Pre match:
I boarded the 0803 to Cardiff Central from Filton Abbey Wood station, due to the time of day the 5 carriage train was an ample size and the service was running on time. Cardiff central is well organised on match day with staff providing leaflets with information as you leave the station throughout the day. With it’s ideal city centre location the stadium is a 2 minute walk from the station and the many bars and restaurants of St Mary’s street, Caroline Street and the Brewery Quarter are not much further.
My first port of call was The Great western pub  (https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186460-d2587957-Reviews-Lloyds_Bar_Great_Western-Cardiff_South_Wales_Wales.html)   a Wetherspoons pub on the corner of St Marys street a 3 minute walk to the right of the train station. The bar has seating on two floors and is a popular meeting point on match day, the bar was relatively quiet at 9am and the kitchen was offering a sensibly reduced breakfast menu to ensure food was served quickly. The menu still provided a good range of breakfast choices with my friends choosing the large breakfast for under £7 and me choosing an out of character Vegetarian breakfast, which was good value especially when swapping a mushroom for two extra hash browns. Breakfast score 8/10 as this fully met expectations, no photos of breakfast unfortunately but the trip advisor review does provide accurate photos of what to expect.
The next stop was the short walk around the corner to Walkabout where we had bought tickets for £10 including a free pint of Guinness to watch a live podcast with Tom Shanklin (ex Wales and British lions Centre) and David Flatman (ex Bath and England Prop) (https://twitter.com/flatsandshanks )  with their special guest Andy Powell a man with more stories than the hour time slot allowed for. This was a very enjoyable and informative hour which saw Powell regale the crowd with his side of the story from him being arrested driving a golf buggy down the M4 following a famous victory over Scotland in 2010, whilst Flatman spoke candidly about the reality of being a professional forward highlighting the monotony of the job which could have been a factor in the transition of Sam Burgess into being a blindside flanker failing. Powell promised a book coming out at Christmas time which would reveal many more stories and I do not want to spoil any of the stories he described, I would follow him on Twitter for more updates as he came across as being a genuine Rugby man with a good knowledge of the game and provided a good craic along with it (https://twitter.com/andypowell8). A swift pint at the lively bar the Yard bordering between St Marys Street and the Brewery quarter saw us ready to go to the game.

The Match:

After an initial cock up which saw me go to the wrong gate as my very erratic mental sat nav broke when the usual shortcut I would take to gate 5 was closed. We waited for around 10 minutes to get through the bag search which was a necessary measure we got into the stadium with minimal fuss. Our seats were outstanding and provided a great value in comparison to last week’s tickets at Twickenham which also provided a very good view and experience but for £40 our seats in the front row of the top tier were perfect. The bar ran out of Guinness and Heineken at the same time 10 minutes before kick off which no one was to blame for but left me buying a round of Brains bitter which was not enjoyable. The Guinness was reasonable considering it was a stadium pint in a plastic container. I did not sample the food on offer due to the long ques as I wanted to soak up the atmosphere in my seat.

Wales needed to come out of the blocks much quicker than last week where the English pack seized the initiative and punished wales throughout the game. Wales looked over trained last week being behind England in their training schedule and needed to impress this week against a strong English team who welcomed Maro Itoje back into the starting lineup which beefed up their pack considerably. Wales lost the talismanic Liam Williams to a tight hamstring in the warm up and the Waunarlwydd man was replaced by Leigh Halfpenny who had taken part in an exhausting altitude chamber fitness session earlier in the day. Wales seized the initiative from the start and matched England physically and seemed to be mentally sharper, whether the 6 day turnaround suits Wales or England already knowing who has made their final 32 man squad had an impact on this I am not sure. With Dan Biggar replacing the unfortunate Gareth Anscombe at ouside half Wales were destined to play a more direct and physical game. Welsh legend JJ Williams had been outspoken of his dislike of Biggar in the week stating that Biggar starting would set Wales back a year in terms of attacking Rugby. Some people have short memories the impact Biggar had on the big matches in the Six nations provided control and stability in attritional games where consistency is critical. Biggar is one of the five or six test match animals Wales possess and he performed extremely well for the time he was on the pitch.

