Déjà déjà vu

I duly switched on the TV at 8.15 am yesterday to watch Wales take on the mighty All Blacks in Auckland. I must confess I did not feel any real sense of optimism. Whilst I can at least say that I was alive when Wales last beat New Zealand, I was only one at the time so cannot claim that “I was there”.

After a ropy start, Wales really took it to the All Blacks in the first half and even had the temerity to go into the interval with a narrow lead. True the home side only played like world champions in fits and starts and had an error count that wouldn’t look out of place in the Welsh Championship, but Wales certainly played with more verve than we have seen for a long time. Two good tries by Faletau and Webb gave Wales the edge but there was an ever present threat from the All Blacks when they gained any sort of momentum.

You don’t need to be a psychic to know what to expect in the second half. This story has been told many times before. Around the hour mark, as the major substitutions start, New Zealand inexorably gain control. The rest, as they, say is history. The All Blacks seem to get stronger as the replacements’ bench is emptied while Wales find it disruptive and then of course there is only one winner. Wales wilted under the pressure and the All Blacks ran out comfortable winners 39-21. I guess that it reveals something of the All Blacks champion’s mentality that leading 32-21 as the last play of the game arrived they still had the presence of mind to attack the Welsh right wing where North was clearly struggling with a leg injury to score a final try. Most other teams would have been content to kick the ball into touch to kill the game.

So Wales finish gallant losers again and we are left to think about what might have been. Plenty of good, committed performances but in the end we were not quite good enough to beat a New Zealand team that was certainly not firing on all cylinders. We have two more attempts to beat them but I fear that they will get stronger and our inevitable injury toll will weaken us …. but you never know. Well perhaps we do really.

In the evening we went to see Rod Stewart in concert in Cardiff. We parked up and watched the Wales v Slovakia football match on the TV in Canton Rugby Club. There was a great atmosphere and it was nice to be in a traditional old style rugby club with pictures and jerseys on the wall and few airs and graces. What is more we were able to celebrate a brilliant Welsh victory. Unfortunately it sounds as if we might have to invoke the Rorke’s Drift spirit when we play Russia if the news headlines about the hooliganism are anything to go by. Rod Stewart was great by the way and we should check if he has any Welsh ancestry as he certainly looked pretty useful when he kicked some rugby balls into the crowd.

On a sad note, I was really sorry to hear about the passing of Cae Trayhern - a real Pooler stalwart. He was a fine combative player who always looked more than prepared to take on the whole opposition pack by himself. My condolences to his family.

I am led to believe that England beat Australia – I wonder if there will be anything about it in the papers?