England kicked off their 2010 Six Nations campaign with a 30-17 victory over Wales at Twickenham.
England's performance was a step up from their 2009 Autumn Internationals performance but their game still stutters from time to time.
The match, which marked the centenary of the first Test ever played at Twickenham, turned with Wales lock Alun-Wyn Jones's moment of madness in tripping England hooker Dylan Hartley six minutes before half-time.
That sparked a 17-point spree for England as they took the score from 3-3 to 20-3 in their favour.
"That was absolutely stupid what he's done," was Wales coach Warren Gatland's scathing reaction to Jones' indiscretion.
And Alun-Wyn Jones could well pay dearly for it as Gatland made plain when asked whether he would drop somebody for such a crass misjudgement.
"Absolutely. Its huge if you see the impact his mistake had on the match. It effectively lost us the game."
His England counterpart Martin Johnson was delighted with aspects of the way England played, especially after a difficult autumn series where they were booed by the home crowd.
"We played well at times and not so well at others," admitted England's 2003 World Cup winning captain.
"But generally I am happy with the way the guys played. "
"We did lose our way a little bit in the second-half and there is lots and lots to work on but scoring 30 points against Wales is no mean feat."
Wales, trailing 20-10 with just nine minutes left, got back into the match with a try from centre James Hook that saw him ghost past England outside centre Mathew Tait, hand off a prop and leave Jonny Wilkinson flat-footed.
Stephen Jones converted and England's lead was down to 20-17.
But with just five minutes left England scored their third try and blindside flanker Haskell his second.
Delon Armitage's interception sparked a counter-attack that saw the full-back release centre Toby Flood.
He in turn found Tait, making only his second start since the 2007 World Cup final and celebrating his 24th birthday on Saturday.
Tait surged down the right and then kept his nerve to deliver a superb inside pass to Haskell, who had a good laugh afterwards over his dive to touch down.
"I had to celebrate it as its my second try for England, though, the dive will probably get me a ribbing in the dressingroom," he laughed.
"On a more serious note we are very excited about what we are doing. This victory is a step in the right direction," added the Stade Francais star.
There was still time for Wilkinson to kick his third penalty as England ended a run of three straight Six Nations defeats by Wales.
After Alun-Wyn Jones was sin-binned, Wilkinson added the penalty for the yellow card offence.
Then a rare break by left wing Ugo Monye took England to within sight of Wales's line.
After a couple of five metre scrums, recalled scrum-half Danny Care then took a quick tap penalty and England's driving play was rewarded when Haskell burrowed over.
Wilkinson converted to leave England 13-3 ahead at half-time.
And early in the second half, with Alun-Wyn Jones still off the field, England added a second try when, after captain Steve Borthwick had stripped the ball in the tackle, Monye fed Care, who went over for a converted score.
But then Alun-Wyn Jones returned and Wales hit back with a try of their own when prop Adam Jones made the most of an overlap.
Stephen Jones converted to reduce England's lead to 20-10.
And the fly-half might have cut the gap yet further when he missed moments later with a 35 metre penalty to set alongside two off-target shots at goal in the first half from Hook.
Wales, who in the opening period had looked more dangerous with ball in hand, then missed a great chance to score their second try when wing Tom James, released by Hook, knocked on just metres from England's line.
Both teams rarely threatened each other's try-line in a stop-start opening half hour marked by handling errors that gave little indication of the thrilling finale.
England next face Italy - who lost to champions Ireland earlier on Saturday 29-11 - in Rome on February 14 while Wales are at home to Scotland, who play France at Murrayfield on Sunday, on February 13.
Final score England 30 (13) Wales 17 (3)
Scorers
England
Tries - Haskell 2, Care
Pen - Wilkinson 3
Con - Wilkinson 3
Drop -
Wales
Tries - A Jones, J Hook
Pen - S Jones
Con - S Jones 2
Drop -
Teams (15-1)
England
Delon Armitage; Mark Cueto, Mathew Tait, Toby Flood, Ugo Monye; Jonny Wilkinson, Danny Care; Nick Easter, Lewis Moody, James Haskell; Steve Borthwick (capt), Simon Shaw; David Wilson, Dylan Hartley, Tim Payne
Replacements: Steve Thompson, Dan Cole, Louis Deacon, Steffon Armitage, Paul Hodgson, Danny Hipkiss, Ben Foden
Replacements: Huw Bennett, Rhys Gill, Bradley Davies, Jonathan Thomas, Richard Rees, Andrew Bishop, Leigh Halfpenny
