Ben Cohen rescued England from another Six Nations humilation on Saturday as the World Cup holder hit back from five points down at Twickenham to beat Wales 31-21.
Two weeks after Ireland had ended England's 22-game streak of victories at "headquarters," the Welsh looked set for a first Twickenham triumph since 1988 when two tries early in the second half opened up a 21-16 lead.
But Cohen scored his second try of the match and set up another for Joe Worsley as England finally produced some of its World Cup form. Flyhalf Olly Barkley contributed 16 points with six successful kicks from seven on his first start.
PHOTO: AFP
Ireland scored a 19-3 victory over Italy at Lansdowne Road to make it three wins in a row and now has an outside chance of winning the title for the first time since 1985. England and Ireland each have three wins from four games while France, which visits Scotland on Sunday, has three from three.
The French finish with a game against England at the Stade de France March 27 when the Irish will be confident of beating Scotland at home.
England will need to produce a top quality performance for 80 minutes in Paris rather than the 30-minute show Twickenham.
Although Clive Woodward's men seem to have sorted out their lineout problems, they were frequently pulled out of position by the Welsh and, for long periods, lacked imagination when they had the ball.
England went into half time leading 16-9. But two tries in 10 minutes by fullback Gareth Thomas -- who tied Ieuan Evans' Welsh record of 33 -- and center Mark Taylor gave the Welsh a five-point advantage. England fans feared another shock.
But Lawrence Dallaglio and his men made sure the Welsh rarely got out of their own half for the rest of the game and relentless England pressure brought two more tries, Cohen adding his second and passing for Joe Worsley to go over for the other.
With a gale blowing across Lansdowne Road, Ireland was unable to reach the heights of its stunning 19-13 Twickenham victory.
But Eddie O'Sullivan's team moved into a 19-0 lead by the 52nd minute with tries by lock forward Malcolm O'Kelly, center Brian O'Driscoll and winger Shane Horgan.
"In the first half, just hanging onto the ball was a complete lottery at times," O'Driscoll, the Irish captain, said in a reference to the strong wind.
"Defensively we had to be strong in the second half and we're glad we kept them out.
"All week our game plan had been to throw it out wide but you come out and you've planned for something you just can't do. But Plan B worked well, we hammered away at them, our forwards did extremely well and we did a lot of hard yards."
The Italians twice went close to scoring tries but their only points came from a late penalty by fly half Roland De Marigny.
SUPER 12
The ACT Brumbies lead rugby's Super 12 after beating South Africa's Stormers 33-15 on the weekend.
Only five points separate the top six sides after five rounds. ACT has 19 points, the Bulls, who have also lost only once, have 18, New South Wales 16, the Stormers 15, and Otago and the Sharks 14 each.
New Zealand teams, which have dominated the competition since the first in 1996, occupy four of the bottom five slots. The defending champion Auckland Blues are second-to-last with only one win from four games.
On Saturday, the Canterbury Crusaders shut down the Waikato Chiefs in the second half of a 36-15 victory, and the Otago Highlanders enjoyed their first home win at the Cats' expense, 29-17.
At Cape Town, South Africa, ACT won for a sixth successive year against the Stormers, and completed its run against the African teams, beating three out of four and losing only to the Bulls last week.
"It was important to bounce back," said Brumbies captain Stirling Mortlock. "We like to throw the ball around a bit, and conditions were good this week, so we could."
Joe Roff, who had 13 points from goalkicks, scored an overlap try when ACT went for a scrum instead of a penalty in the sixth minute.
In Hamilton, All Blacks center Aaron Mauger scored the first and last of Canterbury's four tries as the Crusaders scored 25 unanswered points in the second half to beat Waikato.
Daniel Carter kicked four penalties and two conversions -- six goals from eight attempts.
Waikato scored two tries in the last 10 minutes of the first half to take a 15-11 lead into halftime but it lost its cohesion and defensive strength with substitutions in the second half.
"I think we can only be disappointed," said Chiefs captain Jono Gibbes, who was part of an outstanding loose forward combination.
"I don't think we played any football in the second half. We chased around a lot but we didn't seem to do anything ourselves."
Caleb Ralph scored for the Crusaders, his 100th try in first-class play.
At Dunedin, New Zealand, Otago took a bonus point from its first home win by beating the winless Cats at Carisbrook.
The Highlanders scored four tries in a deeply flawed performance, speeding to an early 15-0 lead, then trailing 17-15 before sealing the match with 12 late points.
Next week, Wellington hosts Auckland in Friday's only match. New South Wales visits Waikato, Canterbury plays Otago and the Stormers tackle the Bulls in a South African showdown on Saturday. On Sunday, ACT hosts the Queensland Reds at Canberra.
The Sharks and Cats have byes.
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