Wales 16 England 21: Elliot Daly late try stuns hosts as Eddie Jones’ men win 16th game on the spin in Cardiff thriller
Ben Youngs touched down for first try before Liam Williams scored before the break to make life tough for Red Rose
NOISY NEIGHBOURS England stunned the Cardiff cauldron with a late Elliot Daly try.
Eddie Jones' invincibles live another day after coming dangerously close to being silenced.
The loud-mouth Aussie boss spent the build-up on a non-stop fishing trip from the other side of the Severn Bridge landing a mammoth haul with verbal assaults before this high-octane affair kicked off.
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After downgrading Wales to a Principality in a sly-dig one Cardiff headline screamed: 'Time for Wales to make England coach Eddie Jones eat his patronising and downright silly words.'
Jones has yet to eat any humble pie a year on in.
Wales were well and truly wound up and ready unleashed fury on last year's Grand Slam champions.
But no goats invaded England's warm-up and no daffodils were thrown as predicted.
England's anthem God Save the Queen was raucously booed as the enemy were made to feel a thousands miles from home.
Forget the Wallabies. Forget France - this was England's toughest test under Jones so far.
Never write off the Welsh - these Dragons are no duds - despite the myths in the build-up to this bitter grudge-match.
Dan Biggar and co could have won it - they should have won it.
Jones' Red Roses just simply don't know when they are beaten and Elliot Daly's winner at the death clinched one of the Six Nations greatest ever games.
Skipper Dylan Hartley said: "I still believed late on.
"We showed good examples of what we can do. I would have liked us to have wrapped it up a bit earlier, but we showed great character again. The finishers came on and added loads to our games and added great composure
"There are parts of that game where we’ll have to look at ourselves and get better. Wales put us under a lot of pressure. Wales put us under unbelievable pressure and it’s something we’ll have to learn from but we’ll take that one.
"It’s unbelievable character from the guys. They believe. We play for a full 80 minutes and 81 minutes if need be. Full credit to Wales, an unbelievable challenge today. A hell of a side. A hell of a Test match."
Some ferocious defending from England, matched by some superb attacking play, was thwarted by Wales' enormous work-ethic.
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From the first hits the battle lines were drawn.
Nathan Hughes was smashed so hard by Ross Moriarty and Jonathan Davies that his gum-shield flew out of his mouth and onto the turf.
Courtney Lawes was dumped on his back with a shuddering hit - as was Jack Clifford as those doubts over England's carriers were laid bare.
Leigh Halfpenny struck first blood with his wand of a boot from the tee after ill-discipline by England.
Owen Farrell's first to sail between the posts was given a Swing Low Sweet Chariot sound-track as the home fans tried to rock the Saracens star with more jeers.
The early blows then set the tone for some of England's most relentless attacking play seen under Jones' tenure.
Phase after phase - all 26 of them - resulted in Ben Youngs dotting down from close-range after the route one option proved was fruitless.
Rhys Webb attempted to copy Youngs and failed after an similarly impressive assault by Rob Howley's Dragons.
Liam Williams produced a moment of magic as he ghosted in to score past the stunned Farrell to put Wales ahead by five at the break.
The Dragons huffed and puffed the hardest as England were gripped by white-line fever in the red zone.
Another 19-phase effort was sensational stopped by Biggar snaring the ball and turning defence into attack with a blistering 70m run.
The tidal wave from the other end of the M4 was unforgiving, but Wales couldn't ride it out as Lions candidate Joe Launchbury tackled everything that came his way before running it back in the other direction.
Jonathan Davies fluffed a clearance and England were back in and with eyes on the try-line. Hearts were in mouths after Farrell's two penalties had edged England closer.
It was tense - but England looked to be running out of time until boy-wonder Daly did the rest to complete the ultimate smash and grab.
Gutted Dragons leader Alun Wyn Jones said: "It was a 75-minute performance. Hopefully we answered some of the doubters and the critics but ultimately we didn’t with the result.
"We had a good score before the half but we didn’t maintain that for the full second half.
"We’ll be disappointed with the result but people wanted to see us try to change and the performance was there was 76 minutes. Those four minutes eluded us."
For England, Italy are next, then Scotland, both at home.
If the Twickenham crowd have any finger-nails left then they might want to avoid chewing on them for the next two weeks.
The Italians should be a five-point win for this side - Scotland will sense blood, just like Wales did.