Wales vs England - minute-by-minute

[Puja]

Minute 41: Wales kick off deep to TCurry who takes a regulation catch and sets up a ruck. It's a touch messy, so Mitchell chooses to go one more phase and passes to a forward pod to crash up and oh for fuck's sake Will!

What the actual fuck Will, you are in your 22 and it is not appropriate: IIIII

Daffyd Jenkins is not impressed by the double sidestep and takes his legs before he's even completed step 2. Stuart is tackled behind the gainline and we're lucky that Wales don't get a turnover from it, although that's tempered by the ref coming back for Itoje removing Lake from the previous ruck by his head. Fair cop.

Wales kick for the corner, but it's not a great kick as it puts them 8m out rather than 5. Itoje demonstrate why the 3m matters (and atones for his mistake) by competing at the front and doing just enough to disrupt and turn it over.

Minute 42: Earl gathers the loose ball and has a run, but he's isolated and so the ref goes back for the scrum from the knock-on at the lineout.

Minute 43: Hard to tell on this scrum. Initial thoughts were that Genge was cheating like a bastard and driving sideways, but the ref pings Assirati for boring and on replay I think he's right in terms of who turned in first. We're going forward, which probably has a larger effect on the decision.

FSmith kicks the penalty down to just over the 10m line. We take more uncontested front ball through CCS, and Mitchell sends it into midfield for Genge to run onto. Genge acts like he's going to do a bit of footwork and the defence slows to adapt to that, only for him to flip a late inside ball to BCurry on the charge. It's a great line and we get front foot ball and momentum, but unfortunately the box-kick has been pre-called and Mitchell doesn't change plans. He slows it down and belts it in the air.

Minute 44: Wales make a phenomenal cockup of fielding the kick and no-one gets anywhere near where the ball lands. Frankly, I think their ineptitude puts England off a bit as TCurry is jumping to compete and tap back and there's no-one actually there to compete against. He could've caught that without leaving the ground, had he realised, but as it is, his tap-back isn't effective and the ball bounces back into Welsh hands.

Wales play one phase and then kick it back to England - this one is in theory a high ball to compete, but MSmith has time to get under it and catch without competition. Roberts hits him as he lands, but Daly and Freeman are back and secure the ball well against a lot of Welsh bodies. Mitchell passes inside to try and set up a more stable ruck to play from, but Genge has decided he's a back and aborts his forward charge to stop and sidestep. He bounces NSmith, but he's not going forwards anymore and Rowlands makes a strong tackle, which he then transfers into being an absolute nuisance at the ruck.

Eventually the ball comes free and Mitchell box-kicks without the comfort blanket of a caterpillar - it's another belting effort and Daly rises highest to tap it back on England's side. Ben Earl takes the loose ball and throws a succulent 20 metre pass off his left that goes straight to MSmith's hands in midfield. It's a lovely situation - Wales are facing a 3-on-2 against MSmith, Freeman, and Roebuck. Their winger comes up from the backfield to make it 3-on-3, so Marcus puts a kick behind into the acres of unmarked space in the 22. Right idea, terrible execution - the ball slices off his boot and goes straight into touch. Not a great moment, but everyone makes mistakes.

Minute 45: Wales throw the lineout long and Itoje's stopped from getting to it by the fact it's crooked, but the ref waves play on. Wales play into midfield and Llewellyn cuts back against the grain - Dingwall will be disappointed to've missed the tackle that would've buried him behind the gainline, but he does enough to take his legs away and FSmith completes the job on halfway. It's a planned move by Wales - they aim wide, make England overfold, then come back towards where the lineout was. They run one quick phase and recycle and suddenly there's a 7-on-3 overlap down the blindside, which becomes 6-on-2 when Itoje is foiled by a miss-pass and goes for the wrong man.

Thankfully, Wales screw it up - Faletau choses to play the short ball to Lake instead of pulling it back to the backs, and Lake rewards him with cloghands and knocks it on.

I thought I was going to get a rest with a scrum, but Lake lase out at the ball in frustration and his flyhack finds MSmith, who wangs it about 25m sideways to Daly who finds FSmith. There is the option for a counter-attack - he's got forwards in front of him and Roebuck in support, but it's not an open goal and if he gets caught, he's isolated, so Fin turns back inside and kicks downfield.

