England hold off Wales as both sides suffer

Jonny Wilkinson masterminded England's 23-19 victory over Wales at Twickenham here on Saturday as they won their opening World Cup warm-up match. But both sides suffered injuries just weeks before the showpiece tournament in New Zealand. Wales outscored England three tries to two, coming from 20-7 behind to set up a grandstand finish when wing George North crossed for the second of his two scores with four minutes left. But England great Wilkinson proved the difference in the scores with the fly-half landing two conversions, a penalty and two drop-goals for a 13-point haul in front of a crowd of over 80,000. Wilkinson also set up England debutant Manu Tuilagi's try in his first Test start since March 2010. England manager Martin Johnson, Wilkinson's captain when the fly-half landed the drop goal that sealed victory in the 2003 World Cup final, insisted he'd never been in any doubt about the No 10's quality. "Jonny doesn't have to prove anything to me, we know he can start a Test match. It's just a question of which way we want to go. There's never been any doubt about Jonny. "There's always a 'reason' to start Jonny, he handled the game very well but we never expect anything less of him." Wales had earlier seen Morgan Stoddart carried off on a stretcher, with what Wales coach Warren Gatland later confirmed was a broken leg. England captain Lewis Moody, who missed the Six Nations, also exited in the second half with an injury to a right knee that was heavily strapped. However, Moody played down his knock by saying it was merely a "tweak". England, wearing their black 'away' kit, even though they were at home, were 13 points in front early in the second half and Johnson, said: "I thought at 20-7 we just needed to control the ball but we had five or six turnovers and invited them right back onto us. "But we wanted a proper game, a Test match, because it's what you have in the World Cup." Gatland was pleased by Wales's recovery, saying:" We were under pressure a little bit in the first half but we finished strongly, scored three tries to two and created other opportunities. "Defensively there were things we could fix up but there were some good signs we could improve on." Wales suffered a setback shortly before kick-off when veteran fly-half Stephen Jones had to pull out through injury on the verge of winning what would have been a Welsh record 101st cap. Full-back Rhys Priestland moved to No 10 with Stoddart coming off the bench to fill Wales's last line of defence. England took a fifth minute lead through Wilkinson after Wales were penalised for not releasing in the tackle. But Wales scored the first try of the match. They kicked a penalty close to the England line to set up an attacking line-out and then regained possession before Stoddart's pass created the space for North's 17th minute try. Priestland, replacing Jones as Wales's goalkicker, added the tricky conversion and Wales were 7-3 in front. But seven minutes later, England regained the lead with a converted try of their own. England then cleverly wheeled a five metre scrum to create a gap on the blindside which No 8 James Haskell exploited to score. The hosts then laid siege to Wales's line but only came away with a Wilkinson drop-goal to leave England 13-7 in front at half-time. And four minutes into the second half, Tuilagi, who comes from a family of Samoa internationals, scored a well-worked try. From a ruck in Wales's 22, the ball was fed to Wilkinson and Tuilagi, qualified for England on residency grounds, cut back on the inside in a classic 'scissors' move and crossed for a try under the posts. Wilkinson added the easy conversion and England were 20-7 up. But Wales, who dominated possession in the second half, hit back. Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips almost caught England napping with a burst towards the line that saw him held up short but the ball was worked out to right wing Shane Williams, who touched down. Priestland missed the conversion to leave England two scores in front at 20-12. Wilkinson then landed his second drop-goal before Wales captain Sam Warburton was denied a try by the video referee.