Wales beat England in thriller

Wales snatched a dramatic 19-12 win over England to win the Triple Crown and keep their hopes of a Six Nations Grand Slam alive at Twickenham yesterday.

The match was all square at 12-12 with five minutes left when Wales replacement Scott Williams stole the ball in the tackle from Courtney Lawes from some 50 metres out and hacked downfield before regathering for the only try of the game.

Leigh Halfpenny converted and Wales, who had been down to 14 men after fly-half Rhys Priestland was sin-binned, were seven points clear.

England though hit back with virtually the last move of the match as wing David Strettle went over in the corner. But he was held up in the tackle by Wales centre Jonathan Davies.

Scottish video referee Iain Ramage prolonged the agony of a crowd of more than 81,000 with several minutes of study before deciding no try had been scored and Wales had just their second win at Twickenham since 1988.

And it meant England, who like Wales came into this match on the back of two wins, had suffered their first defeat under acting coach Stuart Lancaster.

“It’s unbelievable,” gasped man of the match and Welsh captain Sam Warburton.

“We knew it would be the toughest game and it was so tough. We are over the moon to get the Triple Crown here.

“I am not going to say what the last team who won here in 2008 went on to do (they won the Grand Slam) but people involved with that team say we have a really strong squad this time round.

“However, we will set aside thoughts of that and the Italy game in a fortnight and enjoy this for the moment.”

Lancaster, who replaced Martin Johnson in a caretaker capacity after the World Cup fiasco, said he was proud of his largely inexperienced side.

“Wales are a team who have been together a long, long time and we are a team that has been together for three weeks,” he said.

“We should take great credit from that.”

Irish win

Earlier yesterday, two tries from Tommy Bowe helped Ireland maintain their 100% Six Nations record over Italy at Lansdowne Road, with a crushing 42-10 victory.

Bowe’s double – taking his tally to 22 in 46 tests – Keith Earls, Tom Court’s first for his country in his 26th appearance and Andrew Trimble crossed the line to give the hosts a deserved first win of this season’s tournament.

It was also a landmark day for Ronan O’Gara who came on in the second half for his 118th cap to make him the all-time most capped Irishman.

Italy skipper Sergio Parisse’s converted first-half try had briefly drawn the two sides level at 10-10.

“It was a good team performance and we out performed them in the second-half,” said Stephen Ferris.

“We upped our skill levels this week and it was reflected in what we did on the pitch,” he added.

Today: Scotland vs France (16.00).

Standings: Wales (3-0-0) 6; England (2-0-1) 4; Ireland (1-0-1) 2; France (1-0-0) 2; Scotland (0-0-2) 0; Italy (0-0-3) 0.