Wales had been waiting for this one for some time. In front of an excited Ninian Park crowd a Welsh side dogged by injury beat England for the first time since 1977 and in doing so gave their bid for the European Championship an irresistible momentum.

The forward pack was simply outstanding, and the English were beaten up front. But the individual performance of the match came from Kevin Ellis. Ellis, a stalwart of Welsh rugby league had discovered a new lease of life at Workington Town where he had been loaned out from Warrington, and he continued his outstanding club form with a non stop effort where he led the Welsh backs around the park and proved too much for the England defence to handle.

In truth this was an excellent game with plenty of desire and good rugby from both sides. After a fast-paced opening, Ellis capitalised on a knock on from Ikram Butt and stepped through Harvey Howard to register Wales opening score. The immaculate Jonathan Davies converted and extended their lead to 8-0 with a penalty goal.

But the English had brought a powerful side and their industrious captain Garry Schofield beat the Welsh back line with a long pass to set up Richard Gay before half time.

With eight minutes gone in the second half, Derek Fox gave England the lead by scoring from his own kick ahead after Atcheson failed to deal with it. Just four minutes later Steve McCurrie found a gap on the right for Jason Robinson and the result was predictable. A handy lead had suddenly turned into a 16-8 deficit.

There was no panic in the Welsh camp, however, and they rallied to perform a fightback of legendary proportions. Jonathan Davies punished a reckless English tackle on Ellis with a penalty goal and then in the 67th minute the crowd grew to a frenzy with a move worked by Atcheson and Eyres, flicking a loose ball up to Bateman to slip inside to the rampant Ellis. The little scrum half had his second of the game, and Davies' conversion levelled the scores.

English heads wilted in the face of the Welsh spirit and Davies coolly slotted two drop goals in the final minutes of the game to seal an historic victory.