EIGHT years ago it was a sign of the English panic when the normally cool Jonny Wilkinson threw a wild pass over the heads of his teammates as Wales came storming back in the first game of the Warren Gatland era.

That error from the legendary fly-half gifted the position for Lee Byrne’s leveller that was followed by Mike Phillips’ winner, ending a 20-year wait for victory at Twickenham.

The 2008 crop went on to celebrate a Grand Slam but, despite last weekend’s trip to London providing that same feeling of Red Rose anxiety, there will be no wild partying at Principality Stadium after the game against Italy on Saturday.

When Taulupe Faletau powered over with three minutes remaining, centre Jonathan Davies raced over to the touchline on halfway to get a fresh Gilbert from the ball boy to place in the middle of the pitch.

After Rhys Priestland had slotted the conversion to make it 25-21 England trudged back for the restart, desperately trying to eat up the clock.

There was still a chance for a burglary, and Wales can justifiably point to a harsh call by the touch judge when George North was bundled out by Manu Tuilagi, but justice was done.

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Wales were awful at Twickenham. Their late fightback – a combination of them waking up and England becoming too cautious – shows how wrong they got it.

The draw in Dublin was a wasted opportunity and so was the trip over the Severn Bridge.

They have worked under Warren Gatland for eight years and boast a wealth of experience while England are getting to grips to life under Eddie Jones and do not have as many big-Test occasions under their belt.

A pre-match favourite in the media is to compile a composite XV of the two teams. It would have been dominated by red but a post-match reflection of the performances would have been as white as the Oscars.

Gatland accused his players of lacking energy and enthusiasm after the game and they certainly were lethargic, a bizarre observation to be able to make in a title showdown against your most fierce rival.

But the management team must also be put under the microscope – and in fairness Gatland admitted they had to ask questions of themselves – after such a sluggish display in which they were outthought by England.

The hosts had plenty of motivation after their World Cup heartbreak and will have the Triple Crown and Six Nations trophy locked up at Twickenham next Sunday.

Now they hunt a Grand Slam in Paris and the future looks bright with Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Billy Vunipola, Jonathan Joseph, Anthony Watson and Jack Nowell developing on the Test stage.

Wales, meanwhile, must accept that those critics that they accused of being too negative after the French game were on to something.

They just aren’t progressing their game and a talented generation needs to produce more if they are to claim the southern hemisphere scalps to go along with European glory.

Defensive excellence and supreme fitness isn’t enough when up against the Springboks, Wallabies and All Blacks, or even Pumas.

On that front perhaps it was for the best that they fell short at Twickenham, short-term pain, long-term gain and all that.

Changes must be made for the Azzurri with Ken Owens, who is the best hooker in the country, promoted for a start along with Luke Charteris or possibly Jake Ball in the tight five.

I’d like to see Ross Moriarty get a crack in the back row, Rhys Webb will start at scrum-half and it would be good for Tom James, harshly dumped after Scotland, and Hallam Amos to come into the mix.

Liam Williams is the only player who can go knocking on Gatland’s door demanding an explanation if left out on Tuesday morning.

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Wales were awful in the first half and it could have been worse that 16-0 with England wasting plenty of chances, settling for wing Watson’s try after Dan Biggar had missed a tackle on Itoje plus 11 points from the deadly boot of Owen Farrell.

Their indiscipline allowed the Saracens fly-half, shifted to centre for country, to make it 19-0 before Dan Biggar charged down opposite number George Ford to dot down under the sticks.

English wobbles were seemingly settled by a pair of Farrell three-pointers before a bizarre finale.

The hosts were reduced to 14 men when tighthead Dan Cole dragged down a driving lineout with nine minutes left, with Wales prop Tomas Francis lucky not to join him on the touchline after making contact with the Leicester front rower’s eyes with his fingers in the resulting pile.

England escaped from their line on that occasion but were soon under their posts after Liam Williams and centre Jonathan Davies combined marvellously to give North a run-in for a try to add to scores against Scotland and France.

Wales ran it back from deep past a panicking England and there were frantic looks to the clock when Faletau powered over but the hosts held on.

In 2008 Wilkinson was the victim of a comeback. In 2016 he was expressing his relief that his country had deservedly held on from the ITV studios.

England: M Brown, A Watson, J Joseph (E Daly 74), O Farrell, J Nowell, G Ford (M Tuilagi 63), B Youngs (D Care 63), J Marler (M Vunipola 56), D Hartley (captain, L Cowan-Dickie 71), D Cole, M Itoje, G Kruis (J Launchbury 78), C Robshaw (K Brookes 71), J Haskell (J Clifford 67), B Vunipola.

Scorers: try – A Watson; conversion – O Farrell; penalties – O Farrell (6)

Yellow card: D Cole

Wales: L Williams, A Cuthbert, J Davies, J Roberts, G North, D Biggar (R Priestland 73), G Davies (R Webb 63), R Evans (P James 53), S Baldwin (K Owens 53), S Lee (T Francis 53), B Davies, AW Jones (L Charteris 63), D Lydiate, S Warburton (captain, J Tipuric 56), T Faletau.

Scorers: tries – D Biggar, G North, T Faletau; conversions – D Biggar, R Priestland (2)

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)