Murray takes and puts up an uninspiring high ball that should just be England possession, but Mitchell fumbles a simple catch and the ball lands at Murray's feet to kick it forwards. He makes a good contact and the ball is rolling towards the line - he's chasing after it at pace and his only competition is Dingwall, who's standing still and facing the wrong way. As the minute ticks over, the chase is neck-and-neck, with Dingwall having just turned and started to run.

[Mikey Brown]

I like that you’re starting to include cliffhangers in your rundowns.

Tune in next week to find out if Dingwall beats Murray to the ball.

[Puja]

Minute 46: Dingwall does an incredible job. Murray should, by all rights, have won that race and he does pull ahead for a split second, but Dingwall's acceleration and desire bring him back level and allows him to go shoulder-to-shoulder and barrack Murray. They both dive for the ball as it slows just before the tryline and Dingwall gets his hand to it first to make sure Murray can't gather. The ball rolls over the tryline and MSmith is there to touch it down.

Wales 5m scrum and Genge has Assirati on toast. He doesn't over-press his advantage, which is wise, cause it'd be a very cheap penalty to concede for no real benefit, but he's bent him all out of shape. Wales get the ball away into midfield and Thomas pops the ball to Llewellyn who again makes a dent, this time through Freeman's inside shoulder. Mitchell is across to make the tackle, but Wales are 2m from the line and it'll be a try if they get the ball back.

Minute 47: Thankfully for us, they do not. BCurry is round and over the ball - not content with clinging on and trying to earn a penalty out of an unreliable referee, he rips the ball free and rumbles around the corner. Wales tackle well and it's a pressured ruck on our own tryline, but FSmith drops back to the deadball line and we pass back for him to clear out past the 22.

Replays just emphasise how beautiful that turnover was. BCurry is lightning in behind the tackle - TWilliams spots the threat and goes to clear him out, but Ben takes a late step to the right and the Welsh 9 flies straight past him. Then he's in over the ball, perfect body position, incredible hand strength to wrest the ball from Llewellyn who does not want to let it go, and the upper body strength to ride a massive clearout from Faletau and scrape the ball up into his arms.

Alas/huzzah, we have seen the last double-sidestep of the day, as Stuart and LCD are replaced by Heyes and George.

Wales take the lineout and set a decent looking maul which gains them a few metres. England nearly trap it in and turn it over, but Morgan wrests it away and bounces into England's defence. The ref gets a call from the touch judge about "White 4 collapsing the maul", which is interesting as Itoje wasn't bound to it at the point it collapsed. It's either mistaken identity (which seems less likely with Itoje than most in our pack) or a terrible decision, but either way it's advantage to Wales.

Wales use this opportunity to spread the ball a bit wider. This gives our blitz defence practice.

Minute 48: After several phases and negative 10 metres, the referee accepts that Wales aren't going to do anything and comes back for the penalty (or forward for the penalty, as the case may be).

Wales kick unconvincingly for the corner, this time landing about 15m out. We get replays showing the penalty and it is incredibly harsh - the touch judge seems to have pinged him for disengaging suddenly and allowing the Welsh players to fall over without him providing resistance. I mean, yes technically, I guess he has deliberately taken actions that would result in the maul falling down, but I'd argue that's the Welsh players' lookout for not holding their balance.

Wales throw long to the back and attempt a funky training ground move involving a dummy maul, a fake peel, and a late pass to Thomas cutting a line. England have it covered all ends up though and Thomas goes nowhere. They spread the ball with a wide pass into midfield and Faletau takes it to the line before offloading to Llewellyn on the burst, but this time we have him well covered and Dingwall makes a strong tackle.

Minute 49: A nice late decision on the gainline by Jarryd Evans suckers Freeman in midfield - he thinks Evans is running and goes to jam in for a double-tackle, only for the late pass to go to Roberts. Freeman adapts, but can only make a weak tackle that Roberts bursts through and England scramble to stop him 3 metres out.

