Welsh Willpower Wins It

At last Wales can celebrate a victory against one of the top three rugby teams from the Southern Hemisphere. They lowered the South African colours with a hard fought 12-6 victory which yet again left the result in doubt in the nerve-jangling last few minutes. A Welsh defensive lapse left the South Africans with a five metre scrum but this time Wales stood firm and the relief from all was palpable.

This was not a classic match by any means with defences well on top and not a great deal of attacking creativity from either side. Right from the off, Wales signalled their intent with crunching tackles that knocked the burly Boks backwards. They managed to keep the intensity of their defence up right to the last minute this time and despite the nerves clung on for a well deserved victory. Wales deserved to win because they took advantage of the goal kicking opportunities from the penalties that will always occur in a titanic defensive struggle such as this.

The South Africans for their part seemed to be unsettled by the ferocity of the Welsh tackling and made a lot of uncharacteristic errors. It seemed that the Welsh were more desperate to win despite the pre-match talk from the South Africans that this was their most important match of the year.

This was Wales winning ugly and we can perhaps overlook their inability to turn great field position into a try or two on this occasion. It is something that needs to be addressed for the future as opposition defences seem to have got our current attacking approach taped in more ways than one.

Reflection on the Autumn Series can be more positive with a decent win under your belt. There are quite a few positives:

Samson Lee and Scott Baldwin have come of age in the front row.

We have a decent depth in the second row.

Warburton managed to complete the Series without injury. Lydiate worked his way back to fitness. We still look a bit thin at No8 and it is fortunate that Faletau is durable as he has had a heavy workload.

Rhys Webb has settled into the scrum half role but there are others snapping at his heels.

Dan Biggar must surely start at outside half. It will be interesting to watch the progress of Anscombe at the Blues.

Jamie Roberts still has plenty of life left in him. Davies and Williams are working their way back to match fitness after injury. George North did well in his brief appearance at centre.

On the wings, North and Cuthbert will score tries if given space. Unfortunately this didn’t happen often enough.

At fullback Halfpenny is solid and brave but his lack of stature means he is likely to get injured. Fortunately Liam Williams is available as a more than able deputy.

Defensively, apart from the nightmare ten minutes against the All Blacks and a couple of lapses against Australia, we have looked solid.

The Six Nations promises to be pretty competitive tournament this year with all the sides taking some positives from the recent matches. The Irish have the most to be positive about and look to have few weaknesses and so, along with England, must start as favourites. The Scots could be dark horses and will be difficult to beat especially at Murrayfield. The French could be brilliant but on the other hand….. Wales have England and Ireland at home and the results of these fixtures could well determine the overall winners. Then there is Italy who can upset the best teams in Rome. I can’t wait!

I also can’t wait for next Saturday when Pontypool return to Championship action with a home match against their old rivals Newbridge. It’s been so long I’m not sure whether I can remember the way to the Park. 

All Blacks Make The Game Disappear Before Your Very Eyes

One moment Wales were in this match against New Zealand and in a trice it had vanished without trace. As the home side started to feel the effects of a punishing match, the All Blacks pounced and scored 19 unanswered points in 10 minutes. It was hard luck on Wales who had given everything they had but this is why the All Blacks are the best team in the world. They have done something similar against Australia, England and Scotland in their last few matches so it is certainly no fluke.

What could Wales have done better? Rather like in the game against Australia they led by a point with around 10 minutes left and had done remarkably well to claw their way back after conceding two tries. Looking down on the match from the stand you could see that a number of the Welsh players were virtually out on their feet and I thought that Gatland could have brought on the forward replacements a bit earlier. An area of some concern was the lineout where New Zealand applied serious pressure and forced turnovers that we could ill afford. In most areas, however, we were very competitive and the intensity of our defence was ferocious at times. The Barrett try that proved the game breaker came from a lovely kick ahead and although Halfpenny was well positioned the bounce of the ball favoured Barrett. These things happen!

Am I downhearted? A little yes, but I predicted a score line of 6-33 so I guess in the end the final score of 16-34  is pretty much what I expected and a similar story to most of the recent games against NZ. We give them a hell of a game for an hour or so but, in the end, the All Blacks get it done.

