England banished their nightmare of 2013 at the Millennium Stadium with a pulsating victory against Wales in Cardiff.
Stuart Lancaster’s side suffered a humiliating 30-3 defeat in the Welsh capital two years ago, but recorded a scintillating five point victory in the Six Nations curtain raiser.
The result proved even more impressive considering England’s sloppy start, finding themselves 10-0 down in the opening stages.
But a sensational second-half performance sealed a famous result and stamps a real marker down for England, not only for the rest of the tournament, but for the World Cup in September when the two sides meet in Pool A alongside Australia.
An ill-disciplined start by England offered the early initiative to Wales when Leigh Halfpenny arrowed a penalty from 40 metres between the posts, and Warren Gatland’s side did not have to wait long for their opening try.
Ten metres from the line and with a scrum in their hands the hosts pierced through England’s defence with a destructive burst from Taulupe Faletau, whose neat turn and off-load freed scrum-half Rhys Webb on the overlap to provide the finish.
But Stuart Lancaster’s side came to life on 15 minutes to reduce the arrears. Chris Robshaw’s pack did well to scramble the ball out wide to Mike Brown, who released Anthony Watson with a probing grubber kick, and the 27-year-old produced an assured finish under pressure for his first Test try to add the Red Rose’s first points.
A needless penalty conceded by Dan Coles, making his first England appearance for a year, allowed Halfpenny to convert once more before George Ford booted over with a similarly straightforward kick.
Despite a late flurry from England, Wales extended their lead to 16-8 at the break when fly-half Dan Biggar found space in the pocket before sending an expert drop-kick over.
However, the visitors took a huge chunk out of the deficit immediately after the restart when Jonathan Joseph scampered clear. Dave Attwood penetrated the Welsh line with a powerful run and slick hands from May and Luther Burrell created the chance for the Bath centre, who skilfully evaded the attention of Webb and George North to scurry across the line.
England then edged ahead with a Ford penalty, but it could have been more if not for some sloppy handling and sheer bad luck. Lancaster’s men manoeuvred the ball well inside Wales’ 22, before James Haskell breached the line with a determined carry but, when seemingly clear, the 29-year-old clattered into the post after some last-gasp tackling.
May was then guilty of a knock-on in a promising position after Ben Youngs had recycled possession, while Alex Cuthbert was sin-binned for playing the ball on the ground to reduce the home side to 14.
England could have put the game to bed late on when Burrell collected a loose ball, but Brown failed to release the scoring pass to Haskell at the vital moment.
The Red Rose were congratulating Dave Attwood with five minutes remaining, only for the referee to penalise substitute Nick Easter for blocking Dan Biggar in a preceding phase.
But a composed, late Ford strike sent England five points clear and, with only a minute remaining, Wales were unable to trouble the scoreboard as Lancaster’s men sent out a message for the rest of the competition.
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