Posted by I often wonder how much rugby do rugby players and coaches watch recreationally. Obviously the average Joe on the street would not want to watch their job out of hours, but there’s a presumption that at least some involved in rugby must be fans of the game as well as playing it.
However, on the basis of Saturday’s Wales showing against Portugal in Nice, it seems that there were very few, if any, in the Welsh camp who tuned in to watch France v Uruguay on Thursday night.
If they had they’d have seen a much changed French outfit going up against an energetic and committed tier two side and approaching the game as individuals, rather than as a team. It was fifteen Frenchmen on the field at any one time desperately trying to create their own YouTube highlight reel in order to force their way into the reckoning for the rest of the tournament.
Fast forward 48 hours and Wales took the field in Nice with 13 changes, and hopefully a warning ringing in their ears. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case as an error strewn, hesitant and wasteful team were pushed all the way by a battling, organised and confident opponent, putting the tier one side to shame on how clear they were about their game plan.
Now there’s some differing opinion on exactly what would have constituted an acceptable Welsh performance. On one hand it’s true to say that it was a short training week, with just a six-day turnaround between the first and second pool games, that Portugal would always be tough opponents having had a bye weekend in the first round of games, and that multiple changes will impact the fluidity of the team.
However, there are valid counter points there around the fact that this Wales squad have been together for four months now, were well aware of the Rugby World Cup schedule and had more than enough opportunity to run with the partnerships required for the first and second games in training and warm-up matches over the summer.
In the end the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, as is usually the case, with some overestimating Wales/underestimating Portugal when expecting Warren Gatland’s men to win by 50+ points, while others offered them a little too much of an easy ride when suggesting all that matters is the five points and the low performance level was expected.
Some blame for the performance levels has to go to the players as those who ultimately take the field, particularly the senior players who seemed to struggle to corral their troops as the game got bogged down in 10-15 minute periods around the middle of both halves, but the coaches don’t avoid blame as the team appeared to have been sent out with the wrong game plan.
Wales tried to play far too much rugby in the middle third of the pitch, struggling to build enough pressure and push forward into the opposition 22 or win a penalty, usually coughing up the ball and inviting the pressure on to ourselves. The possession stats finished at 57-43 in favour of the men in black, but territory was deadlocked at 50-50.
When you team that with a lineout that ran at less than 70% it meant the Welshmen never got into any sort of attacking rhythm or flow. In the end there was over-reliance on set piece and a tight carrying game as two big forward carries and a pick-and-go from the base of an increasingly dominant scrum clinched the all-important try bonus point.
And all-important it was as Fiji beat Australia in Sunday leaving Wales top of the pool but still with work to do in order to secure a quarter-final spot. With that in mind it’s key to focus on the positives; the defence was rarely troubled, the scrum was strong, the kicking game when it was used was dominant, and individually it was great to see Taulupe Faletau looking fit and in-form.
At some point there’ll be lessons to be learned from the approach to the RWC game against weaker tier two opposition which Wales seem to perennially struggle with, but for now it’s onwards and upwards with the strongest XV selected from here on out, starting with a huge clash against the Wallabies on Sunday.
Cardiff Rugby Life 