The one where Wales lost to England.

Pretty sure that I'm not the first punter to vacate Sydney's Star Casino, questioning what could of been, if that last spin had produced a favorable outcome. Certainly won't be the last.

However, my disappointment had less to do with a dab handed croupier, more the fleet of foot of Elliot Daly, whose 78th minute try grabbed England a victory that either team would have been entitled to. Such was the contest.

As I caught up on social media in the taxi (uber had surge) home, it was the usual suspects getting grilled, Howley and of course Cuthbert, it was always going to be Cuthbert. 

You do know that the Wales lot will blame me for this.

To use a cricketing analogy, Cuthbert held down an end for nine overs before getting a walloping in his last. A loose carry surrendered possession at a critical stage before his decision to back his own wheels by offering Elliot Daily the outside proved to be a wrong'un as the Wasps gun turned on the heat to cross for the match winner. Without doubt these were costly errors but there were plenty o'others that contributed to the end result. Eighty minute game, one player's fault - give me a break.

The hate for Howley had been brewing during the autumn, and yesterday it was the manner in which he deployed his substitutes that saw him come under fire once more. In particular the decision to remove Ross Moriarty from proceedings after 53 minutes. Based on the reaction on social media this was akin to calling Rambo over mid battle, thanking him for his efforts before advising him that he wouldn't be required for any further carnage. Moriarty was smashing blokes. In this age of real time data, perhaps the indicators were that his performance was tailing off - if the brief was 'you've got fifty minutes, empty the tank' this would have been a contributing factor to Moriarty's all action approach during his stint. I guarantee England would have been glad to see him depart, which is perhaps a more important gauge than any stat.

Negativity derived from Howley's intra game decision making should be offset by Wales' overall performance. Their best in sometime, under either he or Gatland. Wales' clearing out work at the breakdown was particularly impressive and allowed them to play at the sort of tempo required to stretch teams on their defensive edges, something the punters have been yearning for since Wales' World Cup exit. From a selection perspective, the call to stick with Dan Biggar when so many had called for Sam Davies to get the start, proved the right one. Biggar's uber competitive nature, self confidence and physicality were at the fore of how Wales did business. If fans are to apportion blame on Howley for a stuttering autumn, common sense would suggest that he deserves credit for yesterday's up turn. Then again, you know what they say about common sense.

So what of England, they played and finished like a team who had won 15 on the bounce going into the game. Somewhat similar to a Manchester United team under Sir Fergie they looked like they knew they would score, even as the game drew it's final breaths. Their defence of their own goal line demanded that Wales' would have to go some to breach the white wash. Something the Welsh were only able to do on one occasion, when a well executed set play, coupled with a poor defensive read from the Ford/Farrell axis allowed Liam Williams to wizard his way under the poles. The English attack seemed to advance with a tad more ease than the efforts of their opponents. Certainly so when they shifted it into in wider channels. Credit for this must go in large part to George Ford. With the prominence of Owen Farrell as a match winning goal kicker it is easy to overlook the role of Ford and what he does for the England attack. His pass selection and timing when playing on the gain line is the best around, making the English attack difficult to read. Talking of reads, how about the Biggar interception, had to get a mention - although I swear it must of been Cuthbert throwing in, lifting and jumping at the subsequent line out.

So a somewhat disappointing result, but the quality of the test match was a real credit to the Six Nations and also in hindsight made me less annoyed about the 3am wake up call - haven't got the all nighter in me! Whilst bonus points are there to serve as a motivator for attacking rugby, you can't beat reputation and bragging rights as the fuel for what they might just call a, bloody good game of footy, down this way.

If you've come this far, then
how about a bit of Six Nations Trivia to finish...

Ben Te'o is the second player to have played in State of Origin and subsequently gone on to play in the Six Nations - name the first?