Depleted England overpower Wales

8.00am

CARDIFF - A depleted England team have crushed Wales 43-9 in a World Cup warm-up international, scoring 27 unanswered second-half points to record their 14th straight victory.

England's forwards laid the foundation, grinding down a tiring Welsh side and scoring three of their team's five tries through Lewis Moody, Joe Worsley and Dorian West. Winger Dan Luger and centre Stuart Abbott also crossed after the forwards had smashed their way towards the tryline.

"That forward pack can take on any in the world," said England coach Clive Woodward. "We are fortunate that we have a lot of depth in certain positions.

"We think the skills they showed in handling the ball was fantastic and we were just happy to win the game."

The victory margin would have been higher if first five-eighths Alex King, hoping to go to the World Cup in Australia as back-up to Jonny Wilkinson, had not missed six shots at goal.

He finished with 16 points, while Wales captain and first five-eighths Stephen Jones scored all of his side's points with three first-half penalties.

Wales, who defended superbly in the first half, were unable to sustain the pressure after the interval as they slumped to a 10th successive test defeat.

"That was a pretty poor performance," said Wales coach Steve Hansen. "Probably one of the poorest I've seen since being associated with the side. The boys are very disappointed."

The opening 10 minutes was furious, with an England side made up largely of reserve players producing superb phase rugby.

The intent seemed clear when captain Jason Leonard decided to kick a penalty five metres out from the tryline into touch instead of taking a certain three points.

However, the Welsh defence held out and continued tackling bravely to drive the white wave back repeatedly.

England stuck with their high-paced game, but blew a certain try when right winger James Simpson-Daniel flirted with the touchline and found Moody, whose poor pass to Worsley went to ground.

TRADING PENALTIES

Jones opened the scoring for the hosts with a penalty in the 11th minute that was followed by two from King before Moody drove off a maul to score the first try after 25 minutes.

King landed the sideline conversion to make the score 13-3 before Jones grabbed a second penalty.

Wales then spent the last 10 minutes of the half defending as the English pack deprived them of ball and forced them into several errors.

The aggressive Welsh defence held, however, and England had only a King drop goal to show for massive territorial advantage and they went into the break only 16-9 up after Jones added his third penalty.

England opened the second half in much the same way they started the first and the writing seemed on the wall, even though King missed three successive penalties.

But their pressure eventually paid off when Luger smashed his way over after superb support play and handling by the pack.

King added the conversion before kicking another penalty to take the visitors out to a 26-9 lead.

Worsley then crashed over from an attacking scrum after poor blindside defence from Colin Charvis before Abbot crossed after backs and forwards had combined well.

Reserve hooker West completed the rout when he flopped over the tryline in the dying minutes.

Teams:

Wales: 15-Rhys Williams; 14-Mark Jones, 13-Mark Taylor, 12-Sonny Parker, 11-Gareth Thomas; 10-Stephen Jones (captain), 9-Gareth Cooper; 8-Dafyyd Jones, 7-Martyn Williams, 6-Colin Charvis, 5-Chris Wyatt (19-Gavin Thomas, 62), 4-Robert Sidoli, 3-Gethin Jenkins (17-Adam Jones, 73), 2-Robin McBryde (16-Gareth Williams 60), 1-Iestyn Thomas.

Replacements not used: 18-Jonathan Thomas, 20-Michael Phillips, 21-Gavin Henson, 22-Tom Shanklin.

England: 15-Dan Scarbrough; 14-James Simpson-Daniel, 13-Jamie Noon, 12-Stuart Abbot, 11-Dan Luger (22-Ollie Smith 57); 10-Alex King (21-Dave Walder, 71), 9-Andy Gomarsall; 8-Joe Worsley, 7-Lewis Moody (19-Alex Sanderson 62), 6-Martin Corry, 5-Simon Shaw (18-Steve Borthwick 13-17), 4-Danny Grewcock, 3-Julian White (17-Will Green, 77), 2-Mark Regan (16-Dorian West 38), 1-Jason Leonard (captain).

Replacements not used: 20-Austin Healey.

Referee: Pablo De Luca