Welsh rugby had already endured the roughest week in its history and a first English win in Cardiff since 2017 has duly topped it off. Not that England will care how their neighbours are feeling. This was a dogfight between two desperate teams, both committed to emerging victorious by whatever means available, and a try count of three to one in the visitors’ favour was ultimately the game’s second-most telling statistic.
Just five minutes remained when Ollie Lawrence dived gleefully over in the left corner to seal an outcome that will feel sweetest in the English dressing room. All too often it was a case of England’s defence standing firm against Wales’s mostly blunt attacking efforts in a contest that rarely hit any great heights of subtlety or sophistication. That said, England will see this as another step forward in their journey under Steve Borthwick and one which, on paper at least, keeps them in this season’s title race.
