England survived a brilliant second-half performance from Wales to secure a 23-19 win in the Six Nations on Saturday evening to keep hopes of a title alive.
Particular praise came the way of Bristol's Harry Randall after a brilliant performance on his first Six Nations start at Twickenham with both Marcus Smith and Ben Youngs, who became England's all-time record appearance maker as he replaced the young star in the second-half.
In the first-half, Marcus Smith was able to kick the points to establish a 12-0 lead for England at the interval when it could have been more with two further attempts missed by the young Harlequins star.
His club teammate Alex Dombrandt extended England's lead with a try early in the second-half, before Wales rallied and scored three tries through Nick Tompkins, Josh Adams and Kieran Hardy gave Wales late hope but England stood firm.
Smith spoke to ITV after collecting his man of the match award and picked out Randall for his praise after an assured performance from the 24-year-old.
"We just said 'keep going and keep lifting the tempo', the forward pack got us on the front foot really nicely, I thought Rands (Harry Randall) lifted the speed around the ruck"
"We were just a little bit off accuracy-wise but we built a nice score and it's nice to go into a half 12-0 up.
"We know how proud the Welsh team is and we knew they were going to have their patch and luckily we built enough of a lead but we've got to look at the second-half and we'll try and improve on that going into Ireland.
Also praising Randall was Youngs, who when speaking to BBC Five Live after the match said that it was an 'outstanding performance from the Bears man before commenting on becoming England's leading appearance maker.
"I thought Rands was outstanding today," he said.
"I don’t think the magnitude of what’s happened has sunk in. I’ve tried to convince myself that today and tomorrow I will sit back and try and absorb it all.
"Before I know it I’ll blink and we’ll be getting ready for Ireland [in round four] - right now I’m getting a huge amount of joy in helping this young team. While Eddie still thinks I have value and I think I feel value, it seems to be alright."
