/world sport
LONDON, England -- Wales fought back from 10 points down to stun World Cup finalists England 26-19 in their Six Nations opener and win at Twickenham for the first time in 20 years.
Lee Byrne scores to put Wales level as Jonny Wilkinson looks on powerless to intervene.
The visitors, 19-9 behind with just over 20 minutes to play, punished England errors to score match-winning tries by full-back Lee Byrne and scrum-half Mike Phillips and give new coach Warren Gatland victory in his first match in charge.
James Hook, who landed all six of his goal kicks, eluded England wing Paul Sackey and his pass sent in Byrne for a try which the fly-half converted to level the scores.
And from the restart Phillips charged down full-back Iain Balshaw's clearance kick and was on hand to lunge over the line in the corner after Gethin Jenkins recovered the ball and offloaded to flanker Martyn Willams.
England, whose only points in the second half came from a Jonny Willkinson penalty, were shocked as Wales triumphed at Twickenham for the first time since an 11-3 win in 1988.
"It's the most fantastic day of my career," Wales skipper Ryan Jones said. "It was a fantastic effort and the win was thoroughly deserved.
"Even when we were 10 points down we had belief in ourselves. We have worked really hard and we knew we were good enough. We came here with a small squad and we turned them over on their own patch."
England, showing seven changes from the side that lost the World Cup final to South Africa, were 16-6 ahead at half-time.
Brian Ashton's team needed just 12 seconds to open the scoring, with Wilkinson landing a penalty after Wales were penalized for holding onto the ball from his kick-off.
Hook leveled in kind in the third minute but was lucky to escape when England wing David Strettle pounced on his clearance and beat six men, but could not win the race to his own kick ahead.
Wilkinson's penalty made it 6-3 before Strettle, who missed the World Cup with a broken foot, hobbled off in the 13th minute with an ankle injury to be replaced by Tonga-born former New Zealand rugby league international Lesley Vainikolo.
Wilkinson added a drop-goal for 9-3 and then England's forward dominance paid dividends in the 23rd minute as Vainikolo gathered his fly-half's cross-kick, overpowered Mark Jones before setting up center Toby Flood for the opening try.
Wilkinson converted before Hook reduced the deficit to 16-6, while Wales hooker Huw Bennett denied Sackey a try before the break after the decision went to the video referee.
England were forced to bring on lock Ben Kay after the interval as flanker Lewis Moody and his replacement Tom Rees both succumbed to injury, but Wilkinson's third successful penalty still stretched their lead to 19-6.
But Hook's third penalty gave Wales hope and added his fourth when Andy Gomarsall saw his intended pass to Balshaw go to ground and England held on too long.
The hosts suffered another injury blow when veteran center Mike Tindall went off on a stretcher, allowing Danny Cipriani to make his debut.
The Red Dragons then flooded forward to overpower England and hand former Ireland boss Gatland an immediate victory on his return to the European game.
Earlier, Ireland battled to beat Italy 16-11 in Saturday's opening match of the 2008 Six Nations, with Eddie O'Sullivan's side continuing the unconvincing form that dogged their World Cup last year.
The hosts took a 10-3 lead at Croke Park, but could add only two penalties from Ronan O'Gara in the second half as Italy edged their way back into the match to set up a tense finish.
O'Sullivan stayed loyal to the players who exited at the group stage in France, with 11 players surviving the 30-15 drubbing by Argentina, and all four changes were enforced.
Rory Best, Malcolm O'Kelly, Andrew Trimble and Girvan Dempsey were restored to a starting line-up that contained 755 caps -- the most experienced Six Nations line-up of all time.
O'Gara put Ireland ahead with a penalty and the fly-half then teed up Trimble with a clever chip, allowing full-back Dempsey to cross for the opening try in the 18th minute.
O'Gara landed the conversion to give Ireland a 1-0 lead, but Gordon D'Arcy was then forced off with an arm injury -- forcing a reshuffle with Rob Kearney slotting on the wing and Trimble switching to inside center.
Italy reduced the deficit before half-time with a David Bortolussi penalty despite having lock Santiago Dellape sent to the sin-bin after appearing to throw a punch on the floor.
After the break, Ireland surprisingly passed up an easy penalty kick and then had Simon Easterby sin-binned in the 50th minute for playing the ball after the tackle.
Bortolussi missed a long-range shot at goal before O'Gara punished Italy for frequently killing the play to make it 13-3.
Italy kept plugging away and barged over from a lineout catch and drive, and after many replays the television match official Tim Hayes awarded the try to Sergio Parisse in the 61st minute.
Bortolussi could not add the conversion, and then saw O'Gara post another three points to calm the home nerves, but the Italian made amends with his next attempt.
O'Gara suffered his first miss of the day late on, held on to the ball well in the closing stages to inflict a defeat on new Azzurri coach Nick Mallett. E-mail to a friend 
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