England had captain Owen Farrell sent off and was reduced to 12 men at one point in the second half before rallying to beat Wales 19-17 in a Rugby World Cup warmup match at Twickenham this morning (NZT).
Freddie Steward and Ellis Genge had already been sin-binned when Farrell was handed a yellow card for a dangerous tackle on Taine Basham that was soon upgraded to a red.
England’s reckless final quarter saw a 9-3 lead wiped out by a penalty try and Tomos Williams’ try as a lifeless encounter exploded into life the moment Steward took Josh Adams out in the air in the 60th minute.
A fourth straight loss and dropping to ninth in the world rankings beckoned, but the English rallied bravely and even with three players off the pitch, they claimed a maul try scored by Maro Itoje before George Ford landed the winning penalty with three minutes left.
Farrell now faces a ban that could see him miss the World Cup opener against Argentina on Sept. 9, with his recent three-match suspension for the same offense in January sure to count against him.
