England 28 Wales 17One step forward, two steps back. That, at least, is how most English supporters will have felt as they filed thoughtfully away into a mild Brisbane night. England may have reached the semi-finals of the World Cup but if they reproduce their first-half form against France in Sydney on Sunday they can definitely kiss goodbye to any prospect of winning the Webb Ellis Trophy.
Outscored by three tries to one by a Welsh side showing the same devil-may-care spirit that ruffled New Zealand a week earlier, Clive Woodward's men showed little triumphalism at the end. To equate this stuttering performance with France's drubbing of Ireland is to compare Parisian chic with an oil-splattered boilersuit. England are getting the job done but more by accident than design.
They might even have lost but for the cussedness of their senior men, the class of Mike Catt and Jason Robinson and a Welsh penalty count which, after half-time, spiralled out of control. Wales might easily have scored six tries had they not ignored a couple of overlaps or been thwarted by last-ditch cover defence. France, let alone New Zealand, will not be so forgiving.
So rattled were England that the unfortunate Dan Luger was unceremoniously hauled off at half-time, allowing Catt to provide the calming midfield touches which Jonny Wilkinson, despite his personal haul of 23 points, singularly failed to offer.
Twice in successive weeks Catt has looked England's most in-form player.
"If we play like we did tonight we'll have no chance," admitted Woodward. "We made some very fundamental errors. We'll need the whole squad to sit down, watch the video and clear the air. We're winning these game through sheer bloody-mindedness but we're winning. There were some pretty harsh words at half-time and some colourful language but we got the message. If we get more nous in our game and keep that bloody-mindedness, we can still beat France."
Anything can happen in a semi-final, as France proved against the All Blacks in 1999, but Woodward's demeanour was not that of a happy man. Winning ugly is perfectly acceptable but the dominant image was England's lack of composure in the heat of battle.
Top of the list was when they were awarded a penalty next to the Welsh posts and Ben Cohen took a quick tap before aiming a long cross-kick to the left wing where he himself usually roams. Instead Neil Back, the shortest man on the pitch, predictably lost out to the significantly taller Mark Jones. "I wouldn't say we were saying: 'Wow, well done Ben'," sighed Woodward.
Hard-nosed, direct and enterprising, the Welsh would have had a try as early as the fifth minute had Wilkinson and Lewis Moody not jolted the ball out of Robert Sidoli's grasp as he dived for the line. Wilkinson had already seen his first penalty attempt rebound off the left upright and, on his 50th appearance for England, he looked tense and uneasy. Nor was he alone. The team's old cohesion has vanished.
Even those born east of the Severn bridge could not fail to appreciate Wales's first try, which began deep in their own half after Mike Tindall, perhaps not realising he was kicking for Ben Kay rather than Cohen, launched another of England's trademark crossfield punts. The ball ended up in the hands of Shane Williams, who rounded the isolated Kay and linked with his scrumhalf Gareth Cooper. By the time Williams received possession back from Gareth Thomas he was on the English 22 and, after a couple of heart-stopping juggles, flicked the ball back inside for Stephen Jones to score.
Within four minutes Cohen had been penalised for holding on in his own 22 and Wales kicked to the corner. Up went Sidoli, around on the peel went Brent Cockbain and a high-flying Colin Charvis was over in a cascade of scarlet to increase the Welsh interval lead to 10-3.
What made the difference was Robinson, whose turbo-charged break from halfway split the cover and gave Will Greenwood just enough space to hold off Jonathan Thomas's tackle in the right corner. Wilkinson's conversion levelled the scores and his second penalty gave his side, whose combined starting total of 704 caps was a Test record, a lead they were never to lose.
A relaxed-looking Catt kicked smoothly for position and Wilkinson finished with six penalties and a last-minute drop-goal after the Welsh had re-established some momentum with their third try, scored by Martyn Williams from the blood replacement Ceri Sweeney's cross-kick.
"A lot of these players will be around for a long time," said Charvis, who gathered his team in a huddle on the pitch after the match to tell them how well they had done. "If we can keep learning . . . we'll get to a situation where we're winning games and perhaps taking home silverware."
England, meanwhile, might struggle to win even next week's third-place play-off.
ENGLAND: Robinson; Luger (Catt, h-t), Tindall, Greenwood (Abbott, 53), Cohen; Wilkinson, Dawson (Bracken, 68); Leonard (Woodman, 43), Thompson, Vickery, Johnson (capt), Kay, Moody, Back, Dallaglio. Try: Greenwood. Con: Wilkinson. Pens: Wilkinson 6. Drop-goal: Wilkinson.
WALES: G Thomas; M Jones, Taylor, Harris, S Williams; S Jones, Cooper (Peel, 64); I Thomas, McBryde (Davies, 64), A Jones (Jenkins, 28), Cockbain (Llewellyn, 48), Sidoli, D Jones, Charvis (capt), J Thomas (M Williams, 57). Tries: S Jones, Charvis, M Williams. Con: Harris.
Referee: A Rolland (Ireland).
