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A word for Holly Davidson running the line, becoming the first woman to officiate a men’s Six Nations game
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The last time Steve Borthwick rose from the head coach’s seat at Twickenham his walk was soundtracked by a cacophony of boos after a pre World Cup defeat to Fiji. After that difficult afternoon England reached the semis of the big tournament, including vanquishing the islanders in the return fixture in France. Borthwick would probably point out his team is developing still and (mostly) wins when it matters. They need to win today.
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Despite their 26 point near comeback last week, Wales remain a team with issues. Significant player turnover, either from retirement or injury, has resulted in a squad of callow experience with too many members still to demonstrate whether they are good enough for this level. Gatland’s mitigation of this risk was the rudimentary gameplan that failed spectacularly in the opening forty minutes v Scotland and while the second half was great fun, how reliable a strategy is “chuck Ioan Lloyd in at 10 and give it a lash”? We may find out today.
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England didn’t have it all their own way v Italy in their opening fixture, and they are still bedding in a new defensive system under new defence coach Felix Jones. However, in front of a home crowd with an unchanged side, against a Wales team in the midst of a very difficult transition anything short of a win and that familiar sound of booing could ring out once more.
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As you were for England, as Borthwick seeks to build consistency of personnel and performance.
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Warren Gatland has made wholesale changes for the visitors. In the forwards, an entirely new front row comes in while Alex Mann replaces the injured James Botham. Tomos Williams and Ioan Lloyd start in the half-backs after their leadership of the comeback a week ago and George North returns in the centre.
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ENGLAND Freddie Steward; Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Fraser Dingwall, Elliot Daly; George Ford, Alex Mitchell; Joe Marler, Jamie George (capt), Will Stuart, Maro Itoje, Ollie Chessum, Ethan Roots, Sam Underhill, Ben Earl.
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Replacements 16 Theo Dan, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Alex Coles, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Danny Care, 22 Fin Smith, 23 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
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WALES Cameron Winnett; Josh Adams, George North, Nick Tompkins, Rio Dyer; Ioan Lloyd, Tomos Williams; Gareth Thomas, Elliot Dee, Keiron Assiratti, Dafydd Jenkins (capt), Adam Beard, Alex Mann, Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright.
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Replacements 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Cai Evans, 23 Mason Grady.
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players entering through the west car park.”,”caption”:”England players greeting fans as they enter through the west car park. “,” Credit”:”Photo: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1707579045000,” blockCreatedOnDisplay”: “10.30 EST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1707583778000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”11.49 EST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1707579045000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”10.30 EST”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”10 .30″,”title”: “Teams” ,”Contributor”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Saturday 10 February 2024 11.53 EST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”Initial publication date Saturday 10 February 2024 10.30 EST”}],”filterKeyEvents”:false,”id”:”key -events-carousel-mobile “}” config=”{“renderingTarget”:”Web”,”darkModeAvailable”:false}”>
important events
6 minutes The game was very fast-paced, especially with England’s past use of the ball and their recent agile attacks, with Daly penetrating into space and angled kicks deep into Wales’ half.
Elliot Dee got through a difficult lineout throw and Tomos Williams cleared it into touch. But England would easily fight back from the lineout.
4 minutes England won the lineout, but a few phases later Tommy Leffell committed his trademark clamp-and-win turnover penalty. Pressure is removed through the Lloyd boot.
2 minutes A tidy recovery of the kick-off by Winnett goes to waste as Steward allows the red defense to slalom his way through on the next possession. The visitors scrambled hard and Rio Dyer covered the kick, but he could only make contact close to his own line.
kick off!
George Ford put the ball in the air to get us going.
A word with Holly Davidson, the first woman to referee a men’s Six Nations match and lead the line.
The team are in the tunnel, with young captain Duff Jenkins leading the Welsh front and Jamie George leading his country at home for the first time.
The lineup for the national anthem is formed and the rugby begins immediately.
Email from Guy Hornsby
“Well, this could be a cracker, Lee.” England seem to want to play with more risks, especially in defence, but with the new blitz technique being introduced, it’s clear that it will take some time for it to take root. It takes time, Italy showed that, but we got better.
“I feel Wales have little to lose and can pick up a point after last week. I think it’s good to use the same XV and I hope we can get Freeman into the game.”England We should be able to win and we’ll have better skill on the bench, but we need to make sure Wales don’t have 15 players on the pitch.”
Pre-game reading club…
We have made it clear that we think it is unlikely, if not impossible, that Wales will win. If you have any vehement objections, please feel free to contact us via email or mail. About X.
team
As with England, Borthwick are also looking to build consistency in personnel and performance.
Warren Gatland has made extensive changes for visitors. The forwards will have a completely new front row with Alex Mann replacing the injured James Botham. Tomos Williams and Ioan Lloyd started at halfback after leading the way in the comeback a week ago, with George North returning to center.
England Freddie Steward. Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Fraser Dingwall, Elliot Daly. George Ford, Alex Mitchell. Joe Marler, Jamie George (captain), Will Stewart, Maro Itoje, Olly Chetham, Ethan Roots, Sam Underhill, Ben Earl.
replacement 16 Theo Dunn, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Alex Coles, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Danny Care, 22 Finn Smith, 23 Immanuel Fay-Waboso.
wales Cameron Winnett. Josh Adams, George North, Nick Tompkins, Rio Dyer. Ioan Lloyd, Tomos Williams. Gareth Thomas, Elliot Dee, Keiron Assilatti, Captain Dafydd Jenkins, Adam Beard, Alex Mann, Tommy Leffell, Aaron Wainwright.
replacement 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Corey Domakowski, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Kai Evans, 23 Mason Grady.
preamble
When Steve Borthwick stood up from the head coach’s chair at Twickenham for the last time, there was a cacophony of boos following the pre-World Cup defeat against Fiji. After that difficult afternoon, England advanced to the semi-finals of the big tournament, defeating the Islanders in a rematch in France. Borthwick will likely point out that the team is still a work in progress and is (mostly) winning when it matters. They need to win today.
Despite last week’s near reversal with 26 points, Wales remain a troubled team. Due to the large turnover of players due to retirements and injuries, the team is inexperienced, with too many members unable to prove they are good enough for this level. Gatland mitigated this risk with a rudimentary game plan, which failed spectacularly in the opening 40 minutes against Scotland, and although he enjoyed a very enjoyable second half, he said: “At 10 o’clock we threw in Yoan Lloyd and it was a blow.” How reliable is the strategy of “adding “? Maybe we’ll find out today.
England didn’t quite do as well as they did in the opening game against Italy, but are still putting in place a new defensive system under new defensive coach Felix Jones. But if they play in front of the same home crowd against a Welsh side who are far from winning, and are in a very difficult situation, the familiar boos may be heard again.
