England 16 – 14 Wales

England’s Fraser Dingwall celebrates scoring a crucial second half try with Henry Slade vs Wales

George Ford’s late penalty ensured England overturned a nine-point deficit to beat Wales 16-14 in the Six Nations.

Wales scored through a penalty try and Alex Mann score in the first half, with Ioan Lloyd adding a conversion for a 14-5 lead, but they couldn’t score a single point in the second period despite some promising openings, as scrum penalties against them proved crucial.

England’s tries came via No 8 Ben Earl and centre Fraser Dingwall, but they saw Ollie Chessum (high tackle) and Ethan Roots (maul collapse) sin-binned in the first half, while Ford saw a conversion controversially charged down.

Ford added two penalties for the lead at a relieved Twickenham as Wales’ Mason Grady was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on, though, albeit Steve Borthwick and co will surely be far from pleased with the quality of the home side’s performance.

The result means England sit top of the Six Nations table after two matches, ahead of Ireland facing Italy on Sunday. Wales remain fifth after picking up a losing bonus point.

After a mixed start to proceedings from England, where they established ascendency to dominate territory but were sloppy in failing to take advantage of any chances created, Chessum was sin-binned for making shoulder-to-head contact in a tackle on Wales tighthead Keiron Assiratti.

England lock Ollie Chessum was sin-binned early for a high tackle

Wales forced a lineout knock-on by England and scrum penalty in quick succession, surprisingly kicking to the corner instead of off the tee. It proved an inspired call when the Welsh pack romped over for a penalty try, with Roots sin-binned for collapsing it before the try-line.

Wales’ first score came via a penalty try, as England collapsed a rampaging rolling maul

Flanker Ethan Roots was sin-binned for the maul collapse which led to the penalty try

If that call proved smart then Wales’ choices from the restart vs 13 seemed to lack any thought, attacking from their own try-line and Lloyd being caught by Maro Itoje and turned over by the posts. At the resulting scrum, Earl charged off the back of the set-piece past Welsh defenders for a superb finish.

Ben Earl scored with England reduced to 13 players in the first half, as they battled to a Six Nations victory vs Wales

Somewhat bizarrely, Ford would not get the chance to convert the try as ref James Doleman ruled the England fly-half – who had taken a step sideways – had begun his approach, meaning Wales were within their rights to charge and knock the ball off the tee.

George Ford saw his first conversion controversially charged down

Wales failed to add any further points before Roots returned and the Test was back to 15 vs 15, as a 25-phase attack near the England 22 ultimately came to nothing.

Two minutes from the half-time break, Wales did strike for a stunner of a second try, as flanker Tommy Reffell set scrum-half Tomos Williams running into the clear, before Williams passed inside for the supporting Mann to run in.

Alex Mann raced over for Wales’ second try before the break

Lloyd converted to leave things 14-5 to the away side at the interval, but Wales began the second half nervously and with errors, as Ford kicked a penalty to reduce the gap back to a single score.

Wales full-back Cameron Winnett showed his attacking talent to make a break and feed Josh Adams down the right, but as the latter offloaded inside to Rio Dyer, the ball was knocked on in a tackle five metres from the try-line.

The concession of two scrum penalties against Wales – the first following that Dyer chance, and the second after a poor Adams knock-on – marched the men in red from one 22 to the other, and after England put together nine tight phases of attack near the try-line, they pulled the trigger at the right moment to spring wide, where a stumbling Elliot Daly played in Dingwall to score.

Dingwall scored England’s second try in the corner as they got to within a point of Wales

Ford missed wide to leave England still a point behind, but with Wales offering very little in attack, a clear-cut deliberate knock-on call against Grady left Ford with a simple penalty for the lead and, in the end, the win.

Ford kicked two crucial second half penalties as England made it two championship wins from two

Borthwick: The squad is growing, we have lots to learn | Gatland ‘proud’ of Wales

England head coach Steve Borthwick to ITV Sport…

“It was a hard fought game. I am proud and pleased for the players. It is a team that stays in the fight. It is a team that finds a way.

“We know we have got lots to learn and we are going to grow together. In so many ways, lots of the first half was pretty good.

“For large parts, it was 7-5 to Wales until that try to Wales in the 38th minute. At half-time they were very composed. They believed they would find a way.

“It was a step forward. We also saw the depth of the squad in terms of positions. The players who came on really added.”

Wales head coach Warren Gatland to ITV Sport…

“I am proud of that performance in terms of the players. They gave everything that we asked for.

“We are going to be a good team, it is going to just take a little bit of time.

“Some players learning about game management but they learn it from those experiences.

“Disappointing but this is a young side that will continue to improve.

Player of the match Ben Earl to ITV Sport…

“Pretty knackered. That was a proper Test match. The ball was in play for a lot of time. We are pleased.

“We rode it out with 13 men to a certain degree and we were really pleased with our work. We knew we just had to keep going with our England way.

“We are trying to improve ourselves in every facet of the game. I thought for the most part our defence was exceptional. I thought we made some really good strides in our attack today.”

What’s next?

England are next in action Saturday, February 24 for the third round of the championship, travelling to face Scotland at Murrayfield in Edinburgh (4.45pm kick-off GMT).

Wales travel to face Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday, February 24 (2.15pm kick-off GMT), in Round 3 of the Six Nations.