Ireland seem to have found a way of beating the top Southern Hemisphere sides with a victory against Australia to complement the win against South Africa. I fancy they would give the All Blacks a run for their money in their current vein of form

It’s the Springboks for us next week. Let’s hope that we have got enough fit players to have a good go at them. This schedule of matches is challenging to say the least.

Pontypool’s schedule of matches is certainly not challenging at the moment. It has been three weeks since the last league match so only two left before we can watch some proper rugby.  Absolutely ludicrous!

Woeful Wales Lose Their Way

This is the one home game of the season that I decided to watch from the comfort of my couch and I was mightily glad that I did. This was a wretched Welsh performance against the big and athletic Fijians. True Wales won but we made really heavy weather out of what should have been a far more comfortable victory. This was meant to be an opportunity for Wales to put down a strong marker for next year’s RWC but they certainly failed to do that.

All the talk before the game was of control, structure and not turning over possession as the way to beat the Fijians. It started so well with Wales doing exactly that and scoring two good tries from North and Cuthbert but then it all started to go wrong. The Fijians started to put in some big hits and Wales started to lose their grip on the ball. This gave the South Sea Islanders all the opportunity they needed to power down the field. Fiji should have scored at least one try but had to be content with two penalties. Wales for their part continued to huff and puff and managed to force a penalty try when Fiji transgressed at a driving maul close to their line. Wales were leading 17-6 with Fiji down to 14 men at the end of the first half. We should coast home from here, I thought.

Nothing could be further from the truth however, as even though Wales had a clear advantage in terms of possession and territory, they could not convert it into points as they made error after error.  Fiji played most of the half with 14 men following a second yellow card for their loose head prop Ma’afu which made the home side’s inability to score even more frustrating. In Wales’ defence they did actually cross the line twice only for what looked like good tries to be disallowed by the TMO. Worse was to come when the giant Fijian centre Nadolo intercepted a pass from Priestland and galloped away to score from his own 22 yard line. Wales were definitely hanging on grimly for the last few minutes with the final result a narrow 17-13 victory.

I am sure the game will be analysed to death today but I found the Welsh lack of control of the game quite alarming. Yes we had made 8 changes but we certainly should not have become something of a shambles as the game progressed. Gatland seems reluctant to use his bench and you wonder why he did not make changes at half back. With the honourable exception of Liam Williams, I don’t think anyone of the Welsh players can be happy with their performance. If Wales play like that next week against the All Blacks I am sure that I would have to turn to strong drink before half time.

Next week’s team to face the New Zealand will clearly be affected by the casualty list but surely Liam Williams must play and we need another goal kicker (Halfpenny) to play. One thing is for sure Wales will face a mighty challenge and they will need to play with as much conviction and fire as the Scots showed against the same opponents.

I watched some parts of all the other games played on Saturday and I have to say the Welsh game was the least exciting even though all four games were close affairs. The South Africans bounced back with a deserved victory over what Lancaster keeps calling his inexperienced England team. Perhaps the game of the day, though, was the France v Australia game and you would not want to write either of those sides for the RWC next year if they play like that.

On the Pontypool front, congratulations to Ben Parry on playing for the Barbarians and great to see that Steve Jones was awarded his Welsh cap albeit posthumously.

Two weeks down and only another three weeks before Pontypool’s next league match.  

Trying Times Indeed

It reminds me of one of those old westerns where despite any number of twists and turns along the way the man in the white hat (or in this case the gold shirt) always wins through in the end. In this episode Wales, despite scoring four tries and being in the lead with ten minutes to go, still contrived to lose to those pesky Aussies. You might think that just once the guys in the black hats (or in this case the red shirts) might just have their day but it just isn’t in the script.

The latest in the series of tests between Wales and Australia was, of course, a breathless and exciting encounter as virtually all of the others have been. For the Aussies and the neutrals it is great entertainment, for the Welsh it is heartbreak as we shake our heads in disbelief. So close and yet so far.

So why did Australia win? They were well organised and never panicked, they looked after the ball and managed the game well in possession and they capitalised on the Welsh mistakes.

