The hosts led on the back of tries from Josh Adams and Liam Williams, both of which provoked controversy, but England had clawed the deficit back to just three points by the end of the first half thanks to Anthony Watson's finish and Owen Farrell's kicking.
Scrum-halves Kieran Hardy and Ben Youngs crossed after the break to make the match level at , but the kicking of replacement fly-half Callum Sheedy to punish penalties from England and a late score from Cory Hill secured what was ultimately a deserved win for Wayne Pivac's men. The visitors somewhat set the tone for their afternoon in the opening stages, conceding three penalties early on which allowed Dan Biggar to kick Wales ahead in the sixth minute.
Breaks from Elliot Daly and then Youngs soon after the restart saw England put themselves in position to hit back five minutes later though and when Alun Wyn Jones was caught offside just inside the 22, it allowed Owen Farrell to kick his side level. However, controversy reared its head in the 16th minute when Biggar was allowed to take a quick restart and kick to the corner for Adams to dot down out wide while England's players were standing under the posts after Farrell had been told by referee Pascal Gauzere to speak to his players.
England were furious the score was allowed to stand - Farrell protesting that water carriers from both teams were on the field but French official Gauzere was unmoved and Biggar slotted the conversion as well for good measure.
Skipper Farrell pulled three more points back for the away side with a penalty immediately after the restart, but more controversy was to come on 29 minutes as full-back Williams took advantage of broken play to score another disputed try for Wales. This time, the questions centred around whether Louis Rees-Zammit had knocked on in the build-up to the score as he tried to gather a kick in behind the defence prior to Williams scooping up the loose ball, but Mr Gauzere and television match official Alex Ruiz decided he had not.
The try stood and Biggar converted via the posts to put Wales 11 points clear, although England hauled themselves back into contention inside the final five minutes of the half. Watson used his pace, power and vision to grab their first try of the match, taking a pass from Jamie George then cutting in off the right wing to finish and while Farrell could not add the extras, the inside centre reduced Wales' lead to at the break with a third penalty.
Anyone with any sense of nuance knew full well that New Zealand boss Steve Hansen was cranking up the mind games when he installed Ireland as the best team in the world in November. Ireland's stunning victory over the back-to-back world champion All Blacks in Dublin still merits huge respect, even in the wake of their Six Nations thumping by England.
But New Zealand are still the team to beat. England are right up on the rails though, leaving Joe Schmidt with precious little to say except that the manner of Ireland's Dublin loss carries worrying World Cup portent.
Former Harlequins coach Conor O'Shea has done a sterling job in building Italian rugby's infrastructure behind the scenes. But the ex-Ireland full-back is also head coach of the Test team, and despite three late tries to gloss the score against Scotland, this was another below-par start from the tournament's regular strugglers.
Scotland's victory reads far better on paper than in the flesh. The Azzurri have plenty of work still ahead to catch the Six Nations' main pack.
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