The dragon roars again!
Wales have defied the odds and England's monstrous pack by recording an historic 11-9 victory over the world champions at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Wales centre Gavin Henson was the undisputed star of the show, and it was his long-range penalty that sealed matters at the death.
But if principalities have kings, Wales had 20 of them on Saturday afternoon.
Mike Ruddock and his part of the team will also be elevated to full royalty, for it was clear that the match was well planned and the players played to that plan.
Wales made their intentions clear right at the start of the match as they ran and ran with speed, flair and enthusiasm. Oddly, they may well have erred by ignoring the overlaps which their ingenuity had created. And when they had nudged ahead on that astonishing penalty by Henson, to make it 11-9 with four minutes to go, Wales still kept running and the final whistle went five metres from the England goal-line.
England on the other hand did best at the maul and varied that with thump-and-bang which too often produced slow ball. England in fact did not look like scoring a try.
Their best attacking option by far was Jason Robinson with his dancing feet. He was England's only rapier for the rest they were all broadsword.
But it looked as if the England strangler would work in the second half as they denied Wales ball and settled down to wait for penalties to see them home happy along the M4.
With 11 minutes to go Charlie Hodgson kicked his third penalty and it looked as if England were set fair for victory, but then the spring came back into Welsh legs and they attacked from all over the place and only a tackle by Josh Lewsey on Gareth Thomas saved the day.
But the tackling of the day belonged to the Welsh, above all Gavin Henson whose tackle on new boy Mat Tait was frightening as he drove into the young English centre, picked him and shook him like a rag doll, a harsh lesson for a young player sprung into Test rugby.
It was not Henson's only shuddering tackle on Tait who was substituted with 20 minutes to make way for Olly Barkley who was used as a tactical kicker in the wait-for-a-penalty game.
Wales ended the first half leading 8-3. It could have been more but for the waywardness of their captain.
Leading 8-3, Wales were on the England line where Dwayne Peel was awaiting delivery of the ball when a long Danny Grewcock leg came over the heap of bodies and his boot made contact with the crouched Peel's head. Peel reeled away. The Welsh were angry, and their captain, who is a fullback, Gareth Thomas come running in and shoved at Grewcock.
The referee and the touch judge had a chat about it. As a result Grewcock went to the sin-bin for reckless use of the boot and Thomas for a punch -- not that it was much of a punch, certainly not as ugly as the boot.
That was high drama, but the wonderful moment was the Welsh try, the first score of the match. England lost a second line-out and Wales went scooting off in attack from side to side until Shane Williams had an overlap and skated across at a wide angle to settle down in the corner.
Stephen Jones missed the conversion and then a penalty and then a dropped goal, but his tactical play was astonishingly good.
Hodgson kicked an early penalty in the second half to make it 8-6 and then, as substitutions proliferated, Wales were penalised at a tackle and Hodgson gave England a 9-8 leader, slender but possibly a winning lead.
Wales attacked. Replacement scrumhalf Gareth Copper grubbered. Brave Jason Robinson, captain of England, gathered the ball and was taken to ground. Lewsey and Hazell arrived and went in on their pressurised captain and were penalsied for "bridging". It was a long way out, some 44 metres out, and near touch. Up came spike-haired, tanned Gavin Henson with his original run up, concentration and high step -- and it never looked like missing. It was a winner.
Man of the Match: Cool, effective Stephen Jones was a star and there was a frisson of excitement whenever the ball went the way of Shane Williams. There was also intent in the Welsh pack, but the man of the match was undoubtedly Gavin Henson, a world class player, strong on the attack, telling in the tackle, strong when kicking out of hand or off the ground. His last kick is already part of Welsh lore, setting the druids a-chortling as they lick their lips.
Moment of the Match: There was Shane Williams's try and Gavin Henson's jarring tackles but really it was the kick that sent the Welsh up through their closed dome to heaven -- Gavin Henson's penalty goal at the death.
Villain of the Match: There were three candidates. There was the field. The dome was closed, the clock was working but the playing surface was as bad as it was six years ago during the World Cup Final, cutting up. There was Gareth Thomas's retaliation, but really the villain was Danny Grewcock for the reckless boot.
The scorers:
For Wales:
Try: S Williams
Pens: Jones, Henson
For England:
Pens: Hodgson 3
The teams:
Wales: 15 Gareth Thomas (captain), 14 Hal Luscombe (Kevin Morgan, 64), 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Gavin Henson, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Dwayne Peel (Gareth Cooper, 60), 8 Michael Owen, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Dafydd Jones (Ryan Jones, 64), 5 Rob Sidoli, 4 Brent Cockbain (Jonathan Thomas, 73), 3 Adam Jones (John Yapp, 73), 2 Mefin Davies, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Robin McBryde, 21 Ceri Sweeney.
England: 15 Jason Robinson (captain), 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mathew Tait (Olly Barkley, 59), 12 Jamie Noon, 11 Josh Lewsey, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Matt Dawson (Harry Ellis, 63), 8 Joe Worsley (James Forrester, 41-44), 7 Andy Hazell, 6 Chris Jones, 5 Danny Grewcock (Steve Borthwick, 66), 4 Ben Kay, 3 Julian White (Graham Rowntree, 72), 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Graham Rowntree (Phil Vickery, 56).
Replacements: 16 Andy Titterrell, 22 Ben Cohen.
Yellow cards: G Thomas (Wales, 35), Grewcock (England, 35).
Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Alain Rolland (Ireland), Rob Dickson (Scotland)
Assessor: Jim Irvine (Ireland)
Television match official: David Changleng (Scotland)
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