the defence before releasing. We moved the ball 52 metres sideways, across 6 seconds, without losing ground, across 4 technically perfect passes, delivering it to a runner coming on the ball at pace.

I don't care what you have to say about the quality of the opposition - that is utterly exquisite play and practically no defence could stand against that.

Minute 25: The conversion is just about as close to the touchline as you can get before leaving the pitch, but Ford curls it in to give that try its deserved full 7 points.

[Puja]

What I didn't spot on my first watch was that we put Arundell in at the front of the lineout, which ends up in a moment of unintentional humour because he is comedically confused about what he's supposed to be doing, almost to Jonny May scrummaging levels. We throw over his head to Chessum and set a maul and Arundell, for reasons known only to himself, lines himself up to try and defend the blindside from a Welsh attack, despite it being our ball?!

We did this a few times in the match, of having the blindside wing in or very close to the lineout. The reason came to light very late on with Freeman's try. I was really curious on this lineout why Arundell was there, and then noticed it a couple of other times, and then finally a slight variation for Freeman's try. It is a sneaky move to use the winger in the tight space against a fatty close to the line.

Ah, good spot - I didn't see it live. Mind, the Arundell one is worth a rewatch for the comedy value - he's 100% forgotten the sneaky move he's meant to be doing and has defaulted back to lining up in defence as that's the usual reason he'd be in the 5m channel at a lineout maul!

Puja

[FKAS]

What I didn't spot on my first watch was that we put Arundell in at the front of the lineout, which ends up in a moment of unintentional humour because he is comedically confused about what he's supposed to be doing, almost to Jonny May scrummaging levels. We throw over his head to Chessum and set a maul and Arundell, for reasons known only to himself, lines himself up to try and defend the blindside from a Welsh attack, despite it being our ball?!

We did this a few times in the match, of having the blindside wing in or very close to the lineout. The reason came to light very late on with Freeman's try. I was really curious on this lineout why Arundell was there, and then noticed it a couple of other times, and then finally a slight variation for Freeman's try. It is a sneaky move to use the winger in the tight space against a fatty close to the line.

Ah, good spot - I didn't see it live. Mind, the Arundell one is worth a rewatch for the comedy value - he's 100% forgotten the sneaky move he's meant to be doing and has defaulted back to lining up in defence as that's the usual reason he'd be in the 5m channel at a lineout maul!

Puja

Not the best way to endear himself to his lineout obsessed head coach.

[Stom]

Thank you, Puja.

I will note that I did not necessarily criticise Steward for having a bad game, per se. I just noted that he's incredibly frustrating because he does a couple of great things, but then gets some basic skill wrong and fluffs his lines.

I still don't think that he's necessarily suited to what we need from our 15, but we don't have an alternative right now, really.

On another note, just seeing how painful Genge was...he goes through periods like this, where he's just almost a liability. I hope Rodd gets more gametime and shows he can be a viable international prop.

[Mr Mwenda]

Thanks as always for this, Puja!

[Danno]

No counter?

Thanks as always Puja

[Oakboy]

Puja, my prejudiced view after the game was that Underhill went missing a bit. So far, I think you have only mentioned him once (as not having got to a breakdown early on). Was it just not his sort of game?

[Puja]

Puja, my prejudiced view after the game was that Underhill went missing a bit. So far, I think you have only mentioned him once (as not having got to a breakdown early on). Was it just not his sort of game?

He's had three positive dings so far - great reaction to the ref's call to charge down LRZ, good reaction to Steward counter-rucking to secure a turnover, decent carry just before the Earl try (and the one about not making it was about a drive for the line and that was till a decent run). I will keep an eye out for him going forwards, but so far he's been pretty good.

Puja

[Captainhaircut]

Puja, my prejudiced view after the game was that Underhill went missing a bit. So far, I think you have only mentioned him once (as not having got to a breakdown early on). Was it just not his sort of game?

He's had three positive dings so far - great reaction to the ref's call to charge down LRZ, good reaction to Steward counter-rucking to secure a turnover, decent carry just before the Earl try (and the one about not making it was about a drive for the line and that was till a decent run). I will keep an eye out for him going forwards, but so far he's been pretty good.

