Well the result was said to be a forgone conclusion, but no one told the English team and so they ripped up the script. The opening 10 minutes fans would have been forgiven for thinking Wales would blitz England. But the men in white weathered the storm and then gave some of their own. This was not going to be a high scorer as defence of rib cracking power was on display. The referee was kept busy and the boots of Owen Farrell and Leigh Halfpenny worked the score board. Half time and England led 9-6 a fair response to the half.
The second period and at times the fans could be forgiven for hiding their faces as England squeezed out to 12-6. But then bring on the subs and Matt Stevens in his usual style gave away penalties one in front of the posts for Wales to close it to 12-12. Enter the last 5 minutes and all England needed to do was retain possession and get out of their 22, but no it was not to be and Wales new boy Scott Williams stripped the ball, saw space and chipped over to recther and with no English backs defence he had the pace to go over. Halfpenny added the conversion and Wales wer home and dry 12-19. But no this game had one final twist that could have given England a desered draw as a sweeping move ended with David Strettle going over in the corner. The fourth official took an age and as time passed we knew he would say no try and so it was Wales took their 20th Triple Crown at Twickenham for the first time. Final score:
England 12-19 Wales
Scorers
ENGLAND
Pens: Farrell 4
WALES
Try: S Williams
Con: Halfpenny
Pens: Halfpenny 4
England: 15-Ben Foden, 14-Chris Ashton, 13-Manu Tuilagi, 12-Brad Barritt, 11-David Strettle, 10-Owen Farrell, 9-Lee Dickson; 1 Alex Corbisiero, 2-Dylan Hartley, 3-Dan Cole, 4-Mouritz Botha, 5-Geoff Parling, 6-Tom Croft, 7-Chris Robshaw, 8-Ben Morgan.
Replacements: 16-Rob Webber, 17-Matt Stevens, 18-Courtney Lawes, 19-Phil Dowson, 20-Ben Youngs, 21-Toby Flood, 22-Mike Brown.
Wales: 15-Leigh Halfpenny, 14-Alex Cuthbert, 13-Jonathan Davies, 12-Jamie Roberts, 11-George North, 10-Rhys Priestland, 9-Mike Phillips; 1-Gethin Jenkins, 2-Ken Owens, 3-Adam Jones, 4-Alun Wyn Jones, 5-Ian Evans, 6-Dan Lydiate, 7-Sam Warburton, 8-Toby Faletau.
Replacements: 16-Richard Hibbard, 17-Paul James, 18-Ryan Jones, 19-Justin Tipuric, 20-Lloyd Williams, 21-Stephen Jones, 22-Scott Williams.
Referee : Steve Walsh
Touch judges : Peter Fitzgibbon, Pascale Gauzere
TV : Iain Ramage