England off to a good start with victory over Wales

James Haskell scored two tries as England, wearing their Centenary celebration kit, beat Wales 30-17 at Twickenham to get their 2010 Six Nations off to a positive start.

Wales’ Alun-Wyn Jones had a moment of madness in the first half as he tripped hooker Dylan Hartley. The indiscretion happened right in front of referee Alain Roland, who yellow carded the Welsh lock without hesitation.

It proved to be a vital moment in the match, as England raced to a 20-3 lead while Jones was off the field in the sin-bin. Tries by Haskell and Danny Care meant that 17 points were scored by the time Jones returned to the field, early in the second half.

In a post match interview, Welsh coach Warren Gatland was frank about the fact that he’d quite happily drop a player for a lack of discipline, hinting that Jones may be taught a lesson.

Wales trailed 20-10 with less than ten minutes left, but got back into the match with a superb try by centre James Hook. They almost scored again as Hook offloaded to wing Tom James, who couldn’t collect the pass cleanly with the tryline begging.

At 20-17, Wales were on all out attack by a loose pass from Stephen Jones was intercepted by Delon Armitage, and a neat bit of interpassing allowed Matthew Tait to sprint down field before a flick pass to Haskell, who dived over for his second try.

An exciting second half resulted in England breaking Wales’ run of three Six Nations defeats in succession. Haskell was named Man of the Match, and Martin Johnson will be feeling confident going into their next match, against Italy next weekend.

Wales will host Scotland, who play France at Murrayfield tomorrow.


Time: 05:22

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