Posted on 02/07/2005 1:01:11 PM PST by .cnI redruM
As they say across the Atlantic about NFL games, no matter what the odds, there's a reason they play the game. Wales proved this truism in week 1 of The Six-Nations Rugby Cup, when they took England's scalp in a hard-hitting 11-9 upset. For England, it's been a long downward spiral since they defeated Australia for The Rugby World Cup in 2003.
The match stats suggest a nasty affair in which the ball was kept in maul and towards the center of the field. The sort of boring game I'd expect England to own. Except they didn't.
Wales kept the game in England's half and made just a smidgen fewer mistakes. Wales had Errors Made: 19, Turn Overs Won: 6, Free Kicks Conceded: 0 and most importantly spent 54:11 of the match in England's end of the pitch. England could only muster Errors Made: 22, Turn Overs Won: 3, Free Kicks Conceded: 1 and spent a mere 34:00 in the Welsh end.
This reduced England to only scoring on penalty kicks, as they spent most of the afternoon on the back foot and in their own end. Wales got breathing room early with an unconverted try. England grimly bore down and had managed to kick themselves to a 9-8 advantage with less than 10 minutes to play.
They weren't able to defend their zone at the end and Wales marched down for the clincher. Three minutes from time, Gavin Henson drilled a penalty kick and put England away. The Welsh had come to play, and England had once more faltered. France can only hope England plays as predictably uninspired ball when they travel to Fortress Twickenham for Le Crunch next round.
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