England’s 48-7 win<\/a> was a walloping.<\/p>\nBall in hand, they made nearly twice the metres of the visitors.<\/p>\n
Wales were spinning like tops in defence, chasing back after 16 line-breaks. The visitors made only six in the opposite direction<\/p>\n
England had almost 60% of territory. By 25 minutes in, Wales had a decimal point of hope. At best.<\/p>\n
Afterwards head coach Steve Borthwick thought the scoreline stat should have been even more lopsided in England’s favour.<\/p>\n
“I thought we defended exceptionally well, we kicked really well and we scored some nice tries, but I think we left a lot out there on the grass.,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.<\/p>\n
“We’ll review this game and say there’s a load of things we could do a lot better. Those are the things we need to step up next week.<\/p>\n
“Second half we were in the 22 a lot but didn’t come away with points on as many occasions as we’d have liked.”<\/p>\n
Ultimately, England made enough stick to the scoreboard to sit atop of the Six Nations table after round one.<\/p>\n
More interesting than the early-stage standings to Borthwick will be the lessons, albeit it limited and caveated by the quality of the opposition, that he can take.<\/p>\n
Henry Arundell, all low-slung power and top-end speed, inevitably took the headlines after helping himself to a first-half hat-trick.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old, who, as a teenager, scored a try with his first touch of the ball in the Test game, has a sky-high international strike-rate.<\/p>\n
In 12 Tests, he has 11 tries.<\/p>\n
That stat is inflated by five against Chile in the last Rugby World Cup, as well as Saturday’s work, but his ability to turn a half-break into a full five points is precious. <\/p>\n
When Fraser Dingwall scooped up and shovelled the ball to him for England’s fourth try of the afternoon, the cover was instantly blow-torched.<\/p>\n
Arundell’s improvement under the high ball this season – most notably in Bath’s win over Saracens opposite Noah Caluori – and defence, are qualities that have been coached into him. His fast-twitch physicality, though, is an ability beyond anyone’s gift.<\/p>\n
With the amount of slapped-back kick-chase and subsequent broken-field chaos in the modern game, it is a more of a lethal weapon than ever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#England #Wales #Hosts #focus #finetuning #big #win<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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