England punished an error-strewn Wales performance to win 23-19 at Twickenham and remain France's nearest challengers in the 2022 Six Nations.
The Red Rose had responded to their opening defeat to Scotland with a routine victory over Italy but would have expected a greater test against the defending champions on Saturday.
Instead, England controlled much of the proceedings, with Wales initially impressing only in limiting their scoring.
Marcus Smith's penalty kicking ensured the home side were comfortable early on, though, and an Alex Dombrandt try early in the second period meant an attempted Wales comeback – led by scores from Josh Adams, Nick Tompkins and Kieran Hardy – fell just short.
There was precious little quality in a first half that England dominated, with their 12 points all coming from the boot of Smith.
England's best chance of a try saw them halted in front of the line before Charlie Ewels was penalised for a knock-on, although the TMO spotted Liam Williams had dislodged the ball, earning a yellow card.
Williams headed for the sin bin, yet England added only three points to their total through Smith's latest penalty in his time off the pitch.
The breakthrough try was suitably scruffy in the 43rd minute when Ryan Elias' lineout cleared all of his team-mates and allowed Dombrandt to steal in and score.
Wales' response was rather more impressive, with Adams found free on the left for one try before Tompkins exploited a gap for another, cutting the lead from 17 points to five.
England introduced Ben Youngs for a record-breaking 115th cap as they sought to stem the tide, although it was a further pair of fine Smith kicks that really eased the nerves.
A quick restart from Hardy to score with seconds remaining gave England one last attack to see out with the match on the line, but Eddie Jones' men held on.
Another slow Welsh start
A worrying trend of this Wales campaign has been their poor first-half showings. This was the second of three matches in which they have failed to score a point before the break.
Struggling prior to half-time is nothing new in this fixture, though. They have not led at the interval in any of their 12 Six Nations matches at Twickenham and are the only side with that miserable record.
Smith's boot the standout
Smith finished with 18 points, matching his previous Test best against Canada last July. On that occasion, however, his points came courtesy of nine conversions in a one-sided triumph; this time, with six penalties, his contribution was far more decisive.
The England fly-half also now leads the charts for points in this championship, 12 ahead of Melvyn Jaminet, with whom he had been tied heading into Saturday.
What's next?
Ireland will have the opportunity to nudge ahead of England when they host Italy on Sunday, but they are then the next visitors to Twickenham. Wales must attempt to halt France's Grand Slam charge in Cardiff.
Spain 3-0 Serbia: Dominant Roja through to quarter-finals
Spain cruised into the Nations League quarter-finals after Tuesday's comfortable 3-0 victory over Serbia.
Luis de la Fuente's side eased to a routine win in Cordoba, qualifying for the knockout stages with two games to spare after Switzerland's 2-2 draw with Denmark guaranteed Spain a top-two spot in their group.
Aymeric Laporte opened the scoring after just five minutes, heading into the far corner after a well-worked corner routine allowed Pedro Porro space to deliver.
Mikel Merino's header from Alex Baena's cross was denied by the post soon after, before Spain missed a glorious chance to extend their lead after the interval.
Porro's vicious shot was adjudged to have been handled by Veljko Birmancevic, but Alvaro Morata blazed over with a disappointing 54th-minute penalty.
Captain Morata made amends just 11 minutes later, however, finishing with ease into the bottom corner after Fabian Ruiz profited on Serbia's slack attempts to play out from defence.
Further misery followed for Serbia as Strahinja Pavlovic's last-man challenge on Mikel Oyarzabal was upgraded to a red card following a VAR review, before Baena curled the resulting free-kick past Predrag Rajkovic to seal another Roja win.
Data Debrief: Unbeaten run continues for rampant Roja
De la Fuente masterminded Spain's Euro 2024 triumph, with the best team deservedly triumphing at the tournament in Germany, but La Roja's impressive run started well before that.
