Key events
Some first-half stats to digest:
Possession: Wales 55%, England 45%
Tackles made/missed: Wales 38/11, England 86/7
Carries/metres made: Wales 48/189, England 40/423
Penalties conceded: Wales 1, England 4
Handling errors: Wales 3, England 3
Turnovers won, Wales 1, England 3
Half time: Wales 7-26 England
The hosts got over the try line first after an impressive start, but England hit back with a vengeance, running in four tries to take control of this match without ever looking close to their best. Can Wales keep their opponents in sight in the second half?
40 mins: England’s final charge downfield is very stop-start and a handling error hands Wales a penalty – but we’re already in the red, and that’s half time.
39 mins: Bevan’s high kick to touch drifts out without a bounce, and England have a late lineout on the halfway line.
37 mins: They work through the phases but get held up in midfield, and Carys Phillips is penalised for a slightly extravagant roll forward as she tried to maintain possession.
36 mins: After an exchange of kicks, Neumann snatches the loose ball in mid-air just as Jones threatened to break away with it. Can Wales make anything happen before the half-time whistle?
34 mins: The referee has a word with both front rows before a scrum, and then awards Wales a penalty – that’s the fourth England have conceded in the first half. Unfortunately for the hosts, the kick downfield goes straight to Kildunne.
32 mins: Wales again work the ball wide right to Neumann, who is stood up by Meg Jones. The hosts being kept square by the England defence, and Bevan’s eventual kick goes straight into touch.
30 mins: Wales have been suffering at set pieces but stand up well here to win a penalty off the scrum. The penalty is kicked for a lineout, won by Gwen Crabb …
Zoe Harrison misses the conversion from out wide, but England have a fourth try and a bonus point wrapped up inside half an hour.
TRY! Wales 7-26 England (Feaunati 26′)
Botterman immediately plays her part as England’s pack win the ball from a Welsh scrum. Kildunne breaks downfield with Hannah Jones out of position, and while Neumann does well to stop the score, she has no help and Feaunati can collect for her second try.
26 mins: An early change for England in the front row, Mackenzie Carson replaced by Hannah Botterman.
25 mins: Kildunne swirls a lovely pass out to Dow, who draws the defender and offloads inside to Jess Breach … but the referee has whistled for a forward pass against Kildunne. Replays suggest that was a little harsh.
24 mins: Zoe Aldcroft breaks through the Welsh defence and powers almost 30 metres upfield. Neumann halts her with a firm tackle, but England come again …
23 mins: Wales are moving the ball nicely, trying to use the width of the field, but Neumann meets a white wall in the shape of Ellie Kildunne and England get the scrum ball.
21 mins: An England offside gives George the chance to kick downfield and get Wales a foothold in the territory battle.
TRY! Wales 7-21 England (Bern 19′)
In the next passage of play, England do strike again, rolling to within five metres before clean hands from Feaunati create space for Sarah Bern to sneak inside the posts. Harrison adds her third conversion.
17 mins: Wales set up their opening score with accurate kicking, but have struggled since, giving up too much field position to England. It’s almost a third try for the visitors here but Breach is held up on the left flank just short of the line.
16 mins: England have certainly woken up now, and Jess Breach kicks through and chases at speed – but Jaz Joyce is there to clear up.
TRY! Wales 7-14 England (Jones 13′)
Wales kick off and Ellie Kildunne makes a stuttering run upfield. Before the home defence can regroup, centre Meg Jones finds space on the ball and cuts left and right, sevens-style, before racing over the line. A poignant moment for Jones, born in Wales, but tapping the Red Rose as she crosses. Harrison converts.
TRY! Wales 7-7 England (Feaunati 11′)
From the lineout, England level with an ease that will really frustrate Wales after such a bright start. A misjudged tackle from Bethan Lewis leaves a big gap for Maddie Feaunati, who jogs clear of the defence to score. Harrison floats over the conversion.
10 mins: Abby Dow kicks into space downfield and as Lisa Neumann runs the ball out, gets upfield and muscles the Welsh wing out of play.
8 mins: England try to strike back quickly, but Sarah Bern falls awkwardly and allows try-scorer Scoble to steal the ball. Bern clings on, but Wales get the penalty, which is kicked to touch.
TRY! Wales 7-0 England (Scoble 5′)
Wales get another scrum and Georgia Evans drives for the line. She’s held up but the pack are behind her in numbers, and Jenni Scoble gets over the line! Bevan adds the conversion, and Wales have reward for their early pressure.
4 mins: The scrum folds and Wales have a tap-and-go, but Sadia Kabeya is well-placed at the breakdown to strip the ball away. It’s played back to Zoe Harrison, who fumbles and is brought down behind the line. England a little rattled early on …
3 mins: England have the chance to clear their lines but fail to do so, with Mackenzie Carson knocking on five metres out. Wales will have the scrum …
2 mins: Wales win the early lineout and Jaz Joyce breaks into space on the right. The hosts work the ball back out to the left and Carys Cox tries to offload, but finds a white shirt.
Here we go
The referee, Clara Munarini, waits for the PA to count down and Lleuce George kicks off for Wales.
Time for the anthems. Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau at the Principality is always special. I used to live about half a mile away from the stadium in Cardiff, and if you stood at the back door just before kick-off, you could hear it on the breeze.
