England 19-17 Wales: George Ford kicks undisciplined hosts to late Rugby World Cup warm-up win after Owen Farrell red card
Maro Itoje scored a try for England with the side reduced to 12 players - Owen Farrell red card, Ellis Genge, Freddie Steward yellow cards - before George Ford kicked a late penalty to beat Wales as visitors threw away a position of seemingly certain victory at Twickenham after 17-9 lead
By Michael Cantillon at Twickenham
Last Updated: 13/08/23 7:11am
George Ford's penalty with four minutes to go saw England pip Wales 19-17 and bank a Rugby World Cup warm-up win, but only after skipper Owen Farrell was red carded.
Farrell will appear before a video disciplinary hearing on Tuesday morning, and faces a suspension which will almost certainly see him miss part of September's World Cup in France, with England's toughest Pool D game vs Argentina their opening Test.
Played in front of a healthy Twickenham crowd of over 74,000, Farrell's card was one of three shown to England in the second half as prop Ellis Genge and full-back Freddie Steward were sin-binned, with the latter fortunate to avoid red himself for taking out Josh Adams in the air without getting airborne.
England 19-17 Wales - Score summary
England - Tries: Itoje (68). Cons: Ford (69). Pens: Farrell (10, 40+3, 43), Ford (76).
Wales - Tries: Penalty try (60), Tomos Williams (65). Cons: Biggar (66). Pens: Owen Williams (46).
An error-plagued first period saw Farrell kick two penalties in the only points of the half, either side of a Henry Arundell sin-binning for stopping Liam Williams taking a quick-tap, with England scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet also departing due to a serious-looking ankle injury.
The second half came alive, however, and Wales looked odds on to win it when a penalty try and Tomos Williams effort with England down to 12 put the visitors 17-9 ahead, only for Warren Gatland's side to then concede a Maro Itoje maul try, before Ford struck.
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What's next?
England face Ireland in Dublin next Saturday (August 19), and then host Fiji at Twickenham on August 26, before heading to France. They face Argentina on Saturday, September 9 for their RWC opener.
Wales face South Africa in Cardiff next Saturday in their final World Cup warm-up, and open up their World Cup campaign vs Fiji on Sunday, September 10 in Bordeaux.
England settled into an early spell of control in a drab first period, with Farrell kicking them ahead in the 11th minute after an offside penalty, but the hosts continually released pressure off an inexperienced Wales side by kicking out of hand each time they were well-placed within the Wales half.
An unexpected 50:22 produced by No 8 Taine Plumtree finally got Wales into the contest, but the first half was characterised by a catalogue of knock-ons by both sides, which restricted the Test to very little flow or momentum.
After wing Arundell was sin-binned for his needless act, Farrell chose to strike over a second penalty three minutes into dead time at the end of the opening period from under the posts, rather than continue attacking at Wales, asking Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli to let him take up the full minute allowed once Wales were penalised for slowing down the ball.
The second half began with Wales openside Tommy Reffell sin-binned a little over 60 seconds in for putting his hands to the floor before jackalling to turn over the ball, with the ref frustrated by the amount of penalties conceded, allowing Farrell to kick England out to a 9-0 lead.
Owen Williams got Wales onto the board within three minutes via a penalty, with England's scrum struggling hugely and hemorrhaging penalties, and their attack continuing to look stunted. In a rare moment of quality, Ollie Lawrence displayed his power to burst into the 22, only for Liam Williams to produce a crucial breakdown penalty near his own try-line.
Within five minutes, Genge was sin-binned after another scrum penalty against England, and two minutes after that, Wales full-back Williams looked to have scored after Adams had been taken out by Steward once he had jumped to collect a Dan Biggar kick pass.
On review with the TMO, Williams was found to have lost the ball, but a penalty try was awarded for Steward's illegal tackle, and the England full-back was lucky not to be shown red such was the danger involved.
Less than four minutes later, Farrell caught Taine Basham direct to the face with a high tackle, using a similar technique which has got him into bother previously. Farrell was shown yellow as part of the new World Rugby card review system, but it was inevitably upgraded to red.
Up against 12 players, once the ball was back in open play, Wales could hardly fail to score as Biggar released debutant centre Joe Roberts into space, and he passed inside for scrum-half Williams to sprint in.
Off the restart, Wales were guilty of a series of fatal errors as far as the result was confirmed though. With the visitors having failed to exit cleanly, England flanker Courtney Lawes jackalled to win a breakdown penalty, with the home side somewhat surprisingly kicking to the corner. From the lineout, their seven-player pack and several backs piled in to romp over through Itoje.
Ford converted to get England within a point, and with five minutes to go, Joe Marchant should have won the game when he collected a stunning Ford cross-field kick at full tilt, but knocked on as he landed.
Wales lock Adam Beard was sin-binned for repeated penalties, however, and Ford struck over calmly to secure a hectic victory and delight in the stands.
What they said: Borthwick 'proud'; Gatland 'furious, disappointed'
Head coach Borthwick said post-match: "I'm incredibly proud of the character and resilience and it is an immense credit to them after going down to 12. This is a group of players who just don't stop.
"We want 15 on the pitch but we know cards are part of the game now, and we practice those scenarios. We did it this week, though not down to 12. Ultimately we don't want to be in that situation but they dealt with it.
"Regarding Owen, we'll wait and see what happens. When I named the squad I said there will be a need to adapt and if anything changes we will.
"The same with Jack van Poortvliet. He'll get a scan. Rather than jump to any conclusions, we'll wait and see what happens."
Wales' Warren Gatland added: "I'm furious actually. I am hugely disappointed but it answered a few questions for us about a few individuals. The final quarter wasn't good enough, we should have won the game.
"It is just about some game management when we had them on the ropes and we just let them off the hook which is disappointing and answered a few questions. We gave away soft penalties at key moments, with the yellow card as well.
"I hate losing and we put ourselves into a position where we should have won. We capitulated in terms of accuracy and players knowing their roles.
"That was a game we should have won and we cost it ourselves. We need to be much better than we were today for next weekend (vs South Africa)."