REPORT: Wales snatch injury time winner to stun England
What a way to kick-off the Wales v Eng land Six Nations weekend. Wales Under 20 refused to be over-run by England and conjured up an 81st minute try to win 11-10 against all the odds.
Replacement wing Deon Smith crashed through England full back Josh Hodge in the last move of the match to score the match winning try after England had retaken the lead 10 minutes earlier with the first try of the match.
At that stage it looked as though it would be the visitors who would come through to back up their recent 31-19 home win over world champions France. But true Welsh grit shone through in the end with skipper Dewi Lake, man of the match Jac Morgan and Dragons back row man Lennon Greggains leading by example.
With only two minutes left on the clock, Wales coach Gareth Williams changed both his outside half Cai Evans, who had kicked two penalties to give his side the lead, and Lake. At that was at a time when Wales had a penalty on half-way.
It was a bold move, but it paid rich dividends. Costeloe found touch, Griffiths hit his man at the line-out and Wales moved in for the kill. They didn't find an initial chink in the English defence, but when centre Connor Doherty came through a ruck illegally to take out Welsh scrum half Dan Babos it gave Wales one final shot at glory.
Once again Costeloe kicked for the corner, Griffiths found the target and the forwards drove for the line. When they were held up near the posts, Babos fired the ball left to Costeloe, who picked out Smith on a deep, supporting line off his wing and the rising Dragons star sped for the line.
He crashed into and over Hodge before touching down in the left corner to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with the clock deep into the red and showing 81 minutes. It mattered little that Costleoe pushed his conversion attempt wide, Wales had twice come from behind to win 11-10.
Given England had dominated territory and possession in the first half playing into the wind it was a remarkable rearguard action from Wales to keep them to a 3-0 scoreline. Outside half Kieran Wilkinson kicked the only points of the opening 40 minutes with a penalty on three minutes after prop Rhys Davies was spotted pulling down a driving maul.
It took 53 minutes before the next score, the first of Evans's two strikes, and the Welsh outside half maintained his 100 per cent goalkicking record in the championship with a second penalty five minutes later.
Wales were growing in confidence the more they frustrated the English, but with the game being so close it was only ever going to take one slip to surrender the advantage. That moment came 10 minutes from time when Bath centre Tom de Glanville spotted a miss-match in the Welsh 22 and waltzed between the two home locks before offloading inside out of the tackle to replacement back row man Rusi Tuima for a great try.
Hodge added the tricky conversion and England look set for victory. Lake's battlers had other ideas, though, and they somehow found a way to win the day at the death.
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