It’s taken me a while to absorb that Welsh victory over the weekend. What a cracker of a game. It was a victory built on the top six inches.
Watching Gethin Jenkins waiting in the tunnel before the game, you could see the steely determination in his eyes.
From that moment I had a feeling Wales would win. But I didn’t think it would be the bloodbath George North had encouraged earlier in the week. The Red Dragons showed unbelievable passion, aggression and desire to claim the title deservedly.
A number of points stuck out for me in the game. I’ll start with the English. The first is that Tuilagi needs to broaden his skill set, ever so slightly.
He is a fine, aggressive footballer, which appeals to me, but he can be a bit one dimensional at times. There are a couple of aspects of his game that are lacking and, until he sorts them out, it will prevent him from becoming the complete centre.
One skill is distribution. He seems intent on running the ball straight up all the time, when there were a couple of times in the game when he needed to shift it wide a la Bruce Robertson, Jason Little or Phillpe Sella-style.
I’m not talking about the offload, which he is very good at, but the long floating pass that travels like a bullet, off the left or right hand, that is bang on target every time, and seemingly falls into the lap of a flying winger or fullback.
He also seems to lack that ability to nudge the cheeky kick through along the deck behind the defensive line, a la Conrad Smith, or O’Driscoll.
Alex Goode had a solid game, save for one howler he booted into the stands on the full. It was good to see the fullback stand up to Tipuric following a late charge.
If you’re not pumped up, you shouldn’t even be on the field, and unfortunately for England, Goode was the only one who was pumped up for most of the game. Brad Barritt gave an honest effort, but those were the only positives I could see for the men in white.
As for Wales, where do I start? Faletau was colossal on defence, and perhaps entering the best form he’s been in since the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
When Faletau is on fire, Wales is on fire. Biggar, Cuthbert, Halfpenny, Roberts, Jonathon Davies, Phillips, Warburton all made huge contributions.
But the highlight of the Welsh effort for me was the way in which Tipuric ran Cuthbert in beautifully for the latter’s second try. It was exquisite play by Tipuric, and showed the man can think clearly under pressure.
In terms of the Lions Tour, the match confirmed to me that Gatland’s squad will be built around this Welsh team.
After that game, you could forgive him for picking the whole team from Wales.
Ireland and Scotland couldn’t string a Lions player between them at the moment on form. Prior to this match I would’ve said that England would be providing the core of the squad, but it is quite clear that the fabled English renaissance is nothing more than a fable.
In an interview with the BBC after the game, coach Lancaster said his team were ‘out-muscled’, and he was dead right.
While their scrum was not destroyed, it was going backwards all day, and Wales showed a lot more urgency at the breakdown and collision area.
The English pack didn’t look interested at times and the defeat will come as a bitter disappointment to Lancaster who was just starting to fashion a decent looking record. But this record 30-3 defeat has derailed that for now.
Finally, a quick word about Italy’s victory over Ireland. It was a fitting way to end the career of the 103-Test veteran prop Andrea Lo Cicero.
He will go down as one of the greats of the game. The Italian team has improved considerably this year, and it was pleasing to see yet another 70,000 sell out at the Olympic Stadium in Rome.
Rugby union is certainly on a big growth spurt in Italy, and it’s only a matter of time before a Rugby World Cup will be held there.
I was hugely impressed with the way the Italian broadcasters filmed the match. The quality of the footage and camera work was excellent, and captured brilliantly the pride and passion that is the Six Nations championship.
Malcolm Dreaneen
Roar Pro
Thanks for your input Ian. I think Lancaster is on a hiding to nothing with that tour of Argentina, both in terms of depleted playing and coaching stock. Also factor in 'the Malvinas factor' in Argentinian / English sporting contests, the Argies will be fired up big time
Wales15
Guest
Wales15
Guest
England - mental edge? Mate, they chocked in Cardiff. The least intimidating place in world rugby. I think Wales lack the street wiseness of teams like Australia, NZ and SA if you catch my drift. In saying that, I just think they don't breed them tough enough up there, whereas down here they do. It's all to do with the earlier ages. Get that right, the Brits will do well regularly. Look to NZ.
Louis
Guest
Every team does it. Wales had them straight after the match.
Markus
Guest
Agreed, and that 35/35 split is probably an ideal one to look toward to achieve a balance between playing form and experience/mental toughness, rather than making a hasty decision and picking over 50% Welsh and 20% or less English just on the back of that final match.
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Agree with that Markus. That's why I think that with the mental edge the English players will provide, the welsh will do very well within the Lions side. Plus cuthbert, tipuric and a few others seem to be In the form of their life. They are actually the only ones not to have beaten the wallabies in the last 2.5 years. To play alongside English, Irish and scots who have beaten the wallabies in recent time will help them a lot mentally , I think.