The welsh pack was smarting from last weeks game and the veterans in the pack Alun Wyn Jones and Ken Owens led from the front and seem to have found their top form, the young Aaron Wainwright shone brightest taking on the Justin Tipuric role at the lineout where he was a safe and secure option and he also carried and tackled as any top level flanker should do. He has continued to progress and his no nonsense approach to the game could often see him being an unsung hero. He impressed for the 40 minutes he played before being taken off with a dead leg at half time. An early injury to James Davies ended his game early which saw Josh Navidi return to the fold following his injury lay off post six nations, and what an impact the Blues man had with his physicality adding steel and determination the welsh pack where his influence at the breakdown and in Maul defence was key. A what I felt was a harsh yellow card to Anthony Watson for a knock on in a tackle deemed to be deliberate saw Wales have a man advantage heading into the 38^th minute. Here Biggar proved his worth and with him spotting Willie Heinz receiving treatment a cross field kick to Josh Adams sent the Hendy man scuttling away up the wing. Wales provided quick ball to Biggar who again kicked cross field into the arms of George North who finished in the corner Watson would have been marking.  Wales were good value for their 10-0 lead heading into half time.  Another player to impress at times was Nicky Smith who won turnovers and displayed his skill in slowing the ball down at the breakdown which also stopped England momentum.

The second half was a much tighter and nervy affair with England putting Wales under pressure but the welsh defence holding firm, England unloaded their bench and had their first choice team on for the majority of the half. Two key moments stood out for me the first was a maul defence which saw Dillon Lewis and Navidi work tirelessly to propel England and force a turnover where the odds were stacked against wales which had an element of the group game in 2015 about it. The key moment for me was also a slightly controversial tackle which Dan Biggar who had been struggling with a stinger through the half flatten Maro itoje which could have been deemed a high tackle. This epitomised the spirit Wales have in defence and Biggar’s hunger in defence and under a high ball make him a unique player to have in the team, he provides a winners mentality and this will be key in Japan. Jake Ball ran himself into the ground and he was replaced late into the game when he suffered a dead leg, Shingler had already come on for Aaron Wainwright and looked like the Aaron Shingler of old so Elliot Dee was forced into emergency back row action and he did not let anyone down. Overall Wales deserved the victory but the sense that the two teams are very much evenly matched highlights the need for our test match animals like Biggar, Alun Wyn Jones and Ken Owens to be fit and firing in time for the business end of the World cup. Biggar was the official man of the match but I felt Wainwright would have pushed him all the way had he stayed on for longer, Navidi came back and did not miss a beat and may provide an option at 8 as the tournament progresses.  Adding in Liam Williams threat from deep and adding Rob Evans physicality and Athleticism could see Wales go up another gear. For England they have two more warm up games against Ireland and Italy but seemed to have no pace changer in the team at scrum half although they will benefit from Tom Curry, Sam Underhill, Mako Vunipola and Jack Nowell returning to the team.

For Wales they head off to their warm weather stress training camp in Turkey before their last home game before Japan on 31.8.19 against Ireland. Now the going gets tough and players like Scott Williams, Bradley Davies, Hallam Amos and Owen Lane will be training to secure their place in Japan. A great day out at the stadium with a good game and good pre and post match drinks I boarded my train home with ease following a Nandos in the St Davids centre. A 9/10 day as Cardiff is a tried and tested location for major sporting events and if anyone is in doubt about visiting I would always advise it is the most convenient place I have watched sport.

My next live review will be the Ireland game where I look at Cardiff from my 7 month pregnant partner’s perspective to look at the facilities available for this situation.  On  Monday Wales will become the number one ranked nation in the world which has caused derision in the Rugby world, the system is there as a guide the truth is we have dominated Northern Hemisphere Rugby over the last 15 months, but the elephant in the room is the fact that we have not beaten New Zealand since 1953, we can only win the games we play and would need to go up a few gears against the Southern Hemisphere teams at the moment but Wales are progressing nicely.

Pre Match 8/10

Match experience 9/10

Overall 9/10