Tying the Kangaroo Down

Wales 21 - Australia 18
November 29th, 2008

A palpable sense of relief washed over the exhausted Welsh team at the final whistle at the Millenium, a veritable tsunami of the stuff. More of it poured down from the packed terraces, where the crowd had nibbled fingernails down to the elbows as a dominant Welsh team managed to keep the Aussies in the game.
The first half featured some of the best attacking rugby Wales have played for some time, where the ball was recycled speedily, and Cooper fired out a good supply of ball for the attacks to build. Beautifully crafted angles, allied to real strength in the contact area, provided us with two terrific tries. Real Bread of Heaven stuff.
Australia stayed in it due to the shambolic Welsh line out, which led to us being unable to sustain periods of pressure, and gifted the Aussies a "What happened next" type score for second row Mark Chisholm.
In truth, Robbie Deans' men were well beaten by a side that has made real strides in a very busy year under The Gat and Big Shaun. What next ??

It's Not All Black...

November 22nd, 2008 at the Millenium Stadium
Wales 9 New Zealand 29

Never mind the 30 years of hurt (er...make that 42...) so bewailed by the round ball fraternity...the 55 years' spell seemed to be fading at halftime at a packed Millenuim Stadium this weekend. Ryan Jones and his merry men faced down those years of dreaming, as well as the Haka, to bring us within sniffing distance of the All Black scalp.
The tribal nature of the Haka face off will remain in the memory for all of us who witnessed it, a genuine spine tingler. Gatland must have loved it.
The final score was a tad flattering, but testament to the All Blacks sense of purpose and cohesion when put under pressure, and their enormous physical reserves of raw power. As ever, McCaw gave a masterclass at the breakdown, where Martyn Williams faded in the second half, along with the last whiffs of all that cordite from the opening expolsions.
Ah well - next year...

It’s no use getting shirty…

The Scarlets have now lost 9 straight in the Heineken Cup, and it hurts. The fact that the last two matches were to clubs who have found it difficult to decide whether they are rugby clubs or fashion houses will hurt the Dyfed Men of Steel all the more.

The new Stade shirts feature a renowned queen whose face is reproduced Warhol style. The players of Stade are well established on the nude calendar circuit, and Parisse’s buttocks no doubt adorn the walls of the Parisian metrosexual set, but the closest the Llanelli boys could get to a renowned queen would be a picture of Aled off the Chris Moyles show.

Stade were too good for about ten minutes of what was otherwise a pretty even contest. Mark Jones scored the try of the tournament thus far, finishing off a scintillating break by Morgan Stoddart.

The Ospreys were, quite simply, woeful. Even allowing for the lack of experience at half back, they allowed the Perpignan pack to disrupt the flow. Wayne Barnes and his supply of yellow cards could only do so much. Lee Byrne continues to shine under the high ball – he catches an unusually high proportion of his own kicks, in fact. Chris Latham apart, he is the best full back around, and can surely look forward to a summer on the high veldt.

Season's Greetings !

So many questions as the 08-09 season dawns.
Can the Gatland revolution keep pushing us on ? Or are we bound to fall to earth, constrained as we are by lack of cash and basic demographics ?
Can England shake off the tag of being 6 Nations underachievers in the post Woodward era ?
Can the Lievremont experiment survive the next season ?
Or will the Irish, having popped off for a nap for most of last season (which, unfortunately for them, included a World Cup), return refreshed and full of that Munster spirit ?
And what of Scotland ? What price Andy Robinson returning to International coaching there ?

And at club level - will blue collar Leicester gamble on Caucau (see the video clips next door and wonder why he's not THE superstar of 21st Century rugby.) ?
Will playboy Danny's ankle hold up to those punishing sessions in the capital's more exclusive nite spots ?
And in Wales - will Llanelli's house move throw them in to confusion (""Oi-Gareth ! Which cardboard box did you put the boots in ?") Can the post Lyn Jones coaching team handle the big names at the Liberty Stadium ? Can the Blues OVER achieve ? Can the Dragons be anything more than a distantly related Ugly Sister ?

ELV's - an RSVP...

Henry's trademark Headmasterly stare in use as his ex pupil out thinks him in the Bledisloe Cup encounter. Robbie Deans has more experience than his old coach in one crucial respect - he has played a season under the contoversial new ELV laws, and it showed.
A breathless game, played at breakneck speed, but Northern hemisphere purists will have plenty of anti ELV ammunition to play with too. The scrums were poorly managed by the ref, and became an irrelevant mess - which is not something the Wallabies would be losing any sleep over. If you're Andy Sheridan, however, your raison d'etre is being undermined...
And as for the break down - George Smith was king of the turnovers - again, the ref was frankly bewildered as many hands made light work of whatever clean possession was available.

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...