Puja

He’s probably also often clearing attacking rucks and leading to the rapid ball we had. Our attacking ball is always much better when he is on the pitch.

[Puja]

Minute 26: Wales kick off l... actually this one's slightly shorter, but not enough for anyone to contest, so possibly a mishit. Regardless, England can run through a couple of phases and caterpillar-and-box. This kick's a bit too long from Mitchell and Arundell is a bit too enthusiastic on the chase - LRZ catches and sidesteps Arundell to watch him fly helplessly past like Wile E Coyote riding an Acme rocket. Our follow-up chase is good though - he steps another couple, but then Heyes hits him and he drops. Wales recycle and c&b themselves up to our 22 - Steward goes up and takes well, bounces the first tackler, rides the second, but then loses the ball. It actually looks like he's been stripped by the Welsh tackler rather than a knock-on, but the ref gives it as a Welsh scrum.

Minute 27: A long delay for the scrum as the adverts go on and, even with the ref belatedly stopping the clock, no scrummaging occurs in this minute.

Minute 28: Finally a scum and Wales get it in and out swiftly. Wainwright walks through a very poor Mitchell attempted tackl and Wales get some go-forward for a moment, but it settles down quickly to some unthreatening zig-zagging as the Welsh mark time until their sin bins may return. They get an unexpected bonus - Coles does a great job of driving the Welsh off a ruck and Pepper and Earl goes to legally pick up the exposed ball, only for them to get in each other's way and Earl decide to dive on it to secure it. The ref duly gives the penalty for going off his feet within 1m of a ruck, Wales go for the corner, and it's 15v15 again

Minute 29: Once again, our quality of lineout work is reflected in Wales doing the opposite. Their lacklustre movement means Chessum reads them like a book and gets up to get a hand in. He's hard done by here - the ref calls a knock-on, but Chessum's touch knocks it back towards England with the movement towards Wales coming from Mann's hand. Still, putting the pressure onto them is its own reward and we won't mind a scrum.

Minute 30: No scrummaging happens as NSmith and Heyes fuck about on the near side. The ref resets, which is a decent call as that was definitely both of them at it.

[Puja]

Minute 31: The ref takes forever over the calls, Wales lose their balance and it's our free-kick for early engage. Ford spots that there's space deep and takes it quickly to punt long. LRZ returns to touch in our half, but Ford is there to throw the quick lineout and Steward gets to dish out some embarrassment to the NFL failure by sidestepping him and charging up the middle.

We get momentum from a couple of quick phases gaining possession, but then Ford puts up a kick which is frankly baffling - I can't work out if it's mishit or if it's where he wanted it to go and it's just a really poor decision. Just seems to be an aimless hoof to give away possession to Wales. We didn't have anything especially on, but we did have most of the backline set up, so that was weird.

Minute 32: Wales kick it back and we engage in ping-pong, eventually leading to a Welsh lineout 10m inside their half.

Minute 33: Wales win the lineout and caterpillar-and-box. Roebuck taps back, but for once we're beaten to the loose ball and Wales recycle. Ben Thomas would've preferred that they hadn't won possession though - Wales chuck the ball into midfield with their dummy runners not looking even slightly convincing and he's caught 10m behind the gainline, with no options other than a hospital pass to his centre parter, and with England's blitz incoming. Fair play to him, he takes his medicine rather than shipping it on and duly gets brutalised by Dingwall and Earl.

Wales run another phase before Tomos Williams earns the dick-of-the-day award. Genge has a) made the tackle, b) rolled away and out of the path of the 9, c) gone to get up not knowing that he's in the passing lane, d) actively moved to get out of the way, only for TWilliams to make eye contact with him and then pass the ball into his chest (on a trajectory that would've led to no Welsh players had Genge evaporated on the spot). It is a technically correct penalty and I don't blame Brousset for giving it (and I probably wouldn't've objected to Williams getting a pen by protesting that Genge's initial move blocks an immediate pass), but it's a nasty bit of work.

