Morgan shows way for Wales as England struggle to spark

WALES have been holding out for a hero, and yesterday in Cardiff they found one in Jac Morgan. 

- NICK CAIN

The 23-year-old Ospreys openside delivered a supercharged performance in his first match as captain to win this opening World Cup warm-up encounter against a deeply disappointing England outfit.

Where Morgan’s nonstop work-rate, drive, and skill inspired head coach Warren Gatland’s experimental Welsh side to a deserved two tries to nil victory, despite the mass retirements from the national team in recent months, England’s World Cup “Maybe Men” were so disjointed that they barely threatened the Welsh line.

After a display in which the England hopefuls looked tuned-out rather than tuned-up after their six-week training camp, there will also not be much threat of many of them making the 33-man World Cup squad that England head coach Steve Borthwick names tomorrow.

When England did manage to mount some pressure during a scrappy first half under the closed roof at the Principality Stadium they were unable to translate it into tries, mirroring their lack of cutting edge during the Six Nations.

Both of these teams were scratch sides, but where Wales came together in terms of teamwork and an urgency to build cohesion, England lacked coordination and precision, often playing like a bunch of strangers.

This was reflected in a staggering discrepancy in handling ability over the course of the 80 minutes, with England spilling the ball 17 times to only two errors by Wales. A further advantage squandered by England was that the two novice Welsh props, Corey Domachowski and Kieron Assiratti, were struggling to get to grips with the strictures of the refereeing of the scrum at international level.