Fullback Freddie Steward on Saturday mastered an aerial bombardment to help England to a 20-10 victory over Wales in Cardiff, while Ireland’s hunt for a Six Nations Grand Slam is on after the world’s top-ranked team overcame Italy 34-20 in an entertaining encounter in Rome.
England’s victory at the Principality Stadium extended their excellent recent record against Wales, as they have now won eight of their past 10 Six Nations meetings.
They are to take on France, at home, and Ireland, away, in their last two fixtures.
Photo: AFP
The defeat for Wales, which came after a crisis meeting with rugby bosses averted a player strike over contract issues, condemned them to a third straight opening Six Nations defeat for the first time since 2007, having already lost to Ireland and Scotland.
“I thought it was a step forward for us. As we keep saying we’re at the start of our journey,” England captain Owen Farrell said, with the team having kicked off their Six Nations with a 29-23 defeat by Scotland before rebounding to beat Italy 31-14.
“It was a different challenge for us to come away from home to a place like this, a team that has had a lot going on during the week and have unified to come together for this crowd at the weekend. Fair play to them,” he said.
In a tight match that featured a lot of aimless kicking and little creativity, England had led 8-3 at the break thanks to an Owen Farrell penalty and Anthony Watson try, while Leigh Halfpenny scored a single penalty for Wales.
A Louis Rees-Zammit intercept try, converted by Halfpenny, kick-started the second half before England responded through a Kyle Sinckler try, converted by Farrell.
Block-busting center Ollie Lawrence bagged England’s third try 4 minutes from time to seal the win.
“I can’t be critical of the effort they put in out there, they tried really hard, but if we look at the mistakes that we made that shifted the momentum back to England, they were pretty critical moments,” Wales coach Warren Gatland said. “We turned the ball back over on too many occasions, we dropped a couple of high balls, that was pretty frustrating, a couple of penalties as well.”
Meanwhile, Ireland’s Mack Hansen scored two tries against Italy, with teammates James Ryan, Hugo Kennan and Bundee Aki also dotting down, ensuring them 15 points from their three matches in this year’s tournament.
Ross Byrne, who played in place of captain Johnny Sexton, kicked 14 points in a win which for long spells looked far from guaranteed.
Andy Farrell’s side were five points clear at the top of the Six Nations standings ahead of closest rivals Scotland’s showdown against France at the Stade de France yesterday. Italy remain on a single point.
Aki said Ireland’s performance — including his own — left room for improvement.
“It was a mixed bag, we did some really good stuff and also did the total opposite. That is just a credit to Italy, we knew it was going to be a tough game. They are a proud nation,” he said. “Our overall performance needs to be better and our discipline needs to be better. I was one of those whose discipline wasn’t good enough.”
Omar Marmoush’s stunning long-range strike on Tuesday upstaged Kevin de Bruyne on the Manchester City great’s Etihad farewell. Marmoush let fly from about 30m to put City ahead in their 3-1 win against AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League. The victory moved Pep Guardiola’s team up to third in the standings and left qualification for the UEFA Champions League in their own hands heading into the last round of the season. “It’s really important. To be in the Champions League after what happened [this season] will be really nice,” the City manager said. De Bruyne was making his final home appearance for City before
TIGHT FINISH: Napoli only needed to do the same as or better than Inter, who won their game against Como 2-0 on the same day, leaving Napoli with a one-point lead The two players who Antonio Conte wanted more than any others secured Napoli their second Serie A title in three years on Friday. Scott McTominay scored with an acrobatic bicycle kick before halftime and Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead with a solo goal after the break in the decisive 2-0 home win over Cagliari. Conte became the first coach to win the Italian championship with three different teams. “Everyone contributed to this — but the coach most of all,” Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. “Napoli needed him to get back on top. He’s phenomenal.” Comparing it to his three Serie A titles won
The journey of Taiwan’s badminton mixed doubles duo Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Chan at the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur came to an end in the semi-finals yesterday after they suffered a 2-0 loss to China’s Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping. Ye, 25, and Chan, 20, teamed up last year and are currently ranked No. 23 in the world. The Taiwanese shuttlers took on China’s second seeds in the mixed doubles event, but proved no match for Feng and Huang, losing the match 10-21, 7-21. In the first half of the first game, the pairings were neck and neck at 6-7 until Ye
SSC Napoli coach Antonio Conte has dragged the team back from disaster and restored them to the top of Italian Serie A, but his future at the Scudetto winners is in doubt even after a triumphant season. The fiery 55-year-old has exceeded preseason expectations and bolstered his reputation as a serial winner by guiding Napoli to their fourth Scudetto, and second in three seasons. However, he might well be on his way in the summer after just one season at the helm as his charged relationship with Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has simmered throughout the campaign. Conte has said
RSS