England have blamed their defeat in Cardiff on a lack of attacking ruthlessness but insist they will bounce back against Wales at Twickenham next Saturday. While the visitors were left try-less and conceded 21 turnovers at the Principality Stadium, the head coach, Steve Borthwick, believes the outcome would have been different had his side taken all their chances.
“In the first half we created lots of opportunities but we turned over the ball too much in the opposition 22,” said Borthwick. “You can’t do that in Test rugby. We have to make sure we take our opportunities next weekend. Every one of these experiences will be positive for us as we build towards the World Cup. The team will start to sharpen up over the next few weeks as we play the next three games.”
England’s scrum-half Danny Care also lamented his side’s inability to cross the home line in the first 40 minutes. England led 9-6 at half-time but were floored by a second-half Wales surge which yielded tries for Gareth Davies and George North. “The first half could have looked a lot different if we’d been more clinical,” said Care.
“We executed the gameplan we wanted to in the first half, apart from scoring tries. On another day we take one or two of those opportunities and it’s hopefully a different game. We dropped too many balls, gifted too many opportunities and couldn’t put any pressure on.
“Against a good team like Wales, if you don’t convert the pressure into points you leave yourself open. There’s plenty to work on but I’d also say we’re going into next week excited. We know we can be a lot better. We need to be better and will be next week.”
The Wales head coach, Warren Gatland, said he was delighted with his side’s first August game. “Today will give us a lot of confidence,” he said. “I was a little bit apprehensive this morning because I wasn’t quite sure how things were going to go. It was the performance I was more interested in and I thought we looked comfortable in the last 20 minutes. I felt that some of the English forwards were blowing a bit just before half-time.”
