Pure Rugby Blog

I read an article the other day posted on the South Wales Argus website and so I thought I’d comment on this. The original story can be found here, but I’ve also posted it below:

Little to smile about for Wales fans

12:10pm Tuesday 1st December 2009

WE can’t go on like this. All the policy of playing against the best is proving is that Wales are the worst.

Beaten by an Irish team who secured the Grand Slam and failing to score a try against them, losing against the All Blacks without scoring a try and humbled by Australia while again unable to register a single try – some record in the three biggest games Wales have played this year.

It’s not just the inability to cross the opposition line, it’s the sterile way Wales are playing the game, safety first, conservative and lacking flair and movement.

The reliance on Jamie Roberts and others just bashing through the middle has been found out, and better teams like the Wallabies are running rings around a stagnant Welsh team.

It’s been a bitter sweet experience for Warren Gatland whose honeymoon period is over. His time in charge is showing a remarkable parallel with Graham Henry’s time, his fellow New Zealander starting in a blaze of glory with a record equalling ten wins in a row then subsiding rapidly, ending with a 50-point humiliation in Ireland.

It’s not that bad for Gatland after his Grand Slam start, but Wales won’t go into the Six Nations with much hope of success now and even the opening game against an equally under-performing England team looks a stiff hurdle.

And the bad news for the Welsh Rugby Union is that fans are starting to vote with their feet.

For on Saturday hundreds opted to leave the stadium early, fed up with the dross in front of them and the way the men in red were being shown up by an inventive, adventurous Aussie team.

And when it was all over, those who had remained booed the players off the pitch, again pretty much unprecedented.

As it was, fans were able to buy tickets on the day on a walk-up basis, pretty much unheard of for a fixture against a major southern hemsiphere power.

Others complained they wouldn’t be returning in the new year, not when a round trip from the Valleys with a couple of tickets, maybe a drink or two and possibly a meal set them back around £300.

And against that kind of background, with the country still in the grip of a recession, the WRU plan to increase ticket prices for the Six Nations by between £3-£5 each. They must be joking.

There was a time around six years ago, during the reign of Steve Hansen, when Wales were playing some pretty dull, boring stuff and losing regularly that the Scotland and Italy games in the Six Nations failed to sell out.

What price a repeat next year when the same two teams, hardly big box office anyway, re-visit the Millennium Stadium against a background of increased ticket prices?

The pressure will now be heavily on Gatland to make changes in personnel and style, but one thing I wouldn’t do is go cap in hand to Gavin Henson.

If he wants to return that’s up to him and if he does he would have to play his way back into form with the Ospreys. But to expect him to be back in a Welsh jersey for the Six Nations in February is pie in the sky.

Far better to bring James Hook much nearer the action, maybe in an inside centre role for he is a player who could perform in the imaginative way the Aussie pairing of Matt Giteau and Quade Cooper did.

As for the rest, Gatland must hope for an early return by his injured players, for the autumn series has proved Wales don’t possess the depth required to compete at the highest level.

The Six Nations looks like being green again, for Ireland ended the autumn series with victory over world champions South Africa to go with their Grand Slam. And they look to have unearthed at least one major new player in outside half Jonathan Sexton, ready to take over permanently from Ronan O’Gara.

But some sobering stats from the autumn reveal northern hemisphere teams won just three of 11 games against their Tri Nations counterparts and the total try count was a miserly four, while they conceded 23.

The World Cup in New Zealand in 2011 looks way out of reach.

BY ROBIN DAVEY

Firstly lets get a grip on things – we won 2 of our 4 autumn international games, the two games we did lose were against 2 of the IRB’s top 4 ranked teams. Yes the score line against the All Blacks could have been a lot tighter if we had actually converted our breaks into tries – but we didn’t. As a spectator I felt that we didn’t play that badly and it also gave some of the Welsh younger players the chance to gain international experience. Yes, I was stood up cheering when we broke the All Blacks line and it was frustrating to see missed passes but I feel that players will learn from these mistakes – furthermore it’s good to hear that Wales feel they can beat these top ranking teams – they now just have to demonstrate this on the field. We must also bare in mind that we are also without some key players, the likes of Lee Byrne, Mike Phillips & Adam Jones. Now I’m not saying that a winning team revolves around individuals but the replacement players who came into the squad have all gained from this experience and hopefully for the better.

Yes – we were totally outplayed and taken apart by an organised and ruthless Wallabies side – they were far better than us on the day and that’s it! Yes – it was disappointing as the Welsh team were favorites going into the fixture but I think we’ll learn from this defeat and address these issues in training prior to the RBS 6 Nations. Ireland as ever will be forbidable opponents, the Scottish team have improved vastly and this should also prove an interesting fixture – but to say:

It’s not that bad for Gatland after his Grand Slam start, but Wales won’t go into the Six Nations with much hope of success now and even the opening game against an equally under-performing England team looks a stiff hurdle.

I don’t think this will be a stiff hurdle at all – the Welsh flair and passion will be visible as it always is with these big 6 Nation clashes – hopefully Bryne will be back in time giving Wales more options! I think Mr Gatland holds no prisoners with his opinion and the players will know his reaction to the Internationals and know that they can perform better as a team – in fact, I for one cannot wait until the Tournament starts!