Match Centre: Six Nations - England 16-14 Wales

England 16-14 Wales, Twickenham Stadium

England made a terrific second half fightback as they came from behind to edge out Wales with a 16-14 margin in the second round of the Six Nations tournament at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.

This is second win for England in as many games as they are at the top of the table with eight points but Ireland can surpass them when they take on Italy on Sunday while Wales are at fifth position after two close defeats. England entered the encounter following a thrilling 27-24 win over Italy while Wales themselves had a one-point defeat against Scotland in the opening clash.

This was Jamie George's first home game as the England captain and they started the game with a setback as Ollie Chessum was sin-binned in the 11th minute for a high tackle on Kieron Assiratti. Wales continued to apply pressure as their driving maul was collapsed by Ethan Roots inches before the try line. The referee awarded a penalty try to the visitors while sending Roots to sin-bin.

England almost responded back as Ben Earl peeled the back of the scrum and went past Welsh defenders to touchdown but George Ford missed out on the conversion.

Meanwhile, Chessum, who left the field for a Head Injury Assessment returned back in the 34th minute but Wales doubled their tally at the stroke of half time as Alex Mann celebrated his first start as Tommy Reffell and Tomos Williams combined to send the flanker over the line. Ioan Lloyd's conversion meant Warren Gatland's men finished the opening half with a 5-14 lead.

England were the quickest to get off the block in the second half as Wales infringed at offside allowing Ford to land a three-pointer to reduce the arrears to six points and it became a one point game in the 62nd minute as Elliot Daly sent a pass to Fraser Dingwall to complete his first try but Ford's conversion drifted wide making it 13-14.

The final 10 minutes saw Wales were down by a player as Mason Grady was sin-binned for a deliberate knock on and Ford kicked from the tee to put England in the front for the first time in the game and they held the two point lead in the closing stage to complete a thrilling win.

England will be facing Scotland in the third round of the competition to be played on 24th February at Murrayfield Stadium while Wales will head to Aviva Stadium for a clash against Ireland.

Team line up:

England: 15. Freddie Steward, 14. Tommy Freeman, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Fraser Dingwall, 11. Elliot Daly, 10. George Ford, 9. Alex Mitchell, 1. Joe Marler, 2. Jamie George (c), 3. Will Stuart, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Ollie Chessum, 6. Ethan Roots, 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Ben Earl

Reserves: 16. Theo Dan, 17. Ellis Genge, 18. Dan Cole, 19. Alex Coles, 20. Chandler Cunningham-South, 21. Danny Care, 22. Fin Smith, 23. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso

Wales: 15. Cameron Winnett, 14. Rio Dyer, 13. George North, 12. Nick Tompkins, 11. Josh Adams, 10. Ioan Lloyd, 9. Tomos Williams, 1. Gareth Thomas, 2. Elliot Dee, 3. Kieron Assiratti, 4. Dafydd Jenkins (c), 5. Adam Beard, 6. Alex Mann, 7. Tommy Reffell, 8. Aaron Wainwright

Reserves: 16. Ryan Elias, 17. Corey Domachowski, 18. Archie Griffin, 19. Will Rowlands, 20. Taine Basham, 21. Kieran Hardy, 22. Cai Evans, 23. Mason Grady