Wales get quick ball and go back the other way - a nice offload at the gainline is well-read by George who makes the tackle, but the next ruck is quick as well and England are struggling out wide. A simple pull-back move sees Wales with a 4-on-1 - Roebuck charges up to pressurise Evans and, while the ball is moved, he's slowed things by stopping Evans running onto it, which gives Mitchell and FSmith time to scramble across. It's still a 3-on-2 with Mee on the ball ("I'm on the ball"), but the two halfbacks defend incredibly well - Mitchell slides across the face of the ball carrier, communicating with FSmith on his inside that the ball carrier is his and trusts him enough that he doesn't jam in even when Mee runs at the gap between them. Because Mitchell has drifted, he's now a threat to any pass, negating the overlap and Mee has no choice but to see if Mitchell's faith was misplaced and try to beat FSmith on the outside.

FSmith puts in a textbook side-on tackle that brings Mee down short of the line ("brings I down... wait that one doesn't work"). The winger tries a miracle offload, which might've come off, but both his supporting players are convinced it's going to them and between their joint efforts, the ball is fumbled forwards.

Henry Pollock comes on and is immediately very chirpy and mouthy as the scrum is being set up. Amusingly it's Ellis Genge who takes him in hand, giving him a literal smack around the face and wagging a stern finger with an admonition that I assume was along the lines of, "Concentrate on this scrum first." I suppose you set a thief to catch a thief.

Minute 50: No scrummaging takes place in this minute.

[Puja]

I like that you’re starting to include cliffhangers in your rundowns.

Tune in next week to find out if Dingwall beats Murray to the ball.

You think that one was good, you look above and see how Minute 50 ends...

Puja

[Puja]

Minute 51: As it turns out, I lied, apparently to create a cliff-hanger. The ball comes out with two seconds of the minute coming - I apologise and will accept my 20 minute red card.

We get our first view of Earl The Back, as Mitchell plays away from an unstable scrum and our new 12 runs a hard line off a flat pass. It's not drastically different to his duties as an 8 tbh, but being off a scrum, he has free reign to run at any backs he wants. He deliberately changes lines to target Evans and, even though Morgan comes in to help, he still gets us from our own tryline to 15m out with a good drive through contact. Mitchell kicks long, but doesn't find touch, so Roberts gets to run back. He tries to step TCurry and is chopped down. Assirati then tries driving through BCurry and gets solidly tackled. If one don't getcha...

Wales attempt to use their back and manage to fashion a 3-on-2 with some nice dummy runners/blockers, but Daly reads it perfectly and presses up to tackle Llewellyn man-and-ball to stop the final pass from going - I think MSmith was pressing up to cover anyway, but it's still a very nice defensive read.

The ball is exposed and Itoje is over it, but he's got too overexcited and is off balance and falling forwards - Morgan helps him out by coming in from the side and knocking him sideways which Maro protest vociferously, but the ref wisely decides it's something of nothing and play on.

Wales attempt to go back the other way, but Wainwright runs into a tag team of Heyes low and BCurry high and gets utterly smashed back behind the gainline. England come up hard next phase and only some very good offloading stops the Welsh from losing 10 metres from that attack - instead we have to settle for knocking them back 2 metres.

Unfortunately, the next phase sees Roebuck making a mistake and stepping in on the wrong player, leaving Faletau with a free run down the wing.

Minute 52: He brushes off three English tacklers before finally being felled just past the 10m line. England are very quickly aligned in defence - despite having just gone 12m backwards, we make 4m back on the next phase with solid and aggressive defence. Wales swing from side to side, occasionally making metres, occasionally losing them, without ever being in any danger of troubling the English defence.

Eventually Thomas gets bored and puts a nice kick through, finding space behind our wing. It bounces up to the English line where MSmith sweeps around to pick it up. It looks like he's boxed into a corner on his own line, and the chasing Roberts certainly thinks that, but Marcus picks up the ball, turns, and accelerates away with nary a hitchkick. Roberts is beaten for pace and MSmith can bring it up to the edge of the 22 before meeting a Welsh defender. Pollock and Heyes are there to clear out and we secure the ball before passing back to FSmith to clear. It's not a great kick - only actually gains us about 10m territory and gives a Welsh lineout.

Minute 53: I feel compelled to note that we are now in the 13th minute of this half and England have had possession in the Welsh half for a grand total of 2 seconds (Roebuck tap back of a kick, Earl passing back to MSmith just inside our half). I don't know we've necessarily done much wrong either - 1 needless penalty, 1 incredibly harsh one, but aside from that, it's mostly been Wales just keeping the ball, keeping their discipline and keeping up pressed back in our own half.

