What a difference a week makes. Last Saturday in Cardiff we were battered by storm Antoni with rain that would have made even Noah wince and winds that were as ferocious as a Jac Morgan tackle. So this weekend it was a welcome relief to have to dig around for my factor 50 as opposed to sandbags, towels and life jacket.

On a muggy sunny summer Saturday afternoon as the smoke from pub barbecues drifted seamlessly along the length of the Thames, England and Wales faced each other for the second time in seven days at Twickenham.

Never change a winning team is the old adage, so after Wales 20-9 win in Cardiff, which lifted the mood of a nation, coach Warren Gatland made fifteen changes, maybe adages are overrated ?

In came Liam Williams now of Kubota Spears (no relation to Britney) although “Hit me baby one more time” could be an accurate description of the abrasive full back’s mindset. Poor Liam has had more misfortune then Frank Spencer of “some mothers do ave em” injury after injury has blighted the career of this wonderfully talented full back . This was his 85th appearance for Wales, and he would be well into the hundreds but for his medical misfortunes.

England were desperate for victory at Twickenham and had their strongest team on the park, their 19-17 win will be a huge relief to the camp but this was a poor performance and the men in white only came to life when down to 12 men after Genge, Steward and Farrell received yellow cards.

Farrell’s upgrade from yellow to red will mean a ban for the England captain. His penchant to habitually adhere to the Britney Spears lyric mentioned earlier could result in a lengthy one.

Wales will be disappointed that they let a 17-9 lead slip and were victims of their own downfall through inaccuracies and poor game management in the final minutes.

Last Saturday’s win in Cardiff definitely lifted the pressure off Wales, allowing Warren Gatland a bit of breathing space and the ability to pick a totally different fifteen without the spectre of defeat behind him, but this was a disappointing performance from Wales, losing 6 of their own line outs and conceding 13 turnovers.

As the setting sun shimmered on the Thames, Wales fans joined locals at the Dog and Duck, the final barbecued sausages were just about to be lifted off the grill, sadly there was no bread of heaven to wrap them in, but there is still hope that the fare on offer on the banks of the River Taff next Saturday when Wales face the reigning world champions will feed them till they want no more.