England put ill-disciplined Wales to sword
MATCH REPORT: England punished an ill-disciplined Wales outfit by 48-7 to open their Six Nations campaign at Allianz Stadium.
Wales’ discipline left a lot to be desired, conceding four yellow cards in the clash.
Their set-piece were atrocious as well, which could spell another long campaign for Steve Tandy’s troops.
England, not firing on all cylinders, dominated in most aspects, backing their credentials as the team to battle France for the title.
*To recap all the action, CLICK HERE!
England got on the scoreboard first through a penalty by George Ford in the third minute after Louis Rees-Zammit had his clearance kick charged down.
Henry Arundell crossed the whitewash for the first of his three tries in the eighth minute after Wales conceded a series of penalties which stemmed from England’s half. Ford added the extras.
Wales’ ill-discipline continued to bite them, as they had been warned, and a minute later they lost Nicky Smith for deliberately collapsing England’s maul in the 16th minute.
A minute later, Wales captain Dewi Lake suffered the same fate, leaving Wales with 13 players on the pitch.
England extended their lead in the 18th minute through Arundell, who bagged a brace following a pinpoint crossfield kick by Ford, who missed the conversion.
Ben Earl bagged England’s third try after 23 minutes, after exploiting the extra space by going wide through the hands, which Ford converted.
A loose pass by Wales gifted England their bonus-point try, which came in the form of Arundell, who bagged his hat-trick in the 35th minute, converted by Ford.
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The scoreboard kept ticking for England when late replacement Tom Roebuck crossed for his side’s fifth try in the 45th minute, which Ford converted.
Wales put England under pressure in their red zone, leading to a team warning to the hosts for repeated offside penalties, which soon turned into a yellow card to Maro Itoje, who was barely on the field for 30 seconds.
Wales finally erased the scoreboard doughnut through Josh Adams, who collected a crossfield kick from Dan Edwards in the 52nd minute. Edwards slotted the conversion.
A cynical action by Ben Thomas ripping the ball on the ground to prevent a try saw him sent to the sinbin in the 65th minute.
Replacement Henry Pollock’s 67th-minute try was chalked off due to having a foot in touch-in-goal, but Taine Plumtree made a high tackle on him, leading to a penalty try and a yellow card to Plumtree.
Tom Curry’s match was cut five minutes short when he was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle in the 75th minute.
England had one final say through Tommy Freeman in the 79th minute with a try in the right-hand corner.
Ford’s conversion went off the posts, denying England 50 points, but it was game, set, match.
Player of the match: Henry Arundell’s hat-trick was impressive, but our award goes to Ben Earl. The No.8 had the most carries (17) and linebreaks (3) and was a menace in tight and loose play.
Scorers
For England:
Tries: Arundell 3, Earl, Roebuck, Freeman, Penalty try does not require a conversion
Cons: Ford 4
Pens: Ford
For Wales:
Try: Adams
Con: Edwards
Yellow cards: Nicky Smith (Wales, 16′- Repeated infringements: deliberately collapsing a maul), Dewi Lake (Wales, 17′- repeated infringements: Deliberately collapsing a maul), Maro Itoje (England, 50′- Repeated infringements: offside in red zone), Ben Thomas (Wales, 65′ – Cynical foul: Ripping the ball in a tackle on the ground), Taine Plumtree (Wales, 67′ – High tackle: illegally preventing a try from being scored), Tom Curry (England, 75′ – Dangerous play: high tackle)
Teams
England: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Fraser Dingwall, 11 Henry Arundell, 10 George Ford, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Guy Pepper, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Alex Coles, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jamie George (captain), 1 Ellis Genge.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Maro Itoje, 20 Tom Curry, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Ben Spencer, 23 Marcus Smith
Wales: 15 Louis Rees-Zammit, 14 Ellis Mee, 13 Eddie James, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Josh Macleod, 6 Alex Mann, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Dafydd Jenkins, 3 Archie Griffin, 2 Dewi Lake (captain), 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Liam Belcher, 17Rhys Carre, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Ben Carter, 20 Taine Plumtree, 21 Harri Deaves, 22 Kieran Hardy, 23 Mason Grady
Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)
Assistant referees: Nic Berry (Australia), Morné Ferreira (South Africa)
TMO: Tual Trainini (France)
