Wales come from behind to stun England

Wales came from behind and had to overcome more injuries to pull off a remarkable 25-28 win against England in a pulsating World Cup encounter.

Gareth Davies’ try nine minutes from time and 23 points from Dan Biggar sealed a historic win for Warren Gatland’s side.

Twenty of England’s points came from the boot of Owen Farrell, but he and his teammates were left shell-shocked by this result.

Jonny May scored a first-half try for the hosts, who decided to turn down a shot at goal to level the scores in the dying ambers of this contest.

England were in control with half an hour to go when they led 22-12, but ill-discipline was a factor that kept Wales in the game and a staggering finale saw the men in red complete a sensational comeback.

This is arguably Wales’ most famous and notable win given the magnitude of this clash and the injuries they suffered during the game to Scott Williams, Liam Williams and Hallam Amos.

England now know they will have to beat Australia next Saturday if they want to keep their World Cup dream alive.

Stuart Lancaster admitted that the games against Wales and Australia would define his reign as head coach and he did make the biggest selection calls in his three-and-half-year tenure before this crunch match with Wales.

Lancaster started with Farrell in place of George Ford at fly-half and picked Sam Burgess at inside centre with Farrell producing an excellent performance whereas Burgess never really got going.

The score was at gridlock for just two minutes before Biggar got Wales’ first points on the board for the evening as he struck over a penalty.

Wales couldn’t seem to cope with England at the scrum and when a second was collapsed, Farrell settled his and England’s nerves by levelling proceedings after a frantic start to the match.

Biggar then produced his worst moment of the evening as he tried and failed with a drop-goal attempt, but made amends from the tee to put his side back in front.

Farrell then tried his hand at a drop-goal and slotted it superbly to tie the score at 6-6 soon after Mike Brown and Sam Warburton had had a coming together over a tackle by Dan Lydiate which sent Tom Wood flying.

Farrell added three more to the board as England continued to dominant at the scrum, before they got the first try of the night.

From a line-out on the near side, the ball was worked to Anthony Watson who was tackled and offloaded the ball to Mike Brown.

The chance looked like it had gone for England, but Brown did well to recover the loose ball before presenting the ball for Ben Youngs who freed up May to touch down.

Wales were certainly on the back foot, but just before the interval, a break from Scott Williams gave his side momentum heading into half-time as he exploited some poor positional play from Burgess.

Williams couldn’t finish off the chance, but it did result in a penalty to Wales which Biggar nudged over to make the score 16-9 at half-time.

The two fly-half’s continued to ping over penalties in the second period as England just couldn’t find a clinical edge to see off Wales and the hosts were at risk of letting Warren Gatland’s men back into the game due to ill-discipline at the breakdown.

Wales were 22-18 behind heading into the final quarter of the match as Biggar continued to be accurate from the tee while England continued to give silly penalties away, but their chances of winning this game seemed to take a huge blow when Scott Williams was carried off in a medical cart.

His namesake, Liam Williams, was also stretchered off and Amos had to leave the field too as Warren Gatland’s injury list continues to grow.

However, Wales never gave in and showed remarkable character to take the lead with nine minutes remaining.

Substitute Lloyd Williams chipped ahead after a break down the left wing and Gareth Davies put down the hammer, burst through and dotted down after some lacklustre defending by England.  It was as if a frag had gone off in England’s 22 as their defenders were nowhere to be seen which allowed Davies to waltz home unopposed.

Biggar converted and then landed a stunning match winning penalty from just over the halfway line to end England’s seven match winning run at Twickenham.

But Stuart Lancaster’s side still had one more chance when they were awarded a penalty with two minutes left.

However, rather than deciding to go for the posts, they kicked for the corner which resulted in them losing possession at the lineout and it sent Wales, and their pockets of supporters inside Twickenham, into jubilation.

England Coach Stuart Lancaster:

"First of all well done to Wales.We are absolutely devastated. There is absolutely no doubt it's knock-out rugby now.

"The 1st half performance was excellent. But overall it's about the result and that will hurt us tonight."

England Captain Chris Robshaw:

On penalty decision: "I spoke to the other kickers on the pitch and we thought we could win. In two previous line-outs we had ascendancy."If it's an easier kick you look at your options, don't you? But it wasn't."

Wales Coach Warren Gatland:

"I thought they would have gone for goal and taken the draw. Big call to make. You make the right decision you are hero. You make the wrong one you are zero.

On injuries: "Look, we've run out players at the moment. This shows that if you want something badly enough, you can do it. I think we wanted it more in the end."

England:  Mike Brown; Anthony Watson, Brad Barritt, Sam Burgess, Jonny May, Owen Farrell, Ben Youngs; Joe Marler, Tom Youngs, Dan Cole, Geoff Parling, Courtney Lawes, Tom Wood, Chris Robshaw, Billy Vunipola.

Replacements: Rob Webber, Mako Vunipola, Kieran Brookes, Joe Launchbury, James Haskell, Richard Wigglesworth, George Ford, Alex Goode.

Try: May

Con: Farrell

Pens: Farrell (5)

Drop Goal: Farrell

Wales: Liam Williams; George North, Scott Williams, Jamie Roberts, Hallam Amos; Dan Biggar, Gareth Davies; Gethin Jenkins, Scott Baldwin, Tomas Francis, Bradley Davies, Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton (capt), Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: Ken Owens, Aaron Jarvis, Samson Lee, Luke Charteris, Justin Tipuric, Lloyd Williams, Rhys Priestland, Alex Cuthbert.

Try: G.Davies

Con: Biggar

Pens: Biggar (7)