Spain are now unbeaten in their last 19 matches across all competitions (W17 D2), excluding friendlies, their best such streak since a 29-game run between June 2010 and June 2013 (W24 D5).
This was a typically dominant performance from the hosts, who accumulated 2.9 expected goals (xG) compared to Serbia's meagre 0.37, as the away side struggled throughout.
Spain 3-0 Serbia: Dominant Roja consolidate quarter-final hopes
Spain took a giant leap to securing Nations League quarter-final progression after Tuesday's comfortable 3-0 victory over Serbia.
Luis de la Fuente's side will need just a point from their last two games in the competition next month after a routine win in Cordoba.
Aymeric Laporte opened the scoring after just five minutes, heading into the far corner after a well-worked corner routine allowed Pedro Porro space to deliver.
Mikel Merino's header from Alex Baena's cross was denied by the post soon after, before Spain missed a glorious chance to extend their lead after the interval.
Porro's vicious shot was adjudged to have been handled by Veljko Birmancevic, but Alvaro Morata blazed over with a disappointing 54th-minute penalty.
Captain Morata made amends just 11 minutes later, however, finishing with ease into the bottom corner after Fabian Ruiz profited on Serbia's slack attempts to play out from defence.
Further misery followed for Serbia as Strahinja Pavlovic's last-man challenge on Mikel Oyarzabal was upgraded to a red card following a VAR review, before Baena curled the resulting free-kick past Predrag Rajkovic to seal another Roja win.
Data Debrief: Unbeaten run continues for rampant Roja
De la Fuente masterminded Spain's Euro 2024 triumph, with the best team deservedly triumphing at the tournament in Germany, but La Roja's impressive run started well before that.
Spain are now unbeaten in their last 19 matches across all competitions (W17 D2), excluding friendlies, their best such streak since a 29-game run between June 2010 and June 2013 (W24 D5).
This was a typically dominant performance from the hosts, who accumulated 2.9 expected goals (xG) compared to Serbia's meagre 0.37, as the away side struggled throughout.
Kane lauds 'fantastic' Tuchel but unaware of growing England links
Harry Kane remains unaware of ongoing discussions for Thomas Tuchel to take over as England manager but lauded his "fantastic" former head coach.
The England captain enjoyed a record-breaking debut season for Bayern Munich under Tuchel last campaign, before the 51-year-old was dismissed and replaced by Vincent Kompany.
Kane could reunite with Tuchel soon, however, amid widespread reports on Tuesday that the former Chelsea and Bayern boss has agreed to become England's permanent manager.
Former Tottenham talisman Kane refused to delve too deep into the capabilities of Tuchel due to the ongoing discussions, but still spoke highly of his previous experience with him.
"Until it's announced obviously I can't really comment, but we have to wait and see," the striker told Sky Sports in Germany.
"Obviously, I know Thomas well from last year. [He is a] fantastic coach, fantastic person. I am sure the guys at the FA will contact me, when they know more about it."
Kane scored 36 times in just 32 Bundesliga games last term under Tuchel, breaking the record for the most goals in a debut season in the competition.
However, that was not enough to keep the former Paris Saint-Germain boss in his role at Bayern, who parted ways with Tuchel after his side finished third behind Bayer Leverkusen and Stuttgart.
Tuchel still maintained an impressive 60.7% winning record across all competitions for Bayern (winning 37 out of 61 matches), a mark he only bettered with Borussia Dortmund (62.6%) and PSG (74.8%).
It may be Tuchel's cup-competition expertise that has drawn England to his skills, though, leading PSG to their first Champions League final in 2020 and winning the same competition with Chelsea a year later.
Indeed, Tuchel has managed 40 Champions League wins in 67 games, with his 59.7% winning ratio more than all but one England manager at major tournaments (World Cup and Euros) – Alf Ramsey had 66.7%.
Time will tell if Tuchel, should he be appointed, can provide a similar winning formula at the 2026 World Cup, where Kane will be delighted to work with his former boss.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
