By Claire J 21/03/2004
March 21 2004

The day when one England career started and several were on the line. Olly Barkley the young pretender, in as fourth choice England fly-half, had the challenge of starting the match where England certainly expected and needed a win. And one man, Steve Thompson came back from disaster to shine. When Kath asked me if I would write the match report for this game, I had no idea that I would either be at the match or writing a review, after probably one of the worst England performances seen in a long time. So I was a little nervous when I took my seat to start watching, knowing I’d have to put pen to paper!

The start of the game was bright with both teams clearly out to play running rugby. The England line-out keenly awaited by all, was a clean throw by Thompson and catch by Richard Hill - a loud roar of approval from the crowd greeted the success. England played with the wind in the first half so length on kicking from hand was an imperative. A nervous OllyB missed his first touch and Mark Thomas came within a whisker of punishing him. He was rescued by Jason Robinson.

Competing in the line-out had been England’s other weakness against the Irish so when we pinched the ball on their first line-out signs were it was going to be a good day. Quick ball to Cohen found him in space with two defenders to beat - his strength allowed him to drag himself over the line. OB converted - 7-0 and all was well.

Then we let Wales in by the same silly mistakes which had punished us before - Vickery was pinged for crossing - 7-3, Greenwood for offside 7-6. It was at this point, I noticed Sir Clive’s latest wheeze with the backs - Cohen and Lewsey swapped wings and continued a regular intervals to do so throughout the match. Meanwhile, the Welsh decided to donate the English some points when Charvis and Jonathan Thomas got themselves offside - OB slotted the penalty 10-6. It was a little bewildering why Andrew Cole let Colin Charvis off the hook time and time again but 4 minutes later he was done for hands in the ruck and OB duly took the 3 points to make it 13-6.

Richard Hill was making a real nuisance of himself but got caught off his feet and offside which was a bit rich given several Welshman had dived right over the ruck straight off their feet but still Jones took the penalty and we were pinned back to 13-9.

The game then went into a bit of cat and mouse. Dawson was back to his sniping best and the speed at which he was getting to the breakdown was wonderful to watch. Tindall was charging around the midfield like a madman but his partner Greenwood looked out of sorts. Wally had clearly been on a red meat diet because he was charging at, through or round any Welshman that approached him! But there was no real penetration for all our efforts. And the Welsh were giving as good as they were getting despite their line-out problems.

Brent Cobain was replaced by Gareth Lewellyn and this seemed to bolster up the Welsh line-out. However, this was when the English started to complain about the Welsh line-out specifically that the Welsh were playing two scrum halves and they were closing the gap - Cole did nothing and I have no idea who was right because from my angle it was impossible to see!

One thing I did see was the beginning of the daft half hour - Robinson decided way too late to take a ‘quick’ line-out to Cohen who was clearly surprised by this late decision and we ended up hoofing the ball into touch gaining next to no yardage and giving the ball to the Welsh. Just as well, the Welsh were back to under-performing in the line-out and we pinched the ball.

Cohen was covering the yards charging down the the kick to touch. Luckily for the Welsh it went out in the in-goal area. End of the first half saw the Welsh captain again determined to donate us some points - Charvis was pinged for hands in the ruck and we left the field 16-9 up.

Now I don’t what was said in that English changing room at half time but whatever it was somebody needs to change the script because we fell into a deep coma! The first Welsh try they had a three man overlap - the wing swapping had clearly confused somebody because one of them went awol! Please could somebody remind our full-back - tackle the legs not the man’s shoulder - it worked in the first half, God knows why he stopped in the second! Mark Thomas gratefully took advantage of the gift.

Then things started to get really silly as each member of the English team took turns to kick the ball to the Welsh backs culminating in one of the daftest kicks ever seen when Steve Thompson hoofed the ball downfield. It was during this period of random kicking from hand when OB blotted his copybook by gifting the now flying Welsh with their second try. Apparently, there was a hint of a forward pass, impossible to see from the North stand but yet again our backline was out of alignment and Mark Taylor crashed in for a try.

Then suddenly we woke up, stopped hoofing the ball and started attacking the Welsh line straight on. Josh Lewsey cut across field and we began to batter the line. Cohen having had enough of this not making it over the whitewash, picked up the ball from the back of the ruck and dived over head first, John Riggins style through two desparate Welsh tackles for the try.

The bit that was really puzzling me was why weren’t we dominating them in the scrum - Julian White replaced the protesting Vickery and suddenly we were shoving the Welsh all over the place but still the Welsh wouldn’t give up despite our dominance. OB came within a nano-second of gifting the Welsh again but Jason Robinson rescued him and then produced the dazzling run of the match - he is wonderful to watch and very difficult to catch on film!!

The now tiring Welsh kicked downfield for one last attack - it went far too long and resulted in a English scrum. Quick ball recycling opened up space for Joe Worsley to score an easy try.

So what’s my assessment - it was a great match and the Welsh backs had a field day with our loose kicking. The line-out was reasonably solid and we mixed it up. Dallaglio gave the boys a rocket when the Welsh scored - he was one very unhappy captain who took to at last sorting out his team. Cohen had a great day - Kingsthorpe’s finest answered his critics with some intelligent powerful running but it was a case of about time too! Tindall - oh it was good to have him around again but he was one of those who went awol during the daft half hour! Lewsey - he was the player I was most looking forward to seeing and he was just not involved bar one maybe two moves.Grewcock and Kay worked well together, Jones was very quiet. Hill was just himself annoying, there when needed. Joe Worsley had a good second half providing great support in the lose and got himself a well deserved try. Jason Robinson is an enigma - a genius one second, prawn the next - he really has got to get it straight in his head what he wants to achieve from those quick line-outs.

Barkley had a solid start - he needs more distance and accuracy when kicking from hand but his decision making was sound on the whole (and he needs to find out why he developed cramp in the second half).

This leaves my last words for Steve Thompson, the man who tried to take the blame for Irish debacle. That player covered every blade of grass on that pitch and apart from his stupid kick, he was outstanding. He was aggressive in the lose, far more accurate in the line-out and he was back to his best. And I was delighted for a player who faced his demons and showed us what he is made of - played Wally - you were my man of the match!