So why did Wales lose? Despite scoring four tries, they lost possession too often with too many loose passes and infringements at the breakdown.

Australia have played together a lot recently and it showed. The change of management, if anything, has brought them closer together and at times they were pretty impressive. They certainly have a lot of strong ball carriers that the Welsh struggled to cope with at times. Wales, on the other hand, looked disjointed  and really didn’t need their first match of the season to be against one of the Southern Hemisphere big hitters. There were some good individual performances and they will surely improve as the Autumn Series progresses as long as they don’t lose too many players through injuries. They will certainly need to with the All Blacks and the Springboks just around the corner.

Pride of place for the six nations this weekend must go to Ireland for their convincing win over South Africa. England apparently ran the All Blacks close and there were wins for Scotland, France and Italy against Argentina, Fiji and Samoa respectively. It’s a lot of rugby for one day - still it’s keeping a small army of ex-players busy.

Hard luck Wales, the loss certainly wasn’t due to lack of effort.

The good news is that it’s now only four weeks before Pooler’s next league match!

Refusing to bend in the wind

The windswept wide open spaces of the Newbridge Fields were the venue for Pontypool’s latest league match. Bridgend Athletic were the hosts and the last few encounters between the two sides have all been pretty close. It was yet another challenge to Pontypool’s credentials as a top three side in the Championship. A stiff wind was blowing down the pitch and it was clear that it was going to have a profound effect on the game.

Pooler chose to play with the wind in the first half and the well-drilled home pack soon demonstrated how to counter the elements with a long spell of possession rugby. Pooler had a lot of defending to do but gradually worked their way back into the game. A hard fought first quarter yielded only a penalty goal apiece.

Pooler finally got some good clean possession and the backs showed what a potent force they can be with two well worked tries from Haile and Brooks in opposite corners. Both tries went unconverted but Pooler had opened up a 3-13 lead which seemed to be the very least they needed to counteract playing against the wind in the second half. When Pontypool failed to field the restart after the second try, it gave the home side just the opportunity they needed for their forwards to work their way up the field. The away side conceded a penalty at a ruck and Bridgend kicked to the corner. From the lineout, the forwards drove over for a try and the successful conversion closed the gap to 10-13. This was the score at half time and the narrow Pontypool lead looked rather inadequate.

Pontypool started the second half strongly with some good forward play and were rewarded with a penalty that Haile converted against the strong wind. This gave a bit of breathing space for Pooler who then had to face a prolonged period of pressure. The Athletic forwards hammered away at their goal line incessantly and it seemed that they must score. Pooler’s defence was magnificent and stood firm with the referee eventually awarding them a pressure relieving penalty. Back came the home side and they narrowed the gap to 13-16 with a penalty and continued to press. To the frustration of the home fans, they seemed reticent to use their backs and spurned a number of clear overlaps.

The Pontypool cause was helped with the sin binning of the home hooker at a ruck although Athletic still managed to keep the pressure on but missed a kickable penalty. A promising break by the home backs ended with a high tackle by Thorley and the subsequent retaliation by his opposite number Hathaway led to a yellow card and red card respectively.

Pontypool finally managed to break the home side’s stranglehold on the game with some good running by Hurley. They worked their way up the field and won a line out close to the Athletic goal line. The home side lost yet another player to a yellow card when their second row took Thomas out in the air. Shortly after this the referee blew his whistle for full time with the final score 13-16

This was yet another tough game for Pontypool and one  where the result could easily have gone the other way. That it didn’t was down to the strong defensive effort in the second half. The team has come a long way from that disastrous start to the season at Bargoed and should be proud of themselves.

We now go into that ridiculous 5 week break before the next league match. Still it gives the injured players some much needed recovery time and hopefully Pooler will come back with all guns blazing against Newbridge who seem to be having a dreadful season.

My mind now turns to the autumn internationals - starting next week with Australia. No matter that there is turmoil in the Aussie camp, I still fully expect them to find some new way of beating us in the last minute. It will be interesting to see if Gatland picks Mike Phillips and Dan Lydiate who hasn’t played much rugby in France for the game. Let’s hope we can get the best out of George North.

In the absence of club rugby, come on Wales!