Former England stars Jeremy Guscott and Martin Johnson were far from happy at how Eddie Jones’ side ceded control.
10-3 up at half-time and looking well set to push on, England rested on their one-score lead and paid for it.
Wales countered England’s kicking game well and matched the visitors with physicality and drive on a night of brutish, committed rugby in Cardiff. The Welsh lineout creaked too, but a superb second half comeback saw them finish as deserved winners.
England simply stopped playing and they paid the price. Johnson commented:
“If you go out and do your absolute best and get beaten, then you can say ‘Well, okay’… but there was a period there of 20 minutes where England didn’t do anything.”
Guscott paid credit to Wales for ‘taking a huge step up’, defending stoutly and succeeding with a limited and narrow attack that was a change in tactics that paid off.
While Wales legend pointed out that Billy Vunipola was caught standing guard at the breakdown before Cory Hill’s try, Guscott centred on what he felt were the failings of three English stars.
“Owen was not in the zone, Owen had gone with his couple of mistakes. Kyle Sinckler was a time-bomb… Billy Vunipola had a really strong game but there was no-one else taking that game.”
Guscott later declared that, one rampaging carry in the second half aside, England centre Manu Tuilagi was ‘non-existent’.
An emotional looking Warren Gatland and Alun Wyn Jones face the media after a record-breaking win. #WALvENG pic.twitter.com/t0TBojocAr
— David Nicholson (@davidnicholson2) February 23, 2019
Following Wales’ 21-13 win, Warren Gatland did his best to keep a lid on his emotions during a chat with the BBC.
“We created a lot of problems in the first-half with our turnovers. I don’t think England created anything really; they didn’t put us under any pressure.”
Gatland had joked before the game that England would try to do to Wales what John Mitchell (England assistant coach) claimed Ireland were going to do in the Guinness Six Nations opener on February 2. Mitchell had remarked, in January, that Ireland would try ‘bore the shit’ out of England.
Gatland, who has been linked with the England job, was asked about combustive Harlequins prop Kyle Sinckler, who was lucky to avoid a yellow card out on the field. “There were two or three penalties that he gave away and they [England] made the tactical decision to take him off,” he noted.
Asked about Wales as possible World Cup contenders, Gatland joked, “Apparently not, if you listen to a lot of pundits out there.”
