With fewer than ten weeks until the beginning of the eighth installment of the Rugby World Cup, we turn the clock back to revisit ten of the greatest World Cup matches of all time.
After a flawless pool stage performance by England – who were the tournament favourites – and a satisfactory second place finish by Wales in pool, the two old rivals faced off in what turned out to be the embodiment of a tale of two halves.
RUGBY WORLD CUP CLASSICS: #7 2003 RWC England vs Wales
Jonny Wilkinson and England drew first blood at the Suncorp Stadium in the 18th minute, but that was the first and last of their first half exploits.
From then to the half time whistle, Wales dominated. Having watched analysis of England’s pool stage encounters, the Welsh were keen to adopt a running threat from deep, particularly in the form of counter-attacking Wilkinson’s territorial punts, which England revolved their game around. The logic was clear – strip away a team’s strengths and you uncover its weaknesses. When Wales did that, the results were devastating.
When Shane Williams caught a miscued Mike TIndall crossfield bomb, he ran it back gleefully, beating the onrushing Ben Kay with ease, before drawing Wilkinson and offloading to Gareth Cooper, who was already in top gear. He raced between Matt Dawson and Tindall as they collided in a cartoon-like manner, and Cooper continued. He found Gareth Thomas, who was dragged down by Wilkinson, but not before he had shipped it onto Williams. After a temporary juggle, he found Stephen Jones with a pass, who dived over and finished a memorable team move.
Five minutes later, Wales counter attacked again. After bullish defence from the Welsh, Mark Jones took up the jackal position over Jason Robinson to secure a turnover, and through some quick thinking he turned a changeover in possession into a try scoring opportunity. He flicked it out to Iestyn Harris, who spotted that, as Robinson was at the bottom of the ruck, there was nobody at fullback for England, and so he put boot to ball. Ben Cohen won the race to the ball but was pursued closely by Neath winger Williams, who used his low centre of gravity to good effect and won a penalty by forcing the winger to hold on to the ball. After the ensuing lineout, Colin Charvis bundled over and Wales took a 10-3 lead into half time.
Watching on TV as a six year old English boy who believed beyond all doubt that it was England’s year, at this point I burst into tears for the first and only time during a rugby match. Even then for me it was so clear – Wales’ attack was unstoppable, and their defence looked impenetrable. As it stood, the favourites were boarding an early flight home.
However, soon after half-time, the flow of English tears was stemmed by brilliance from Robinson and Will Greenwood. Having received a pass from Cohen after a clearance, Robinson, aka Billy Whizz, set off and ghosted through a dog-leg in the Welsh defence caused by an over-eager kick chase. He scuttled away from Robert Sidoli and then Stephen Jones, before finding Greenwood, who was shadowing him on the outside, with a well-weighted pass . The Harlequins centre dived over in the corner and the two sides were back at level pegging after Wilkinson’s conversion.
Wilkinson’s immaculate kicking continued and soon after, England found themselves 15 points clear after five cheap moments of indiscipline from the Welsh.
Wales kept battling however, and after a rare second-half foray into English territory, Martyn Williams added to his international try tally thanks to quick hands from Dwayne Peel and an accurate crossfield kick from Jones. Unusually, Shane Williams leaped higher than the long frame of Lawrence Dallaglio and patted it down to his namesake Martyn for a World Cup-reviving score.
However, Wilkinson replied with a trademark drop goal to make it 28-17, and England took the spoils and progressed into the semi-final, where they would face France. Wales, on the other hand, were left empty-handed and disappointed, but Coach Steve Hansen admitted that his side had come “a long way” – this campaign was just the beginning of the reawakening of the Welsh dragon.
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