Wales v England

Wales scored nothing. England scored everything. Some rivalries begin with a whisper; this one began with a roar.

On 19 February 1881, England hosted Wales at Richardson's Field in Blackheath, London, in the first ever meeting between the two nations. England won comfortably, scoring seven goals, a drop goal and six tries to nil. Wales had only formed their union the previous year, and the gulf in experience showed. Few watching that day could have predicted the fixture would become one of rugby's defining rivalries.

Eight titles in twenty years; Wales turned the red jersey into something England learned to dread.

Wales won their first Home Nations Championship in 1893, signalling the start of what became known as the first Welsh golden age. The balance of power in the fixture shifted decisively. Between 1893 and 1913, Wales won the Championship six times outright and shared it twice more, regularly beating England in the process. Cardiff Arms Park became a fortress, and the red jersey began to carry a weight of expectation that has never really lifted.

A market garden made way for a legend; England beat Wales 11-6 on the very first day.

The Rugby Football Union opened Twickenham in 1910, giving England a permanent home for the first time. That same year, France joined the Home Nations to create the Five Nations Championship. The first England v Wales match at Twickenham took place on 15 January 1910, with England winning 11-6. The ground would become known as the 'Cabbage Patch', a nod to the market garden it replaced, and the venue for some of the rivalry's most memorable encounters.

A single 3-0 scoreline handed Wales the undisputed crown of northern hemisphere rugby, and England felt the weight of it ever after.

While not a Wales v England match, Wales' 3-0 victory over the Original All Blacks in December 1905 at Cardiff Arms Park transformed the fixture's dynamics. Wales were now the undisputed force in northern hemisphere rugby, and matches against England carried the weight of that status. The victory cemented Welsh rugby's place in the national identity and raised the stakes of every encounter with the old enemy across the Severn.

Eight Five Nations titles in a single decade. Wales did not merely win; they made it a habit.

The late 1960s ushered in a second golden age for Welsh rugby. Between 1969 and 1979, Wales won or shared the Five Nations Championship eight times, claiming four Grand Slams and six Triple Crowns. Players like Gareth Edwards, Barry John, JPR Williams and Phil Bennett became household names. Matches against England during this period were often one-sided, and the rivalry took on a new edge as Welsh dominance became a source of national pride and English frustration in equal measure.

A single point decided it; Wales would not recover their grip for over twenty years.

Bill Beaumont's England won the 1980 Grand Slam, their first since 1957, beating Wales 9-8 at Twickenham in a tense encounter. It marked the end of Welsh supremacy and the beginning of a long, difficult period for Welsh rugby. Through the 1980s and 1990s, England increasingly held the upper hand, and the fixture's dynamic shifted. Wales' barren years would stretch for over two decades before the pendulum swung again.

Scott Gibbs' last-minute try and Neil Jenkins' conversion denied England a Grand Slam at Wales's newly opened Millennium Stadium.

The Millennium Stadium, now the Principality Stadium, opened in June 1999 on the site of the old Cardiff Arms Park. With a capacity of 74,500 and a retractable roof, it gave Wales one of the finest rugby venues in the world. The first Wales v England match at the new ground came in the 1999 Five Nations, with Wales losing 31-32 in a thriller remembered for Scott Gibbs' last-minute try and Neil Jenkins' conversion. It was the final Five Nations match before Italy's arrival, and it denied England a Grand Slam.

One kick from inside his own half, and 27 years of hurt dissolved in Cardiff.

Under Mike Ruddock, Wales won the 2005 Six Nations Grand Slam, their first in 27 years. The campaign included an 11-9 victory over England in Cardiff, a tight, bruising affair decided by Gavin Henson's long-range penalty. That kick, struck from inside his own half, became one of the iconic moments in the rivalry's history. Wales were back, and the fixture regained the competitive edge it had lacked during the barren years.

England arrived chasing a Grand Slam; they left having conceded 30 unanswered points to a Wales side claiming back-to-back titles.

On 16 March 2013, Wales needed a big win against England to claim the Six Nations title, and they delivered one of the most emphatic performances in the rivalry's history. The 30-3 victory in Cardiff was Wales' largest winning margin against England in the professional era. Alex Cuthbert scored two tries as England, who had arrived in Cardiff chasing a Grand Slam of their own, were taken apart. The result sealed Wales' second consecutive Six Nations title under Warren Gatland.

A first World Cup meeting, 140 years of rivalry in the air, and England squeezed through by a single converted try.

The 2023 Rugby World Cup in France saw Wales and England drawn in the same pool for the first time. England won 13-6 in a tense, attritional encounter at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille on 9 September 2023. It was the first time the two sides had met at a World Cup, adding a new chapter to a rivalry that continues to evolve. The fixture remains one of the most anticipated dates in the Six Nations calendar, with over 140 years of history fuelling every scrum, tackle and try.