England’s so-called second-string pulled off a first class victory to ignite this year’s RBS 6 Nations in Cardiff.
Missing players but not self-belief, England produced a performance that announced their title intentions and erased painful memories of this fixture two years ago.
George Ford will take the credit for a nerveless kicking display but this was a team effort made all the more impressive by those missing from the team.
A long history, heightened by the last two encounters between these rivals, meant this match hardly needed a super-charged build-up.
But the showpiece curtain raiser to this year’s RBS 6 Nations still got a big opening number although it was when the smoke from the impressive pre-match pyrotechnics cleared that the real fireworks started.
Welsh fans don’t need any help to create an atmosphere at the Millennium Stadium, noise rolls and reverberates around this place like a thunderclap in the valleys.
But they were still finding their voice and their seats when the hosts got off to a flyer, the first stanza of the first hymn still hanging in the cold night air.
Because within less than 60 seconds Wales were ahead with a bang, Jonny May was penalised after he failed to roll away and Leigh Halfpenny threaded the resulting penalty from long range.
Just four minutes later and Wales scored the first try of this year’s Championship, Taulupe Faletau probed to excavate the ball from a scrum that England looked to have bossed, releasing Rhys Webb for a try that Halfpenny duly converted with laser-guided accuracy.
But Wales, their scoring briefly outpacing the clock, were never going to have this all their own way.
Two years ago England mustered just three miserly points in a record defeat in this fixture, a chastening loss and a salutary lesson that they had vowed to learn from.
Just four members of that starting 15 survived tonight and while the scars of that defeat have healed, the memory of the reputational damage it inflicted endures.
Stuart Lancaster’s team may have been missing some star names and despite the stuttering start, those that stepped up didn’t wilt under the glare of these Friday night lights.
And after some sustained pressure, Mike Brown’s precision kick was deftly gathered by Anthony Watson to halve the deficit, Ford missing the conversion that followed.
Halfpenny and Ford exchanged penalties but Wales ruthlessly continued to seize their chances in what was an absorbing first half, Dan Biggar’s drop goal sending them into the break with a 16-8 advantage that was neither comfortable nor commanding.
And within four minutes of the restart that lead had been reduced to a single point.
In-form centre Jonathan Joseph joined Bath team-mate Watson on the scoresheet, muscling and dancing his way to a try, that Ford converted, with a shift of pace and a subtle shimmy.
Ford then missed a tough penalty from long range as England started the second half just as their rivals had the first, only for mistakes to frequently stop them taking advantage of their hosts’ sudden nervousness.
However, England took the lead for the first time in the 62nd minute after flanker James Haskell appeared to have scored, only to crash against the post protector after a desperate tackle from Alex Cuthbert.
Cuthbert then saw yellow for failing to roll away from the aftermath of flailing limbs and Ford tapped a penalty over from in front of the posts.
Whatever Lancaster had said at half-time certainly worked but for all their endeavour England were only two points to the good.
Then again, encounters between these sides are meant to be close. Before this match they’d played 124 times, with Wales winning 56 and England 57.
Wales will live to regret the number of tackles they missed in a second half, a statistic encapsulated by a move that England fans thought was their winning try.
Dave Attwood broke through a series of tackles to score, only for referee Jerome Garces to chalk it off for an earlier infringement by Nick Easter.
However, England kept their discipline after that disappointment and made the game safe with a long range penalty by the nerveless Ford.
