August 4, 2007
England 62 : Wales 5
A 57 point winning margin... blimey, who'd have thought it? And, thanks to my colleague Arthur, I was there.
Wales rolled out a reserve team today and were punished for it. While it must be good for the England team's morale (and devastating for the Welsh) it's difficult to say how well they played, because the opposition was so lacking.
If I'm honest, the winning margin should have been more if it wasn't for Wilko missing several kicks and England conceding a soft, if well-executed try, but I guess the English were still celebrating Nick Easter's hat-trick and the arrival of the old ox Dallaglio who, minutes later, more than made up for Wales's score by driving through a try...
I know Jones is injured, but do Wales really only have one player left these days? Maybe it was a cunning ruse just before the World Cup - clever if it was, 'cos right now the Aussies must be thinking that they've got the easiest group in the pool stage.
More likely though, the Red Dragons are asking themselves 'where do we go now?'
England dominated throughout and I had an excellent view from the upper section of the new stand. Great fun, although the number of red shirts had clearly diminished by Tait's final score/the final whistle.
Hard to pick it out, but this is Jonny Wilkinson converting a try.
(Must sort out a proper camera).
I wonder if Nick Easter has done enough to secure his place in the World Cup squad? His three tries showed how powerful a player he is. Worsley also had a good game and may have persuaded Ashton to pick him and Shaun Perry can't have hurt his chances by running two tries home (he's since attributed one to Easter, who consequently scored four).
Not sure which of today's Welsh XV I'd pick to go to France. Maybe none of them - if I'm honest they weren't very good at all.
'Le Crunch' next week will surely be a bit more of a match.
