Jonny May has scored the only try of the first half to help England into a 16-9 lead at the halfway stage of their Rugby World Cup Pool A showdown with Wales at Twickenham.
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The hosts went into the match looking to pick up a third consecutive victory over their closest rivals, but Stuart Lancaster's side got off to a nervy start and quickly found themselves behind courtesy of an early Dan Biggar penalty.
Owen Farrell opened his World Cup account to level the scores shortly afterwards, but England continued to give away too many penalties and were punished by the boot of Biggar once again to fall back behind.
The Welsh fly-half did miss a drop-goal effort, however, and he was shown how to do it by one from Farrell shortly afterwards to once again restore parity.
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Another penalty from the England number 10, chosen ahead of George Ford, gave the home side the lead for the first time on the evening, and they extended that advantage with the opening try of the contest.
The pressure had been growing on the Wales defence for some time before May went over in the corner from close range, and Farrell's conversion gave them a 10-point lead.
The visitors were forced to weather an English storm before getting themselves back into the match, with Biggar adding another kick in the closing stages of the first half to reduce the deficit to seven at half time.
Barney Corkhill
