Six Nations/ England 47 Wales 13: Sin-binned flanker Martyn Williams has criticised referee Paul Honiss for the "harsh" yellow card he believes cost Wales any chance of opening their Six Nations title defence with a rare victory at Twickenham on Saturday. Wales trailed 18-13 after 50 minutes but felt their game was beginning to click into place when Williams was sin-binned for blocking Lewis Moody at a restart.
England, aided by an experienced bench that included Lawrence Dallaglio and Matt Dawson, powered on to score 29 points. Williams conceded England deserved their win, but the Welsh camp feel the scoreline was not a fair reflection of the game. "I think to get a yellow card for that was harsh," said Williams. "There is blocking that goes on at every re-start and if he gives a yellow card for that there will be yellow cards right, left and centre. It probably was the turning point in the game. It looks like we got a hiding but the game was on a knife-edge at 18-13.
"As players we felt, 'we are in this, we can win it' and if we got the next score we could have got the win. But we gave an initial three points away (after the yellow card) and they scored (through Mike Tindall) just as I was coming back on."
Honiss was not the most popular figure in the Wales hotel yesterday as Mike Ruddock's men reflected on a record ninth straight Twickenham defeat. Honiss became entangled with Stephen Jones when the Wales outhalf was trying to stop Dallaglio scoring England's fourth try. The New Zealand official then missed a knock-on in the build-up to Dawson's score, England's fifth. Ruddock stopped short of directly criticising Honiss' performance but the sense of frustration was clear.
"I was talking to Scott Johnson (skills coach) on the radio mic when it was 18-13. Things were picking up nicely. He said to me: 'I think we can put them away' - but we lost momentum with the sin-binning," Ruddock explained. "That was the defining moment"
Wales fell 15-3 behind to a well-worked try from Mark Cueto, before the England pack launched a lineout drive from which Moody touched down. Williams pulled Wales back to within five points before the interval but his yellow card put Wales on to the back foot.
And after Tindall crossed with 19 minutes remaining England brought on their big guns. Dallaglio and Dawson share 147 England caps between them and it was power and experience that Wales, who are without half their Grand Slam team through injury, could not match. Tom Voyce rounded off the scoring with England's sixth try.
Ruddock is not inclined to make wholesale changes ahead of next weekend's clash against Scotland at the Millennium Stadium. Nevertheless, some changes are inevitable. Cardiff scrumhalf Mike Phillips is set for an extended run in the squad after Gareth Cooper was ruled out for the rest of the tournament with a dislocated shoulder.
Prop Adam Jones is undergoing treatment for a haematoma but Ruddock hopes he will be available for next weekend, along with Gareth Delve who dropped out yesterday with a hamstring problem. Bath scrumhalf Andy Williams and Saracens prop Ben Broster are set to be called up as cover.
ENGLAND: Lewsey, Cueto, Noon, Tindall, Cohen, Hodgson, Ellis, Sheridan, Thompson, Stevens, Borthwick, Grewcock, Worsley, Moody, Corry. Replacements: Voyce for Lewsey (21), Goode for Hodgson (74), Dawson for Ellis (73), White for Sheridan (69), Mears for Thompson (65), Shaw for Grewcock (73), Dallaglio for Corry (65).
WALES: G. Thomas, M. Jones, Luscombe, Watkins, S. Williams, S. Jones, Peel, D. Jones, R. Thomas, A. Jones, Gough, Sidoli, Charvis, M. Williams, Owen, Cooper. Replacements: Cooper for Peel (66), Jenkins for A. Jones (60), A. Jones for Gough (66), Popham for Charvis (72), Byrne for Cooper (80).
Sin Bin: M Williams (54).
Referee: P Honiss (New Zealand).