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Fair enough wii. In my still French brain, I included the Irish in the terms 'Brits'. Apologies to the Irish, wasn't meant to be disrespectful, just something lost in translation.
atlas
Guest
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Markus
Guest
That's why I specifically said "are not a team that has ever threatened the Wallabies the way the English have". As talented a team as the Welsh are, for whatever reason the Wallabies have always found ways to claim wins against the Welsh, or the Welsh ways to lose. They have simply never been able to tear a Wallabies team down the way the English have.
richard
Guest
My mistake.I thought it did.Only played them once,on the 1949 tour to South Africa.
Jerry
Guest
They didn't.
justsaying
Guest
Surely the Rhodesia games did not have test match status...
richard
Guest
The only teams to have beaten NZ are SA,Aus.,Rhodesia(Zimbabwe),England,France,Wales and the BIL. When the Welsh beat the AB's in 1953,they indeed led NZ 3-1,with wins in 1905,1936 and obviously1953.There one defeat had come in 1924(the Invincibles).Who knew that in 2012-3,they would still be looking for only their fourth win in over a century of tests between our two countries.
Hightackle
Guest
No not the Welsh in particular. The Welsh have beaten NZ but Ire, Sco and Ital never have. Eng and Fra beat NZ 1 in every 5 games. Wales have beaten NZ 3 times and up until 1954 Wales had beaten NZ 3 times and lost one.
Hightackle
Guest
I dont think thats true of Fra and Eng. I think those 2 dont have a SH block at all, its just that NZ is usually better and SA and Aust have also been slightly better teams more often.
Ian Noble
Guest
I was at the game and the atmosphere was amazing. A predominately Welsh crowd of 74,000 is a daunting prospect and frankly it did get to the English team. It certainly gave the Welsh team an enormous boost and as they took control in the second half you literally could feel the surge of confidence surging through the stadium. Will the England team be better for the experience? There is no doubt. Will it be a destructive experience for one or two? Maybe, but as the number of caps between both teams was nearly 4 to 1 in favour of the Welsh, I am hopeful that they are young enough to,learn and move on. Two quick thoughts, I can recall the tour of hell in 1998, when lost 76-0 in OZ with a squad including Wilko amongst others Many of that squad were there in 2003. The win by Quins yesterday in the LV Cup with a squad of nearly all English qualified players, with 16 of the squad under the age of 23 having beaten a strong first team squad from Sale and even stronger squad from Bath in the semi final,. Not only were they victors but the style of play was impressive, open expansive rugby, which I believe is the future of English rugby. Quins are currently second in the Aviva Premiership, play Munster in the quarters of the HC it will be interesting to see how they perform in the tough run in to the various finals. It appears the incentive payments by the RFU to Aviva Premiership teams to expand their academies and include more academy players in the matchday squads is beginning to bear fruit. The England team will not reconvene until June,when they tour Argentina and it will interesting to see how the coaching team react. Lancaster will not have either Farrell or Rowntree on tour as they will be with the Lions. It is unfortunate as the ideal scenario would be for the England squad to have a game this weekend to put right what went wrong yesterday.
Wii
Guest
What about the Irish Nick, I dare say the boys from Ireland wouldn't take too kindly to being called Brits...... In saying that I would probably back the British and Irish Lions also
Jiggles
Roar Guru
It's a bizarre mindset to be honest. Particularly when most NH teams don't have a problem with facing either Australia and South Africa yet Wales still get hung up on it. England and France don't really have a problem with NZ but the Celts still do big time.
Malcolm Dreaneen
Roar Pro
Fascinating! The next time Wales beat the ABs, Cardiff will just go off!
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
spot on jiggles. being from the north and having spent 28y of my life there i can confirm that players, coaches, media, supporters dont play SH nations like they play each other, i mean mentally. They do put SH on a pedestal, watch them play and respect them too much. I think nations like England and France have changed their mindset in the last few years as they have proved they can beat anyone on their day but not the others yet. Same for Italy until now vs the rest of europe; i was reading french and italian players this w-e saying that Italy was now 'officialy' a 6N nation; they have a crack against everyone there these days. Not yet against the south though as we have seen in November. When you often loose vs some nations and that everyone tells you that these are the best, they are stronger, rugby is their sport blablabla, you believe it and dont approach the game the same way. Its clear wales havent 'processed' their new status yet but it will happen sooner rather than later, especially vs SA and Oz. The ABs still have a decade of 'privileges' when they play the Scots, Irish, Italians and welsh imo. But the Lions will be ready mentally.