Wales throw into the lineout and throw it wide into midfield. Earl does a good job in midfield defence but, frankly, this isn't hugely challenging. His pressure forces a minor fumble and Wales are already being tackled way behind the gainline. They go from side to side, posing absolutely no threat to anyone for the majority of the minute. The lineout started 33m from the England line and soon Wales are threatening to be pushed back beyond halfway.

A big loopy miss-pass sees Mee with some space down the wing - it's closed down quickly by Daly, so Mee kicks the ball through. It's an awkward bouncing ball that Roebuck does very well not to fumble, but we secure possession just inside our 22.

The most interesting bit of this minute happens at the very end - Pollock is lying on top of the ruck that he's just cleared and very sneakily hooks his fingers into Gareth Thomas's sock as he walks past. It's completely pointless play except to wind someone up, which this does an absolute treat - Thomas loses his rag and shoulder charges the prone Pollock, eliciting a penalty advantage.

As I mentioned on another thread, I suspect that if he played for another nation, I'd find him utterly insufferable, but since he's inside our tent pissing out, I'm grudgingly entertained and regard it as "gamesmanship". He's actually a touch lucky that Thomas's shoulder charge didn't damage anything as it did strike on his exposed shoulder, so maybe worthwhile tempering the provocation in future?

Minute 54: The ball shoots out the ruck and Mitchell has to pick and go himself. We try to set a stable platform for the box-kick through another phase, but as soon as the referee tells us it's our penalty advantage, we take his hand off at the wrist.

The ref has a quiet word with Pollock about being a dick while time is off. I suspect he will not be the last.

FSmith kicks long... and misses touch. We are still yet to have actually possession in the Welsh half after halftime. Wales counter-attack and make it up past halfway before we can bring them down.

Minute 55: Wales continue with their deeply uninspiring attack off slow ball - while they are poor, we are smothering them and making good tackles that sap their momentum. It turns out that missing touch was actually a masterstroke, as Wales continue to try and go wide without good enough ball and an attempted pass before a tackle beans Elliot Daly in the eye. I always say that the bounce of a rugby ball always hates you, but for some reason today it loves us - this is the second header to go cleanly behind the defence and into the path of one of our players. Mitchell runs onto it, kicks through and then the ball bounces up beautifully into his arms like a cat acquiescing to a hug.

Comedically against the run of play, but that makes it 7-38 with another cliffhanger for Mikey to deal with - will FSmith be able to knock over the simple conversion??? Tune in next week, same BatTime, same BatChannel.

[Puja]

Minute 56: In a shocking revelation, FSmith pops over the conversion for 7-40 and you do have to feel a bit for Wales - England have got 14 points from sheer flukes and that last one looks to've knocked the wind right out of Wales.

It's the last move of FSmith's afternoon as he is replaced by Ford.

They kick off long and Earl takes uncontested. We reset to bring it back within the 22 and Mitchell kicks long - it bounces down to the Welsh 22 before Murray brings it to heel and starts the long run back down the pitch.

Minute 57: Murray's tackled, but Wales spread it wide and they do have numbers on us. We back off and exchange ground for numbers.

BCurry misses a tackle on Llewellyn that costs us another 5 metres, but Llewellyn has to slow to step Heyes and Curry gets a second chance - he hauls the centre down, uses his momentum to swing around to our side, bounces to his feet, and is in over the ball so quickly that Wales cannot clear him, even with two forwards having been right on Llewellyn's shoulder. Penalty to England.

We have a moment's pause before the kick is taken, as I think Ben's taken a blow to the nuts in winning that penalty. Dedication. FSmith kicks for touch and makes very sure of this one - it's still pretty good as it gets us from inside our half to a lineout at the edge of the 22.

Minute 58: Off the top at the lineout and wide pass into midfield again - Daly crashes it up with Earl on his shoulder to clear out. We go wide and a simple pull-back from Pollock sees Wales in disarray down the right - Ford passes to MSmith and, if it goes to hand, he's probably walking in, but unfortunately the pass isn't great and goes to Marcus's hip rather than hands, so it's fumbled backwards.