Minute 34: Brousset, to his credit, does have a quiet word with Williams along the lines of, "Yes, he was technically offside, but please don't be a giant penis about it next time."

Justice is done as Wales overthrow the lineout. It looks like George is going to gather at the back and have a fun break upfield, but the bounce of a rugby ball always hates you and it jags off the ground and nutmegs him. Thankfully Coles is also paying attention as he dives on the loose ball. Ford flings it wide and Freeman shows some nice footwork to step two blitzing defenders and then power through another tackler to make some ground.

Once again, our quality is shown in relief against Wales's failures - just a minute after Thomas was let down by poor forward runners and aimless passing from his 10, we show Earl running hard onto a Mitchell pass, putting in a well-disguised pull-back to Ford, who runs at a gap to draw in two defenders before picking the right pass and sending Chessum steaming through the hole he's just created.

Minute 35: Crying shame - TWilliams just clings onto Chessum's shirttails and, just as Chessum's about to get the offload away to the supporting Underhill, he swings an arm around to ruin the pass. Welsh scrum.

The scrum goes down and Brousset gives Wales the free-kick this time. They take it quickly and look to go wide, but Ben Thomas goes for a no-look pull-back to LRZ on the wrap-around, unaware that Rees-Zammit has drifted wider with the aim of trying to go outside Freeman and is not where he was expecting. The ball hits the deck and England flood through...

[Mikey Brown]

I'm really invested in this now that Oakboy has decided Underhill was bad.

[Scrumhead]

Ha. Me too.

@Puja re. that last passage of play, was it definitely a knock on? I thought it went backwards in real time and the replays I’ve watched haven’t convinced me it was a forward pass.

Incidentally, the player who did an excellent job of collecting the pass in question (that would have led to another clean break) was Underhill …

[Puja]

Minute 36: The bounce of a rugby ball does do a good attempt at hating Dingwall, but he puts in a frankly incredible pickup by somehow getting the ball from low between his legs without breaking stride and he's got a clear run to the line. Full marks to him - he's probably got an 60% chance of scoring that himself, but he takes the 100% option of popping it outside to Arundell who scorches in for his hattrick. And earns me a fiver from Ladbrokes in the process, so well done Fraser.

Minute 37: Ford adds the conversion and it's 29-0 to the good guys.

Restart - Wales kick long, Ford kicks it back, England tackle around halfway [yawn]. Wales try smashing it up off 9 a few times and go nowhere in particular.

Minute 38: The tackling practise ends as Wales caterpillar-and-box. Steward takes well and England recycle, but Wales are rewarded as McLeod gets in a good jackalling position and Genge/Heyes make a complete mess of clearing him out - the latter gives him a gentle hug and the former misses him entirely and goes flying over the top. Not the best half from Ellis.

Wales kick for the corner and have a lineout 7m out.

Minute 39: Wales manage to win their own lineout, although they have to go to the front to do it. We give away a soft penalty for engaging our counterdrive a split-second too early. Wales attempt to use the advantage by spinning it wide, but the passing is calamitous and the ref calls them back.

Minute 40: Wales decide not to push their newfound lineout luck too far and opt for the tap... or at least try to. Lake manages to fail to actually make contact with a stationary ball sitting on the ground and so we're called back for an England scrum. Wales were going backwards from their drives anyway, so it wasn't like a certain try was overturned, but it's still comedically awful.

Minute 41: Fuckery occurs at the scrum until time is up, at which point England get the ball in, out, and out of play. Half-time.

[Puja]

Ha. Me too.

@Puja re. that last passage of play, was it definitely a knock on? I thought it went backwards in real time and the replays I’ve watched haven’t convinced me it was a forward pass.

Incidentally, the player who did an excellent job of collecting the pass in question (that would have led to another clean break) was Underhill …

I'd say it's a marginal one. I can definitely understand why the ref's given it as forward, but if it'd gone to a try, I don't think the TMO would've overturned it.

Puja

[Scrumhead]

Yeah, I can see why it was given but after watching it a few times, I’m yet to see any evidence/angles that show it actually did go forward. Shame as it could have been a very nice move that would have very possibly ended with a try.