Wales' narrow defeat to England is dominating the sports pages across the UK today.
Here's what the UK national papers are saying.
Wales were dangerous on the very few occasions when they could keep the ball in play without penalty. Alex Cuthbert and Tomos Williams were superb, and the endurance of Taulupe Faletau, playing his first game for Wales since the mists of time, was incredible.
They could have won, they conceded a try at a key stage when a combination of a rank throw from Ryan Elias and a barge by Maro Itoje on Adam Beard — the target — gave Alex Dombrandt a wander-in try. It was missed by the whole team of officials and their screens. Maybe their electricity had been cut off. But on the run of play, a Wales win would have been a considerable injustice.
Anyone who waited for this match to get started had to do so until about 20 minutes after it kicked off to see any worthwhile action. The referee spent what appeared like hours wandering round the scrummages trying to lessen some of the chaos without ever remotely imposing himself and when he penalised England after a whole succession of boring scrums on the Welsh line it looked and sounded like one of those random penalties where the referee is sure that someone is up to something, but he is not sure who. Or what.
England were reasonable. They have negotiated rather shakily the second division of this Six Nations but as we had seen during the France-Scotland game, division one is a completely different proposition.
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Never mind the spectacle, perhaps, simply savour the scoreline. A 23-19 victory for England, on an evening when Jones had challenged his overhauled side to prove themselves as World Cup contenders-in-waiting, was hardly to be taken lightly. But the result should not disguise the fact that even eight-year-old Prince George had a faraway look in his eyes whenever the camera was on him, or the harsh truth that the most enterprising and enthralling rugby was played by Wales.
A magnificent dart by Alex Cuthbert, a wondrous pass by Tomos Williams for Josh Adams’ try in the corner, an irresistible charge for the line by Nick Tompkins: these were the flourishes that electrified the Twickenham crowd, rather than the incremental scoreboard pressure applied through the boot of Marcus Smith.
It was telling that Biggar offered no hint that his players had been beaten by the better team, only an intense frustration that they had let a priceless opportunity slide. England were ripe for the kill here, tentative in possession and painfully off-key in much of their execution.
Typically, you would reach for the truism that the best sides work out how to win even when playing raggedly. But England are doing little to justify even that half-measure of confidence.
Let’s be honest. The comfortable French win in Edinburgh earlier in the day again put a lot of what we witnessed, particularly in the first-half, into stark perspective. A Six Nations season always contains a few snakes and ladders but not many would currently put many euros on Les Bleus or Ireland failing to finish ahead of England in the final table.
That is not to say England were poor, just that the game was a couple of notches down on France’s effort at Murrayfield. The last half hour may have been enjoyably frantic, with two Welsh tries in seven minutes by Josh Adams and Nick Tompkins, but it needed to be fun to make up for a scrappy first half which struggled to match either the soaring setting or the clearest of late February blue skies.
England, though, have still only lost two games at home in the Six Nations in the last 10 years – beaten only by Ireland in 2018 and Scotland in 2021 – and there continue to be signs of a decent side trying to get out.
"After my comments last week that no Welsh player would get in a combined England and Wales side, I must admit I was feeling pretty smug when Alex Dombrandt’s try made it 17-0.
"Then, as Wales mounted a late comeback, I got pretty nervous. I was panicking a bit at the end! I thought it was going to be a rerun of the 2015 World Cup game all over again!
"I got plenty of stick from Welsh fans on social media for what they saw as an attack on their players, but I’ve got to give credit where it’s due to some of their squad now.
"Taulupe Faletau put in an unbelievable shift. For him to play like that after so long out injured was remarkable. He played like the Faletau I remember facing when he was at his peak.
"Alex Cuthbert also looked back to his best. He’s had a lot of flak from Welsh fans and spent a long time away from Test rugby, but his performance at Twickenham was superb.
"For him to make 176 metres from 14 carries is unbelievable. I also thought Tomos Williams – who I’m a big fan of – came into the game late on with the speed of his play.
"Cuthbert would definitely make my combined team from the sides which played yesterday and the other two would come close. I’m happy to eat humble pie on that!"
The changing of the guard is still an ongoing process and this new Wales team are still aligning on a new identity under Wayne Pivac. The wide-wide-wide philosophy of the early days has been replaced by a slightly more pragmatic approach. And while the discipline and efficiency of the Gatland days was painfully absent in the first hour at Twickenham, Wales have retained that same cussedness as they fought their way back from 17-0 down.
The England coaching box would have been a mightily uncomfortable place in the second half while quite a few home supporters will have had a few painful reminders of the 2008 collapse here against Wales.
What difference would Alun Wyn Jones have made? Certainly it is hard not to think that he would have allowed the rank ill-discipline or the shambles of a line-out taking place under his watch. The set-piece gremlins that dogged Wales in their opening round defeat to Ireland reappeared with a vengeance here.
The stats show that Wales’ line-out operated more efficiently than England’s but the visiting team’s errors were far more glaring. Poor old Ryan Elias will appear on the next edition of This Should Never Happen to an International Hooker. At the start of the second half with a throw deep inside his own 22, Elias’ communication with his jumping pod broke down. After the usual ballet routine, Adam Beard shaped to jump, did not and watched the ball sail over his head and into Alex Dombrandt’s grateful hands.
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