MSmith recovers the ball and we go again with George tipping it on to Genge as worked so well at the end of the first half. Unfortunately Teddy Williams has read this one and is there to absolutely destroy Genge, stopping him dead and then driving him back 5 metres. Argument that that's the best moment of the game for Wales there.

Mitchell goes for a snipe down the blind side, but can't quite link up with anyone so ends up taking the tackle. We then put in a couple of good pick and goes to get Mitchell back to his feet and then run one-out runners into lacklustre Welsh tackling.

Minute 59: Ford drops back into the pocket and puts up the !!!SPIRAL BOMB!!! with Roebuck on the chase - it's almost cruel to do that to the tiny and inexperienced Murray and Roebuck duly leaps above him to claim the catch. Unfortunately, he then gets cocky and attempts a mid-air offload as he's coming down from his leap - Earl was expecting to clear the ruck, not get passed to, and the ball goes past him. Pollock attempts to clean it up, but knocks on on the floor, so it's a Wales scrum.

TWillis is on for BCurry and packs down on the openside at this scrum, with Pollock at the base.

Minute 60: Assirati is boring in and driving sideways but, more pertinently, CCS has not got his shoulder properly socketed behind Genge which has crippled our driving power (as he's effectively pushing with his extended arm, not transferring all of the power from the back row through his body). Wales go forward and Berry obediently holds out an arm for a Wales advantage which they fail to accomplish anything with. First occasion where I've found fault with CCS at lock, which is highly impressive given his lack of experience there.

Wales kick the penalty out for a lineout 5 metres inside their own half.

[Puja]

That's all you get for today and I'm away for the weekend, so we'll likely get the final 20 minutes towards the end of next week.

Puja

[Banquo]

Daly seems to be having a good game which was my perception on my only slightly drunken watch

[Danno]

That's all you get for today and I'm away for the weekend, so we'll likely get the final 20 minutes towards the end of next week.

Puja

Enjoy your weekend

[Puja]

Daly seems to be having a good game which was my perception on my only slightly drunken watch

Yeah, I was going to note that (but forgot!). His intelligence and experience on the wing are not to be underestimated, as is the fact that he's apparently developed an ability to bosh in his old age. He's been consistently making good decisions in defence this 6N, some of which were crucial.

Having said that, I wouldn't pick him ahead of IFW, Freeman, and probably Roebuck right now. The first two are significantly more dangerous going forwards - they might not make the same percentage of right decisions as Daly does, but they have more natural capabilities than 2025!Daly and speed can make some wrong decisions right ones. Roebuck I'd say because his capabilities in the air make him such a useful weapon with where the game currently is. Added into all of this that we're 2 years out from a RWC and we're better off getting experience into thise three than we are hanging onto a 32 year old who might be better now.

However, he has convinced me he should be playing ahead of Sleightholme and Murley, which is a massive improvement on my opinion of him from before the 6N began.

Puja

[FKAS]

Have a great weekend away Puja.

Daly did play well in the 6N. His experience and big boot allowed us to move away from Slade which will help us longer term. As a short term option he's been very useful.

[Banquo]

Have a great weekend away Puja.

Daly did play well in the 6N. His experience and big boot allowed us to move away from Slade which will help us longer term. As a short term option he's been very useful.

He's also excellent at coming off his wing to link play/fill in. He'd have been a consistently excellent intl if we'd have just kept him as a left wing from c 2016, quick enough then.

[Oakboy]

Have a great weekend away Puja.

Daly did play well in the 6N. His experience and big boot allowed us to move away from Slade which will help us longer term. As a short term option he's been very useful.

He's also excellent at coming off his wing to link play/fill in. He'd have been a consistently excellent intl if we'd have just kept him as a left wing from c 2016, quick enough then.

Agreed. Daly to FB and Brown to the wing remains one of the most bizarre decisions by any head coach ever.

[Banquo]

Have a great weekend away Puja.

Daly did play well in the 6N. His experience and big boot allowed us to move away from Slade which will help us longer term. As a short term option he's been very useful.

He's also excellent at coming off his wing to link play/fill in. He'd have been a consistently excellent intl if we'd have just kept him as a left wing from c 2016, quick enough then.

Agreed. Daly to FB and Brown to the wing remains one of the most bizarre decisions by any head coach ever.

True. Though I can think of worse....Burgess, Barrie Jon Mather, Bergamasco at 9... marcus at 15