Extended Highlights Wales v England Guinness Six Nations

Both teams came into this match with two wins under their belts and Grand Slam ambitions alive. Wales looking for a record 12th consecutive win but England having already accounted for Ireland and France were on a high. Eddie Jones men looking for a sixth straight Guinness Six Nations Championship victory over the Welsh. This match had the potential to be one of the games of the championship with so much at stake. Of course with so much at stake there was also the possibility that things would be tight in the opening stages and that's how it went with scores hard to come by. Owen Farrell opened the scoring with an 18th minute penalty. Soon after that Wales were back on level terms playing with the penalty advantage. Gareth Anscombe tried the crossfield kick towards Hadley Parks. The scorer at centre unable to keep it in play. But it came back for the Welsh penalty and Anscombe obliged off the tee to make it 3-3. It was the visitors who made the first decisive strike of the game in the 26th minute. They forced Wales back and from in front of the posts it was excellent awareness from Tom Curry to pick up from the ruck driving through the gap and stretching for the line for the first try for his country despite the best efforts of Liam Williams to deny him. The sail flanker doing ever so well to break Welsh resistance. Farrell kicked the conversion and England had a 10-3 lead. With points so hard to come by the importance of this effort in the 52nd minute was apparent on the face of Anscombe as he prepared to strike at goal. The Cardiff out half was up to the task and Wales were back to within four points. Six points to 10 with a little under a half an hour to play. Kyle Sinclair conceded another penalty five minutes later as he held Alan Wynne-Jones around the neck. The referee spotted the infringement. Sinclair was replaced by Harry Williams immediately after and Anscombe slotted the resultant kick over to bring it back to nine points to ten. Farrell extended England's lead with a penalty on 63 minutes to make it 13-9 but Wales response was dogged with the home crowd roaring them on. Wales went through phase after phase grinding their way towards the English line then after 34 phases the ball was spread wide to George North. He was held up by a combination of May, Daly and Tuolange but Corey Hill was there in support and the dragon's second row used his strength to force himself towards the line. He did get it down on the line and the Principality Stadium erupted. Great reward for tremendous Welsh patience for the first time in the match they were ahead. Hill's third try for his country and the most important to date. When substitute Dan Bigger landed a fine conversion it was 16-13 for Wales and perfectly set up for a huge last 12 minutes. Momentum was very much with the Welsh. England were struggling to make an impact and Wales wrapped up victory a couple of minutes before the end with a magnificent try. Bigger's influence after his introduction was notable and it was his crossfield kick that gave Josh Adams the chance. The Worcester winger did brilliantly to out battle Elliot Daly for the ball and he was over for a huge score in every sense. It's called rugby's greatest championship and moments like this are the reason why. Bigger was off target with the conversion attempt but it didn't matter. Wales were 21-13 up and the game was just about over. This was a record 12th win in a row for this Welsh team surpassing the record held by the team from 1910 and importantly for these players the dream of the Grand Slam and the first Guinness Six Nations title since 2010 remains very strong. Wales have beaten England in the championship in 1949, 59, 69, 79, 89, 99 and 2009. So perhaps nobody should be too surprised by this result. They travel to Edinburgh on the 9th of March. England host Italy at Twickenham beaten here but still contenders for the title despite this reverse. They finished in Cardiff, Wales 21, England 13.