By Graham Thomas
Jac Morgan passed his audition as Wales captain as his team responded with a hugely encouraging dress rehearsal for the World Cup.
Head coach Warren Gatland has claimed he will use two different captains in the remaining warm-up games before the tournament, but Morgan has set a benchmark in the 20-9 victory over England that will be difficult to ignore.
Not only did he lead from the front against a Red Rose team that withered in the second-half, but his composure and instinctive flair with ball in hand set up the try that changed the course of the match.
“Full credit to the boys it was a great game,” said Morgan.
“It was good after the training weeks to get that result and performance. The camps have been tough, but we worked hard and we’re pleased to get the results.
“We went in at half-time knowing we had more in the second half, we dug and came out firing.
Wales 20, England 9
Impressive and dominant 2nd half by Wales, superbly captained by Jac Morgan. Encouraging. pic.twitter.com/kRQOU4JSi1— Graham Thomas (@Graham_Thomas) August 5, 2023
“It’s been an honour to captain the side, but there’s a lot of leaders in the side and we’ll go again next week.”
After winning just two of their previous 10 Tests and having beaten only Italy in a poor Six Nations campaign, this victory was much-needed.
But it was the way that Wales went from rusty to workable, to smooth-running by the end of the game that will have pleased Gatland, as well as the performance of his new skipper.
Gatland said: “I thought he was outstanding. Aaron Wainwright had his best game in a Wales jersey. We’ve spoken a lot about Jac and where he’ll play.
“We had a conversation earlier on in this campaign about where he sees himself. We see him as a seven.
“There’s good competition there with Tommy Reffell and Taine Basham. Going forward, it’s about making sure we have that balance of physicality and size that’s needed in the back-row.
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“We also needed sixes who are good lineout options. We aren’t blessed with numbers and choices in the past but we are working towards that.”
“It was a good start but there’s still lots to work on. Getting some debuts and those scores in the second-half was the most pleasing aspect.”
After a scratchy first-half from both teams, Wales scored two tries and controlled the entire second period, both tactically and physically.
They scored tries through Gareth Davies and George North – could have gained a third through a knife edge TMO call that went against Louis Rees-Zammit – and looked far more cohesive than their opponents.
Leigh Halfpenny kicked a conversion and two penalties on his 100th appearance for his country, whilst all England could muster were three penalties from Marcus Smith.
Morgan had earned rich praise from Gatland before the game, with the New Zealander comparing some of the 23-year-old skipper’s attributes to those of Sam Warburton, a youthful leader appointed before the 2011 World Cup.
Plenty to smile about for Warren Gatland.
A morale-boosting win.
Jac Morgan exceptional. Aaron Wainwright also right up there.
No tries conceded. Brilliant second half.
First half was slow but defended well. England poor.
— Matthew Southcombe (@MattSouth7) August 5, 2023
The Ospreys flanker justified those parallels, with a commanding performance in the back row alongside a rejuvenated Aaron Wainwright at No.8.
After a very forgettable first 40 minutes, during which both teams made errors whenever they got into the opposition 22, it was Wainwright and Morgan who combined for Wales’ first try.
A shrewd cross-kick from Sam Costelow – whose pluses outweighed his minus points at outside-half – was gathered by Wainwright who released Morgan with a superb round-arm pass out of contact.
Morgan sensed the space and England’s vulnerability, but it still needed control and perfect timing for him to run the right angle and time his pass for Davies to score.
When North then also crashed over in the third quarter to reward some sustained Wales pressure, it was all but game over.
Gatland added: “”I think we’ve done a lot of work as a group in the last eight weeks. The lineout defence was excellent and we competed well.
“Despite the scrum penalties, I thought we dominated there. I need some clarity from the referee in terms of the decisions.
“We were winning the collisions and the hit. The new props learned a bit about how to cope with those situations. They will have learnt a huge amount from this experience.
https://twitter.com/JackoRugby/status/1687905609524338688?s=20
“Despite the penalties, I was happy with them.”
Gatland had praise for his two props on debut – Corey Domachowski and Keiron Assiratti – but admitted concerns for injured forwards Ryan Elias, Dafydd Jenkins and debutant replacement Taine Plumtree, who all left the field.
“They’ll be scanned on Monday,” added Gatland.
“Ryan looks like a slight hamstring tear but it’s not too bad. I thought the two second-rows were great today so with Daf we are hoping it isn’t too serious a knee injury.
“There was a bit of mixing and matching going on with Taine Plumtree coming on and going into the second-row
“Taine Plumtree rolled his ankle and we wanted to get him off. It was one of those games we wanted to get the subs on early no matter what, and if we went down to 14 men that’s not a bad experience in a warm-up game as well. Thankfully we were able to keep us to 15.”
England coach Steve Borthwick said: “We created a load of opportunities, but in Test rugby you have got to score when you are down there. Instead, we came away with three penalties.
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“So, we created no scoreboard pressure
“Our line-out and scrum went well in the first-half, but at mid-point in the second half, in both of those areas of the set piece we faltered.
“We also made a large number of handling errors and errors in contact against a team that jackal hard for the ball. We couldn’t sustain pressure because we turned the ball over.
“I think over the coming weeks the team will sharpen up. We’re still in quite a big training phase and we will sharpen up over the next three games together.
“I’m looking forward to announcing the squad on Monday and the Test match against Wales at Twickenham next Saturday.”
