England show their credentials

ENGLAND last night justified their tag as RBS 6 Nations title favourites by claiming a first victory in Cardiff since they were crowned 2003 world champions.

Wing Chris Ashton scored two tries, the unflappable Toby Flood kicked 13 points before going off injured and his replacement Jonny Wilkinson slotted a clinching penalty five minutes from time.

Wales had their moments — wing Morgan Stoddart claimed a second-half touchdown, while Stephen Jones converted and added three penalties — and finished strongly, but they have now gone eight Tests without a win.

And there might be worse to come ahead of next weekend’s Murrayfield appointment with Scotland, as centre Jonathan Davies could be cited following a blatant trip on Ashton that all the officials missed.

England though now march on towards three successive games at Twickenham ahead of their tournament finale against Ireland in Dublin, a game that could easily see Six Nations silverware, a Grand Slam and Triple Crown at stake.

Not that Flood is getting carried away just yet. “It’s going to be tough,’’ he said. “We’ve got one tough win and we can carry on and build next week against a tough Italian side. What we can’t do is ease off the gas like we did in the autumn.

“A lot of us have been here before and been unsuccessful, so we knew what was coming. We knew what we had to do to achieve this, and we did that.”

Wales wing Shane Williams admitted he was crushed by his side’s failure to take their chances. He said: “We’re immensely disappointed that we’ve lost our first game at home. It’s never a good sign.

“We were prepared for a big performance and we did it in patches but that’s not good enough. They’re a very physical and very confident back-line at the moment and we made far too many mistakes.

“We can feel confident as players but we got in good positions and we just weren’t good enough in the end. We’re disappointed because we didn’t give the performance we promised we would.”

Wales settled quickly last night, gaining a long-range penalty chance from the first scrum that Hook drifted narrowly wide. Jones then missed an easier kick, before England finished their first scoring chance in clinical fashion.

It took them 11 minutes to break into Wales’ 22, but the result was spectacular as Flood blasted through a huge gap between Wales props Paul James and Craig Mitchell, then sent Ashton sprinting over. Ashton marked his fourth touchdown in eight Tests with a trademark celebratory dive, and Flood converted and then kicked a penalty for an imposing 10-0 lead.

Wales had to make a rapid response, and they did not disappoint as Jones slotted penalties either side of breaks by Stoddart and lock Bradley Davies.

England struggled to repel Welsh attacking waves, and when they resorted to illegal means — Louis Deacon knocking the ball out of Mike Phillips’ hands from an offside position — referee Alain Rolland had no hesitation yellow-carding the Leicester forward.

England though, dug deep after Deacon’s departure, restoring a seven-point advantage when Flood landed another penalty before the home side lost number eight Andy Powell with a shoulder injury.

Jones completed his penalty hat-trick within three minutes of the restart, yet Welsh indiscipline then surfaced as Mitchell was yellow-carded for a technical infringement.

Another Flood strike put England 16-9 in front before Ashton poached his second try after Palmer’s powerful run spread-eagled Wales’ defence and Mark Cueto sent his fellow wing across. Wales struck back right on cue when Stoddart took Davies’ scoring pass after England centre Shontayne Hape blasted out of the defensive line.

The try gave Wales renewed hope, and an air of anticipation surrounded Hook’s move to fly-half after Jones went off with 13 minutes left. Hook’s first act was to kick a penalty, leaving Wales just four points adrift, but England reverted to their forwards, substitute Lee Byrne conceded a penalty and Wilkinson did the rest.

Scorers for Wales: M Stoddart try; S Jones con, 3 pens; J Hook pen.

Scorers for England: C Ashton 2 tries; T Flood 2 cons, 3 pens; J wilkinson pen.

WALES: Hook, Stoddart, J Davies, Roberts, Williams, S Jones, Phillips, James, Rees, Mitchell, A Jones, B Davies, Lydiate, Warburton, Powell.

Replacements: Byrne for S. Jones (67), Peel for Phillips (69), Hibbard for Rees (70), Yapp for Lydiate (52).

ENGLAND: Foden, Ashton, Tindall, Hape, Cueto, Flood, Youngs, Sheridan, Hartley, Cole, Deacon, Palmer, Wood, Haskell, Easter.

Replacements: Wilkinson for Flood (66), Care for Youngs (62), Wilson for Sheridan (61), Thompson for Hartley (69), Shaw for Deacon (69), Worsley for Haskell (62).

Referee: Alain Rolland