The adage that you can only beat the team that’s in front of you is one that rings as true today as it has ever done and that’s exactly what England did last night.
Wales were awful. The first half was as one-sided a Test match as I’ve seen in the Six Nations, to such an extent in fact that it didn’t even feel like a Championship game.
England getting off to a winning start was what everyone expected, but the fear for those of a Welsh persuasion was that this would be a one-sided encounter.
Unfortunately, that is exactly what materialised.
Let’s look at England first.
While the paucity of their opposition must be taken into account, I thought England were excellent in the opening 40 minutes. Yes, they were given a helping hand by their opponents.
Henry Arundell scored a first-half hat-trick as England beat Wales 48-7 on Saturday afternoon
Steve Tandy’s Wales side were completely dominated in the Six Nations opener at Twickenham
But they didn’t show any real signs of rust in their first game back from the autumn, bringing together their power game with some nice tries. The performance was led by Henry Arundell’s first-half hat-trick.
One thing that did disappoint me about the England performance was the amount of kicking. George Ford was man of the match for his tactical performance and it is undoubtedly true to say he controlled the game impressively.
It’s also accurate that England’s kicking worked well.
But with the heavy rain that had been forecast not arriving, I’d have liked to have seen England play with the ball a bit more, particularly against such weak opponents.
Arundell’s first three touches all ended with tries.
He’s a real livewire in attack and has the top-end pace you need on the wing at international level. If Immanuel Feyi-Waboso is back for Scotland after missing the Wales game with a hamstring injury, then I’d pick him and Arundell in the wide berths.
If Feyi-Waboso isn’t fit, England must keep faith with the same side for Edinburgh.
Scotland’s defeat by Italy in Rome has thrown the cat among the pigeons for their head coach Gregor Townsend.
George Ford was man of the match for his tactical nous and controlled the game impressively
Tommy Freeman celebrates with Henry Pollock after scoring England’s seventh try of the game
Ahead of this Championship, I was always of the opinion the Scotland game in round two would define whether or not England will be successful.
Now, that game is even bigger than it was previously given Townsend’s men have lost their opener.
I think it makes them even more dangerous. Townsend is going to come under serious pressure this week. But one thing is for sure. Scotland always, always raise their game for England. At the same time, Townsend has a team full of danger.
That remains true even after the Italy loss.
Conditions in Rome suited Italy and didn’t allow Scotland to play.
Whatever the weather in Edinburgh though, England should be quietly confident of victory so long as they keep up the strength of their recent displays.
Across the board there were good performances. I’d like to make a special mention of Guy Pepper, the young Bath flanker who has really impressed me.
He would have been my star man ahead of Ford were I handing out the award.
Scotland lost their opening game against Italy but will surely raise their game against England
Steve Borthwick should be confident of victory should his side perform to the same high level
And what of Wales?
The one thing they had to do was not concede lots of penalties and allow England repeated entries into their half.
That’s exactly what they did.
There were 10 Welsh penalties in the first half and 16 across the 80 minutes. That’s far, far too many. The whistle of French referee Pierre Brousset dominated the game.
For me, there was far too much interference from the officials on the match as a whole.
There were six yellow cards across the 80 minutes – four for Wales and two for England – and a total of 28 penalties. Even if Wales were ill-disciplined, I don’t think you should have that number of interferences in a Test match. That said, even if Brousset had been more lenient on the Welsh, the outcome would have been the same.
Wales have a real tough task on their hands.
They simply won’t win Six Nations matches with such a high penalty count. Their head coach Steve Tandy isn’t able to call on the forward power the best nations have at their disposal and that is magnified when you’re in reverse. I do really worry about how their next game with France is going to go. France were very, very impressive in their opening win against Ireland.
Tandy has a tough job on his hands coming back from the resounding defeat against England
I was shocked by Fabien Galthie’s squad selection for this tournament, but you couldn’t argue with his team’s opening display. Unless Wales sort themselves out and quickly, a real hammering could be on the cards.
For England, the atmosphere in camp is going to be very, very different.
They can head north for Scotland in a good place.
Fraser Dingwall and Tommy Freeman should continue as the centre pairing. Scotland will be firing on all cylinders. But this is an England team now 12 unbeaten.
When they run out at Murrayfield, they can know they’re in a good place. Wales was a strong start. England’s bid for title glory is up and running and in strong fashion too.
