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England put down an early marker in this year's Six Nations when they overcame the challenge of a decidedly wobbly Welsh team, recording a 30-17 win at Twickenham, London, on Saturday.

This was bulldog-breed stuff - a victory for old-fashioned tenacity. There was not much about it that was skilled or clever but there was a lot that was determined - by England that is.

Eng v Wal: Welsh player ratings
Eng v Wal: England player ratings

On the other hand Wales were, James Hook and Martyn Williams apart, decidedly diffident and in the end their own errors beat them.

The worst would not qualify as an error. It was an idiotic moment that sent Alun-Wyn Jones to the sin bin for feebly trying to trip Dylan Hartley. While he sat out his 10 minutes in the sin bin, England scored 17 points. They had their best passage of play when Alun-Wyn Jones was missing. In that time just before half-time England had two scrums and a free kick five metres from the Welsh line and eventually scored a try.

Then, near the end, there were seven points when Wales, trying to chase the game, were attacking and Stephen Jones passed straight to Dylan Armitage and 70 metres later James Haskell scored his second try.

More. Wales missed three penalty kicks at goal. Hook missed two and Stephen Jones one. After Leigh Halfpenny of the big boot replaced Tom James, Wales did not get another penalty kick at goal.

Were Wales overawed? Quite possibly - all that Twickenham thing, HQ, 100 years old, grand ceremonies, England's special jerseys? It's a long way from the valleys but yet these are professionals used to playing all round the world. Was it diffidence that saw to it that Shane Williams did not get a single pass from a back-line movement. Even Ugo Monye was better off than that.

The final score, 30-17, three tries to two, looks comfortable enough but in truth it was much closer than that. Bulldog breed is what brought it about. England clearly have spirit.

The crowd hopefully sang Land of Hope and Glory before kick-off and they got it.

There was much in the match that was tawdry - the mess of scrums, for example, and all the kicking. But the tackles were good. The referee was in there working and as a result the ball from tackles was mostly quick. For Wales, the line-outs were unhealthy - four lost and one skew out of 12.

The first 20 minutes belonged mainly to England but not after Wales had started well when Martyn Williams grubbered and Jonny Wilkinson was carried into touch but England on a turnover and cleared.

Andy Powell was penalised three times in the match, the first time at a tackle when Wilkinson opened the score after 11 minutes. At the second penalty against Powell at a tackle, Wilkinson kicked brilliantly for a five-metre line-out. England mauled and were held up over the line. David Wilson was penalised at the scrum, and Wales cleared.

Then Wales started to run themselves back into the game and when Toby Flood was penalised for holding on in a tackle. Stephen Jones took over the kicking from Hook and goaled to level the scores.

The scored were level when with just over five minutes to half-time, Alun-Wyn Jones, on the ground, tripped Hartley. Wilkinson goaled the subsequent penalty and then attacked.

For the third time a strangely hesitant Lee Byrne knocked on a kicked ball. England had a scrum, Wales were freekicked at the scrum and Danny Care went scooting off and England attacked down the left with Monye twice prominent. They came back a little way to the right and bashed at the line. They had a five=-metre scrum, 8 against 7. They had a five metre free kick and then another five-metre scrum from which Nick Easter and Care seemed to have made a mess but the bulldogs got together and bashed over and over at the Welsh line, going  on the right side of each tackle/ruck till suddenly the went left and Haskell surged over. 13-3.

Wales looked better in the second half but still battled to field the kicked ball. But they were attacking when Steve Borthwick won a turnover off Tom James on England's left. They went wide right on eager attack. The ball came back quickly to Care and he skipped around the blind side on a 10-metre break to the try-line, 20-3 after 45 minutes, and then Alun=-Wyn Jones came back. England's only other scores in the half were in the last five minutes.

Wales attacked for most of the half and twice turned penalties into scrums as they tested England's reserve. The England pack were up to the challenge. Ryan Jones and Powell were close and then they went right and had the English defence in tatters as Alun-Wyn Jones, under pressure gave a perfect pass to hirsute prop Adam Jones  how first humbly looked for Shane Williams to pass to and then bullocked for the line and a try which Stephen Jones converted. 20-10 after 49 minutes.

Back came Wales and Hook gave an inside pass to James who lost the ball forward with the line open in front of him. Gareth Cooper went blind and sent James away. Stephen Jones kicked a diagonal to James who passed inside to Ryan Jones but the tall man knocked on.

In fact both sides had problems with their passing.

Then Wales went right. England seemed to have the defence sewn up till Hook started running from just outside the England 22. He went between two, stumbled and kept going to beat another two to score. Two of those he beat were Mathew Tait and Wilkinson. Stephen Jones converted. 20-17 with 9 minutes to play.

Back came Wales on attack and then disaster struck as Stephen Jones passed straight to Armitage in his old-fashioned jersey. Off England went. Flood gave to Tait who raced away as Shane Williams closed in on him. The centre passed inside to Haskell who scored the try which made the game safe for England. 27-17 with five minutes to play, time enough for Shane Williams to have a break down the blind, Lewis Moody to win a turnover and Wilkinson to kick a penalty from a metre inside the welsh half when Roberts held on in a tackle.

Man of the Match: There were three obvious players. Danny Carte breathed life into the game when it became moribund. James Hook was by far the most creative and effective back on the field with his speed, strength and emphatic hand-off. But forwards won it for England and the most obvious of the England pack was James Haskell, not just because of his two tries but because of his relentless, effective effort.

Moment of the match: The breath-stopping intercept and race away for the try which sewed it up.

Villain of the Match: Alun-Wyn Jones.

The scorers:

For England:
Tries: Haskell 2, Care,
Cons: Wilkinson 3
Pens: Wilkinson 3

For Wales:
Tries: A Jones, Hook
Cons: S Jones 2
Pen: S Jones

Yellow card: Alun-Wyn Jones (Wales, 34 - foul play, tripping)

Teams:

England: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Toby Flood, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 James Haskell, 5 Steve Borthwick (captain), 4 Simon Shaw, 3 David Wilson, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements: 16 Steve Thompson, 17 Dan Cole, 18 Louis Deacon, 19 Steffon Armitage, 20 Paul Hodgson, 21 Shontayne Hape, 22 Ben Foden.

Wales: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Tom James, 13 James Hook, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Ryan Jones (captain), 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Andy Powell, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Alun-Wyn Jones, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Gareth Williams, 1 Paul James
Replacements: 16 Huw Bennett, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Bradley Davies, 19 Jonathan Thomas, 20 Richard Rees, 21 Andrew Bishop, 22 Leigh Halfpenny

Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)