Defending Six Nations champion France needed a late try to beat underdog Scotland 16-9, while a long-range penalty three minutes from the end gave Wales an 11-9 victory over England on Saturday.
The French and English struggled on the opening day of the championship, and left Ireland — the favourites to win the title for the first time in 20 years — hoping to take advantage by scoring a big victory over Italy on Sunday.
Winger Shane Williams scored the only try under the Millennium Stadium roof as Wales, which had not beaten England in Cardiff for 12 years, took control. Stephen Jones’s penalty put the home side 8-3 up but England flyhalf Charlie Hodgson, still deputising for the injured Jonny Wilkinson, kicked three penalties to give the visitor a 9-8 lead with time running out.
The Welsh refused to buckle, however, and when the English conceded a penalty just inside their own half, the ball was handed to specialist long-range kicker Gavin Henson. The 75 000-strong crowd fell almost silent but erupted when his 44m kick hung in the air and crept over the bar.
”I knew I was going to kick it. I’ve been kicking them all week,” Henson said. ”The fans deserve it. It was a long time coming. It’s just a great win. We needed that. Hopefully we’ll go on a long run now.”
The result means England, world champions 15 months ago, are only the fourth-best team in Europe after losses to France, Ireland and Wales dating to the 2004 championship. England have also lost twice each to New Zealand and Australia.
”Wales deserved to win what was a mistake-ridden game,” said England coach Andy Robinson, whose team have lost seven out of their past 12 Tests and next face France at Twickenham.
”We struggled with our field position and getting the ball through two or three phases. We got ourselves back in the game in the second half and we played better in the second half, but it was one of those games that was going to come down to mistakes and penalty kicks.
”We made one or two silly errors in the final 10 minutes, and Wales made fewer errors than us.”
Fans jeer France
France also went close to losing after spending most of the game trailing Scotland and being jeered by their own fans at Stade de France.
Damien Traille charged down a kick close to the Scottish line and went over for the only try as the French side who won the Grand Slam last season came from 9-0 down against last season’s last-place finisher.
It was a cruel finish for the Scots, who also had a try by Allister Hogg disallowed and had to play the last 10 minutes down to 14 men. Coach Matt Williams was furious with the decisions that went against his team.
”I am outraged at the fact we lost that game and I’m outraged at the decisions which were made,” he said.
”I really don’t want to dwell on it because I don’t want to overshadow the courageousness of the way the team played. But they didn’t deserve to be robbed blind like that. Jon Petrie was sin-binned but was nowhere near the ball. Ally Hogg was called out and he wasn’t out.”
France coach Bernard Laporte, whose team lost at home to Argentina and New Zealand in November, was relieved his side didn’t suffer a third embarrassment.
”I felt at one stage that we would not win this game,” he said. ”We put ourselves in a delicate situation. We were under pressure and made too many errors.” — Sapa-AP