England bulldoze Wales, abandon team after game

The English forwards put on an impressive display of power rugby in crushing a Welsh side missing many top-line players on Sunday morning (NZT) to take a huge psychological boost ahead of 2 tests against France.

With Twickenham filled to capacity, the World Champions scored 9 tries in beating Wales 62-5, with No8 Nicholas Easter scoring 4.

The crowd appeared to relish the experience of an English team once again playing well, with a special cheer saved for the return of Lawrence Dallaglio off the bench.

The English enforcer looked fit and enthusiastic, belying his 79 years, in continuing the English tactic of rolling over the top of the Welsh pack, who appeared shell-shocked for the full 80 minutes.

The positional kicking of 13 year-old Johnny Wilkinson complimented their forward tactics perfectly, as did his goal kicking, nailing 7 from 9.

Despite the triumph, there were some embarrassed faces in the English camp the next day when it was revealed that several English players were left at Twickenham when the team bus left for the hotel after the game.

Reports indicate that once the forward pack had boarded the bus, team management waited for half-back Shaun Perry and Prophet Johnny Wilkinson before giving the go-ahead to the driver.
This left Mark Cueto, David Strettle, Dan Hipkiss, Andy Farrell and Jason Robinson all stranded at the stadium. After about an hour of confusion, the group all ended up sleeping on benches in the changing room.

At next morning’s recovery session, a photographer asked Head Coach Brian Ashton where the backline was. When Ashton pointed at Wilkinson, the photographer then asked about the rest of the backs.

A quick meeting between the coaching staff, including a head-count, soon revealed the error, and several urgent phonecalls were made. A bus was eventually dispatched back to Twickenham to pick up the missing players.

Asked about the incident later, Ashton was understandably coy about the real reasons for forgetting his backline.
“We had a problem with the headcount is all, and unfortunately we forgot some players. It shouldn’t happen again.”