Starting brightly against their Anglo counterparts, Wales took the game to England in the early stage of the clash. The Welsh crowd, celebrating Scott Gibbs’s 50th cap for his country, was somewhat silenced though as England began the scoring after ten minutes played.
In their first attack England scored through Will Greenwood, though the try was contested as illegal by the Welsh home crowd. However, Greenwood shortly afterwards had two tries to his name. Two tries from two attacks did not bode well for Wales yet the Welsh Dragon soon started accumulating points.
Neil Jenkins put Wales on the board with a penalty, which Jonny Wilkinson equalled, but Wales’s first try soon followed; former Welsh captain Rob Howley weaved his points-scoring magic as he raced across the English line after Wales had gained turnover ball.
England soon regained their scoring momentum, and after two quick in succession tries from Matt Dawson, Wales’s contest with the Red Rose was effectively ended. Dawson’s first came from a tap-and-go as the Welsh defence was found wanting whilst he beat Stephen Jones to the line for the second, which came just five minutes from the half-time whistle.
The second half witnessed more of the same, as Greenwood rounded off his personal try-scoring account with a third score to complete his hat-trick. Ben Cohen concluded the English scoring but Wales were able to give the Welsh crowd something to cheer for in the second half.
Although consolatory, Scott Quinnell’s try made the scoreline slightly less flattering to the professional English side that had played on the pitch of the new of home of Welsh rugby for the first time in a Six Nations campaign.
As Jenkins converted Quinnell’s try he passed the 1000th point of his career; the crowd saluted his effort yet on this occasion, Wales were unable to match the side that had given a measured and confident performance, and who were living up to the mantle of ‘tournament favourites’.
