England defeat Wales in 2020 Guinness Six Nations
England sealed a tight victory over Wales in the fourth round of the Guinness Six Nations at Twickenham Stadium.
Eddie Jones’ side scored three tries in a 33-30 win against Wales as they earned a third victory in the Championship.
England led 20-9 at the break via tries from Anthony Watson and Elliot Daly, while Owen Farrell added 10 via the boot.
Wales’ points came from Leigh Halfpenny and despite two tries via Justin Tipuric as well as Dan Biggar's second-half score, Manu Tuilagi helped secure victory with a try before also being sent off in the closing stages.
Electric start
It was a blistering opening five minutes by England, starting with Tuilagi and Tom Curry's double hit on Biggar, Maro Itoje's big carries into contact as well as their general intensity and it wasn't long before the pressure told.
Having threatened moments earlier, Watson jinked through on the right wing, released by Youngs via a neat inside pass and the Bath flyer exploited the space to dart over.
Farrell kicked the extras to take his international Test tally past 900 points but to their credit Wales came straight back. Having been denied a try as they knocked on over the line, a fracas then broke out with England penalised and Halfpenny sent over three points.
Farrell responded with a penalty of his own to take the score to 10-3 in what was a breathless first quarter at Twickenham.
Halfpenny reduced the deficit to four points, but England were over again just after the half hour.
Clinical England
England's forwards won a penalty at a scrum which Farrell kicked to the corner and from the resulting lineout Youngs sniped through, England took the ball into contact, recycled through their three-quarters before Ford released Daly on the left wing to dive over.
Farrell converted, also sending over a penalty for a 20-6 lead, and although Halfpenny kicked a penalty on the stroke of half time it was a clinical opening 40 minutes from England, in which they managed to convert territory in Wales 22m into points.
Wales fight back
Within 25 seconds of the restart Wales were over for their first try with Tipuric finishing off a magnificent team move which started with Nick Tompkins’ break and ended with the flanker going over under the posts.
Farrell’s penalty gave England a seven-point lead, while Ford took over kicking duties with 30 minutes remaining and stretched the lead after Wales were penalised from a scrum infringement.
England’s scrum in particular was an area of strength for Jones’ side as their power continued to pay dividends.
A third try came on the hour, Youngs again at the heart of it and after England’s forwards powered their way to Wales’ line, Tuilagi was released on the left to cross.
Ellis Genge was sent to the sin bin late on as Wales pressed to get back in the game and the 14-men were soon down to 13 with five minutes remaining as Tuilagi was sent off for a high tackle on George North.
Biggar went over with Wales exploiting the space and lack of opposition numbers to take the deficit to 10 points while Tipuric crossed in stoppage time. It was too little too late though with England taking victory and the Triple Crown.
They will now await news of the postponed fixture against Italy in what will be their final match of the 2020 Championship.
Teams
England: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Owen Farrell (c), 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Joe Marler, 2 Jamie George, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Kruis, 6 Courtney Lawes, 7 Mark Wilson, 8 Tom Curry
Finishers: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Charlie Ewels, 21 Ben Earl, 22 Willi Heinz, 23 Henry Slade
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 George North, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Tomos Williams, 1 Rob Evans, 2 Ken Owens, 3 Dillon Lewis, 4 Jake Ball, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 6 Ross Moriarty, 7 Justin Tipuric, 8 Josh Navidi
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Rhys Carre,18 Leon Brown, 19 Aaron Shingler, 20 Taulupe Faletau, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Johnny McNicholl
