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Wales vs England - Live Match Centre

Alun Wyn Jones during Wales' Six Nations defeat to England in 2018

Follow the below link to the RugbyPass Live Match Centre for moment by moment coverage of today’s massive game between Wales vs England at Principality Stadium in Cardiff (kick off – 16.45 UK time)

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*** MATCH CENTRE ***

England head to Cardiff on Saturday sitting pretty at the top of the Six Nations table and with momentum on their side.

An impressive opening weekend win in Dublin was followed up with a demolition job on France and there is a growing sense that the Grand Slam is theirs for the taking.

Wales, too, begin the game unbeaten and with a clean sweep a possibility but without the swell of expectation given the underwhelming nature of their wins over France and Italy.

History is on the side of the hosts, however. Since the Second World War, Wales have beaten England in the final year of each decade from a 9-3 win in 1949 to the 23-15 triumph a decade ago.

Such is the emotion that Wales-England Test matches generate that form often goes out of the window, and many of the 74,000 fans who pack the Principality Stadium on Saturday will do so in the belief that a home win will follow.

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Coaches

Eddie Jones didn’t wait for an invitation to launch the first few psychological grenades ahead of Saturday’s clash. France had barely started the inquest into their 44-8 defeat at Twickenham when the England coach lauded the current Wales team as the best in history while suggesting that he didn’t treat the Principality Stadium as a fortress.

If both comments were designed to rile those west of the Severn Bridge, the latter does at least hold water. Wales have won 61.48 per cent of their home games since Warren Gatland took charge 11 years ago.

That is not a record to be ashamed of but New Zealand, England, Ireland, France and South Africa all boast higher win percentages on their own turf in that time.

For Jones, Wales hold little fear with the Australian coach having won all four Tests against Gatland’s side since arriving at Twickenham in the wake of the 2015 Rugby World Cup. He also beat them once as Japan coach when they visited during the summer of 2013 – although his Kiwi counterpart was of course with the British and Irish Lions in Australia at the time.

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Gatland does not have the best record against England. Having started with back-to-back wins over Wales’ closest neighbours, his side have picked up just four wins in the subsequent 13 Tests.

But under the New Zealander Wales have a knack of winning the ones that matter. They blew England away in 2013 to steal the Championship and their last victory in this fixture was the crucial World Cup clash at Twickenham. Gatland and his staff will have their players prepared.

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Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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