New Year, Old Gripes

Gareth Anscombe seems to be finding his feet in Welsh rugby, displaying a cool head in the heat of the local derby at Rodney Parade on New Years Day. Welsh fans will be charting his progress keenly, although the performances of Dan Biggar in the Autumn seem to suggest that the No 10 shirt fits the Osprey quite snugly. Still, it is traditional that we debate that hallowed shirt above all others, so there seems little point in trying to make that obvious point. English fans will be engaged in the same kind of frenzy now that Big Sam has made the move from League, but I suspect that his arrival will only serve to complicate matters. Lancaster and his predecessors seem to have been engaged in a protracted game of Lucky Dip when it comes to the 12 and 13 shirts (43 centre combinations since the 2003 WC, folks...). Sometimes less is more, but more choice gives you less...
Anscombe's floated miss pass to Cory Allen proved to be the game winning decision that decided a match that seemed to splutter its way from one collapsed scrum to the next. Lots of kicking, as we could expect on a day when the high ball was swirling around in the leaden skies over Newport, but so much of it is becoming the standard ploy from the maul. The plain fact is that you stand more chance of creating a scoring opportunity by booting it up in the air than you do by keeping the ball in hand. Defensive lines are so strong in the modern game that many sides prefer to play without the hassle of a bit of leather getting in the way.
Likewise, some front rowers seem blissfully happy to set and reset the same scrum, perhaps revelling in the attention they're getting from indulgent referees. Nice cozy chats in a huddle, sympathetic nods about the state of the pitch, coaching tips on how to keep on their feet and maintain their angles from the bloke with a whistle who probably played junior rugby on the wing.
Now that Christmas is over I can say "Bah, Humbug!" to all that. The scrums, Mr Ref, are going down because someone in that nice cozy huddle wants them to do so. In the short term, the yellow card has to be brandished. Longer term, a panel of gnarled veterans have to sit down with referees and law makers and sort this out. Scrums ARE better since "the hit" was taken out of the equation, but it is still an area of concern.
Too many box kicks (why not re establish a "mark" for any area of the pitch?) and too many collapsed scrums (handles sewn onto prop shirts???!) will do nothing to turn people on to rugby in World Cup year.

Under construction...

On Parade - Legends of Newport Rugby

Starts with this man - Arthur "Monkey" Gould, rugby's first superstar. His 37 tries in 24 games still a Rodney Parade record.

Keeping up with the Powells ?

Can he indeed...
The rise and rise of the Cardiff No 8 with the rock star blonde locks has presented Gatland (and, perhaps, the Lions management) with a rugbying conundrum.
It has been solved to some extent at the Ospreys by using Jones at 6 alongside Tiatia at 8 - another player who is hard to drop, even as he moves into his late thirties. Wales may opt to do the same. Jones is not as flashy as Powell, less of a game breaker, but has the precious quality of making the right decisions at the right time. Technically, he is excellent - his retention and presentation of the ball are second to none, and he has the bravery that will be needed when the Boks start tearing in to the Lions to avenge THAT tour of '97.

The Mystery of the Duracell Bunny

So who is the pink fluffy one who gave the girl a night to remember ? Scandal, as ever, will out. Just ask Dallaglio...
Interestingly, the England camp's travelling lawyer, the beak with the brief, has refused to allow his charges to talk to the police. This is called "fully co operating with the authorities", apparently. So when you're next pulled over on suspicion of drink driving, don't answer any questions, don't blow in to the bag, and see if it works for you...
Initially, I wondered if the "serious incident" in the hotel room may have been a Charlie Hodgson tackle. Maybe I misheard the "tackle" reference.
Today Henry's Kiwis continued their journey towards ultimate salvation in 2011 by playing at about 50% against an England team that no longer plays as though it understands what it is trying to do. Big Jonno sensibly stayed at home.
So, Mr Kiwi Copper, there's one of them that has an alibi.

Embarassment, no riches...

According to the Indie on Saturday morning, Gatland and Edwards didn't do 40 point drubbings. Well, they do now....
Outmuscled by a rampant Bokke back row, then outwitted by the skill and speed of Jean de Villiers, the Grand Slammers came third, while the world champions looked exactly that. The Welsh conceded soft penalties when they needed to stay in touch, and coughed up the ball just when they needed to hang on to it.
More than anything else, they didn't look as though they were relishing the contact - all a bit of a throwback to the world cup performances, with a couple of sweeping moves resulting in excellent tries thrown in to remind us of what we'd thought we'd left behind at half time at Twickenham.
Well, boys...hope you're enjoying the training sessions in the wake of this minor debacle...

The Case for the Defence

With the Grand Slam stashed away, and the ink drying on our Shaun's contract extension, there are plenty of reasons for Welsh fans to be happy. Winners are indisputably grinners.
There are two critical areas that Gatland and Edwards have focussed on to allow the World Cup whipping boys to become the sleek outfit that it became under Ryan Jones during the course of this campaign.
Firstly - intensity. The turning point of the whole 6 Nations was the fact that the pack refused to allow the English to score at the end of that first half at Twickenham. They had taken a fearful hammering, the strains of "Swing Low..." filled the stadium, but Ryan Jones' forwards fronted up. England's failure to score meant that the game was still on, and although the second half will be remembered as one of the great performances. Perhaps not by fans of Ian Balshaw...
Second - and step forward, Mr Edwards - defence. A side that leaked 13 tries in 4 matches in the World Cup gave away only 2 in the 6 Nations campaign. In all those games, in all that intensity, the Welsh side only missed a total of 25 tackles - a 95% completion rate. Each game showed that there was a stategy in place - the fanned out defence against the French, for example, with next to no one committed to rucks, meant that the men in red were impossible to beat on the outside. All this nullified the talents of Clerc and co., who in all honesty never looked like scoring.

Shaun of the Dead...

It's all the motivation you'll ever need...

England 19 - Wales 26
Little did he know, as he shared a beer of the warm canned variety with a Middle Eastern Welsh rugby afficionado, that he was set to start his coaching career in the Principality off in such a spectacular fashion. He got his mate Shaun a job, and got stuck in. that probably cost him another warm beer or ten.
The jokes about "Ospreylia" rebounded massively as a core of players dug in deep (so deep...) before half time to stop the game becoming a rout, and as the second half developed the collective will of the English failed and the street fighting qualities of Phillipps et al came to the fore.

Cheer up, Gat !

So things are looking up for the Gat (I'd call him "Fat Gat" except it's been done before, plus the fact that I'd be too scared...)
The Blues and Ospreys negotiate their respective groups, giving the Welsh regions continued exposure to the extreme demands of the Heineken.
And both sides delivered away from home - the Blues in the muddy bearpit that is the Memorial Ground, Lyn Jones' multi talented Ospreys at Bourgoin. He will reflect on the fact that the Scarlets' failure to progress is possibly down to the fact that their forwards were simply not up to the task. They need to dig deep in to the coffers to buy in at least 2 core forwards, as the Blues have done with Tito and the Ospreys have with Holah. Far from restricting Gatland's choice by taking up Welsh playing spaces, these players are visibly lifting standards around them and, crucially, bringing a harder edge, a winning edge, to the teams.