SIX NATIONS: HASKELL HAILS BATTLING ENGLAND

JAMES HASKELL hailed England’s battling spirit after they narrowly prevented a repeat of their infamous 2008 ­Twickenham capitulation.

When James Hook’s try was converted with nine minutes left, Wales had hauled themselves back from 20-3 down to within three points.

Two years ago Warren Gatland’s men turned around a 13-point deficit to run out winners and most of Twickenham feared a repeat was on the cards.

Nobody in the ground wanted it more than Alun-Wyn Jones, whose brainless trip on Dylan Hartley saw him sin-binned and allowed England to chalk up 17 points either side of half-time.

But Martin Johnson’s men dug deep and Delon Armitage’s interception of fly-half Stephen Jones’ pass led to Haskell charging up in support of Mathew Tait to make the game safe. Jonny Wilkinson, who kicked six from six, added some gloss with a late penalty as England got their campaign off to a winning start.

Man-of-the-match Haskell praised the contribution of skipper Steve Borthwick and backed England to keep improving as the tournament progresses.

Two-try Haskell said: “We should never have let the game get to a three-point margin but under Borthers’ leadership and the leaders on the field we backed each other as a team. I was thinking, ‘There is no way we can lose this game’. I have played Wales four times now and the score is 3-1 to Wales.

“I knew we were letting ourselves down if we lost this game.

“I think people would rather have died than lose.

“We’re by no means the finished article but we’re heading in the right direction.”

Boss Johnson will probably take most satisfaction from the contribution of his new-look back row of Haskell, Nick Easter and Lewis Moody.

Danny Care, who scored his side’s second try just after half-time, produced one of his best displays in an England jersey.

“When you have been 17 points up and it is three, teams get tense. You can feel the crowd get tense,” said Johnson.

“We had to find the next score and I thought we took it really well.”

» MORE 'OTHER SPORT' HERE...

Share @:Digg StumbleUpon del.icio.us Newsvine reddit

Want to Shout?

 

Print This Page

Email To A Friend

Contact Us

Get RSS