Here’s the England coach, John Mitchell, on rotating his team: “I’m very grateful for the competition [in the squad]. We want the best playmakers and decision makers in the team. This is the plan, everyone’s bought into it. Can we keep pressure on the opposition for a longer period of time? I’m sure Wales will throw some punches at us, and I want to see how we respond.”
Abi Burton could make her England debut off the bench today – an extraordinary achievement after a neurological condition left her in a coma four years ago. After representing Team GB at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, the Ealing forward suffered a knee injury and then began to have seizures and sudden changes in behaviour.
Eventually diagnosed with autoimmune NMDA receptor encephalitis, she was placed in an induced coma that lasted for almost a month. “I couldn’t walk, talk, read or write. Going from a strapping rugby player to not even being able to get myself up to go to the toilet was crazy. I was a shell of myself.”
After a long recovery period, Burton returned to rugby and played for Team GB’s sevens last year in Paris, earning an England call-up this year. “If I ever relapse, I might not be able to play again, so I play every game like it’s going to be my last.”
Wales are hosting England at the Principality Stadium for the first time in the Women’s Six Nations – with 18,000 tickets sold in advance, this will be the biggest-ever crowd for a women’s sporting event in Wales.
“It doesn’t get bigger than this,” says the Wales head coach, Sean Lynn. “England are very strong, they’re No 1 in the world – we’ve got a lot of respect for them. But we’re trying to build on what we did against Scotland, and get some small wins today.”
England’s Meg Joyce sat down with Donald McRae earlier this month for a moving interview, having lost her Welsh father and English mother last year.
Wales full-back Jaz Joyce-Butchers on her team’s recent struggles, and hopes for a new start after players resolved their contract dispute with the WRU.
France 38-15 Scotland
There’s already one result from round two of the Six Nations, with France securing their second win and a bonus point against Scotland in La Rochelle.
The hosts didn’t have things all their own way, despite making a fast start as Carla Arbez finished off a break by No 8 Teani Feleu in the 11th minute. Morgane Bourgeois added the conversion and two penalties to make it 13-0, but Emma Orr kicked, chased and touched down for Scotland after Lisa Thomson pounced on a French handling error.
Helen Nelson added the extras to reduce the deficit to 13-7 at half-time. Bourgeois kicked another penalty soon after the restart before France further extended their lead through a brilliant drop-goal from scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus. Nelson slotted over a penalty to leave Scotland nine points behind approaching the hour mark, but the hosts found another gear in the latter stages.
France scored twice in three minutes through Feleu and Seraphine Okemba down either flank to take the game beyond their opponents. Bourgeois then dived over herself to score the hosts’ fourth try and seal a bonus point. Scotland drove across from a lineout in added time, Elis Martin touching down before Nelson’s conversion effort hit the post.
Having beaten Ireland 27-15 in Belfast in their first game, France host Wales next while Scotland, who defeated Wales in their opener, will face Italy. PA Media
The teams
Wales: Jaz Joyce-Butchers; Lisa Neumann, Hannah Jones (c), Kayleigh Powell, Carys Cox; Lleucu George, Keira Bevan; Gwenllian Pyrs, Carys Phillips, Jenni Scoble, Abbie Fleming, Gwen Crabb, Kate Williams, Bethan Lewis, Georgia Evans.
Replacements: Kelsey Jones, Maisie Davies, Donna Rose, Alaw Pyrs, Bryonie King, Megan Davies, Courtney Keight, Nel Metcalfe.
England: Ellie Kildunne; Abby Dow, Meg Jones, Tatyana Heard, Jess Breach; Zoe Harrison, Natasha Hunt; Mackenzie Carson, Lark Atkin-Davies, Sarah Bern, Morwenna Talling, Abbie Ward, Zoe Aldcroft (c), Sadia Kabeya, Maddie Feaunati.
Replacements: Amy Cokayne, Hannah Botterman, Maud Muir, Rosie Galligan, Abi Burton, Lucy Packer, Holly Aitchison, Helena Rowland.
Referee: Clara Munarini (Italy)
Preamble
Two teams operating on different planes meet at the Principality Stadium this afternoon. England and Wales currently bookend the world’s top 10 but have very different expectations for this game. The visitors are seeking a “perfect game” as they build towards a home World Cup where victory is the only acceptable outcome.
John Mitchell has shuffled his starting XV from the opening win over Italy, giving his whole squad a chance to impress. Wales, who will play in front of least 18,000 fans today, will aim to flourish in the spotlight, building on the narrow defeat to Scotland in the opening week. Still, a first victory over England since 2015 would be a seismic shock.
With last year’s wooden spoon winners rebuilding under new head coach Sean Lynn, focus may be on the performance rather than the scoreboard for Wales. With Welsh rugby in something of an existential funk, the women’s side will be eager to avoid the kind of chastening defeat suffered by the men two weeks ago.
England, on the other hand, are operating under exacting standards and unbeaten since the painful 2022 World Cup final defeat to New Zealand. Even in the 38-5 rout of Italy, there was a second-half drift that the team are keen to correct. It’s a big afternoon for women’s rugby in Wales; the hosts will hope it doesn’t become a long one.
