Fresh fire in the Dragon singes England

Wales 9 England 26

The ruins of Rome were not rebuilt in a week, but Wales displayed a sufficient measure of pride and passion yesterday to mount a decent salvage operation. After last week's humiliating defeat to Italy Welsh supporters, who long ago conceded that the fields of praise were no longer their birthright, were fearing a massacre of the innocents.

England won all right, but they were made to work extremely hard for their victory by two goals, two penalties and two drop goals to three penalties. It also came at a price. England lost two of their most dynamic players, the full-back Jason Robinson and the stand-off Jonny Wilkinson to injuries as Wales went some way to re-establishing a credibility that appeared dead and buried in the Italian capital seven days ago.

Time was, of course, when England could not win in Cardiff for love or money. In fact, since the game went professional they haven't looked like losing, apart from an aberration at Wembley Stadium, and a measure of the class divide that has opened up like the Grand Canyon is that yesterday you could bet on England at odds of 6-4 - but only by giving Wales a 30 point lead. As usually happens, the bookmakers won.

The fact remains that unless Wales want to suffer more of the same, 122 years of tradition centred around world famous clubs should be replaced today by four regions when every Tom, Dick and Dai in the Principality votes for revolution at an extraordinary general meeting of the Welsh Rugby Union. They will not, though, enter this historic occasion as a broken nation.

In the great old days a half-time score of Wales 6 England 9 would have been viewed with utter contempt; but not here, not now. Wales began in promising fashion, when rookie stand-off Ceri Sweeney put up a high ball which Robinson proceeded to drop.

That alone was cause for considerable jubilation and there was more to come. When England conceded a turnover, Gareth Thomas made the first of a number of penetrating runs. The right wing chipped ahead, and when he was taken out by Steve Thompson, Sweeney kicked the penalty from 40 yards. Against everybody's expectations, England were behind.

Not for long. After 15 minutes Tom Shanklin upended Dan Luger, but when Martyn Williams attempted to retrieve the ball from the side of the ruck he conceded a penalty which Wilkinson kicked to level the scores.

There was a half break from Will Greenwood followed by a Welsh scrum which appeared to be in disarray, and the upshot, almost too casually for words, was a drop goal from Wilkinson from close to the right-hand touchline. It was a marvellous kick which gave England the lead, but Wales continued to confound the sceptics.

Kevin Morgan caused England considerable problems by skinning Ben Cohen on the outside in a move which resulted in a penalty which Sweeney, to his disgust, missed. However, a minute later, the 23rd, the No 10 had a chance to make amends as Martin Johnson took out Robert Sidoli off the ball, and he made it 6-6.

England had been unable to establish a pattern and there was another strange development when Wilkinson, with a relatively easy kick, failed with a penalty. What next? Well, Wilkinson is not considered the No 1 stand-off in the world for nothing. In a similar position from where he dropped his first goal he gave on encore, again with disarming ease, to regain the lead.

They should have increased it after 33 minutes, a Cohen break catching Humphreys on the wrong side of the ruck. Referee Walsh had awarded the penalty, almost in front of the Wales posts, before his attention was drawn to a stamp by Thompson. The penalty was reversed, giving Wales their best opportunity to really hurt England.

Mark Taylor made a searing break in midfield, brushing off Charlie Hodgson, but having got to within 10 yards of England's line, he ignored two colleagues on his left. He went for it himself and was collared by Robinson, who was injured in the process.

Robinson's replacement, Phil Christophers, had no sooner run on than he obstructed Gareth Thomas off the ball, but Sweeney pushed the penalty wide.

Christophers found himself in the sin bin, but even so England increased their lead shortly after the break. A series of raids finally gave Greenwood a couple of yards of space and the centre, who scored a hat-trick here two seasons ago, proved again that he is not just elusive but strong too, beating off Gavin Thomas and Steve Williams to stretch over at the posts.

Soon it was Wales's turn to play with 14 men, when Steve Williams received a yellow card for killing the ball and almost immediately England capitalised. As Neil Back limped off, his replacement, Joe Worsley, scored England's second try with his first touch, crashing over following an initial surge by his Wasps club mate Lawrence Dallaglio. Wilkinson converted both as England established a commanding 23-6 lead after 56 minutes, but the anticipated onslaught did not ensue.

Wales continued to defend and attack in a style not seen for several seasons, but their only reward was a third penalty from Sweeney.

England's response was a penalty from Wilkinson in the 70th minute, but seven minutes later the great stand-off was escorted off with a leg injury after he had played a part in halting a break by Matthew Watkins. Both sides were forced to make wholesale changes, which did nothing to help the flow of a fast, furious but often dislocated match. By the end England had a scrum- half playing on the wing and a wing at full-back.

They could not replicate their pulverising victories of the last three seasons, but they did enough to record a valuable victory that keeps them on course for that elusive Grand Slam.

Wales 9 England 26

Pens: Sweeney 3; Tries: Greenwood, Worsley
Cons: Wilkinson 2
Pens: Wilkinson 2
Drops: Wilkinson 2

Half-time: 6-9 Attendance: 72,500

Wales: K Morgan (Swansea); R Williams (Cardiff), M Taylor (Swansea), T Shanklin (Saracens), Gareth Thomas (Bridgend); C Sweeney (Pontypridd), G Cooper (Bath); I Thomas (Llanelli), J Humphreys (Bath, capt), B Evans (Swansea), R Sidoli (Pontypridd), S Williams (Northampton), D Jones (Llanelli), Gavin Thomas (Bath), M Williams (Cardiff). Replacements: G Williams (Bridgend) for Humphreys 59; G Jenkins (Pontypridd) for Evans 59; C Charvis (Swansea) for Gavin Thomas 59; M Watkins (Llanelli) for Shanklin 66; I Harris (Cardiff) for R Williams 67; G Llewellyn (Neath) for S Williams 74.

England: J Robinson (Sale); D Luger (Harlequins), W Greenwood (Harlequins), C Hodgson (Sale), B Cohen (Northampton); J Wilkinson (Newcastle), K Bracken (Saracens); G Rowntree (Leicester), S Thompson (Northampton), R Morris (Northampton), M Johnson (Leicester, capt), B Kay (Leicester), R Hill (Saracens), L Dallaglio (Wasps), N Back (Leicester). Replacements: P Christophers (Bristol) for Robinson 39; J Worsley (Wasps) for Back 55; D Grewcock (Bath) for Kay 64; A Gomarsall (Gloucester) for Luger 77, J Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester) for Wilkinson, 77.

Referee: S Walsh (New Zealand).