Pooler welcomed the league leaders to the park and Neath set about us like rabid dogs from the kick off. Their defeat by lowly Newport the previous week had clearly led to recriminations and to say they were motivated is an understatement. They were far too strong and athletic for a shell-shocked Pooler and we feared that a drubbing was on its way. To their credit Pooler defended stoutly and, despite the early loss of powerful centre Robinson to injury, dug in and managed to restrict Neath to just 8 points in the first half even though the Welsh All Blacks were playing with a keen wind at their backs. In the second half the wind speed mysteriously dropped a few knots and the Pooler were unable to make much impression even though Neath's tempo slowed. There was some hope of a bonus point loss after Pooler scored a try and kicked a couple of penalties but Neath pulled away and eventually won 23-11. Pontypool could not be faulted for their defensive effort as in previous years this would have been a much greater loss but it was still a defeat.Worse still, the news filtered down that Newport had beaten Pontypridd so we are back to last but one in the league. We still have to play Newport at home and Bedwas away so there is an opportunity to avoid being the bottom club in the Dragon's region.
The following day I visited the Millennium Stadium for the Wales v Italy game. It was disappointing to see so many empty seats even though Wales are on a roll. My ticket was £72 and with the game being on the telly you have to wonder if it is value for money when you add in all the "extras". The game itself was rather flat and in many ways reminded me of the Pontypool v Neath game the previous night in its inevitability. Italy were never going to win but defended strongly and restricted Wales to two tries. Both games were lessons that you can stop the superior side from scoring if you can slow down matters at the breakdown. This season it seems that the refs are more likely to penalise the attacking side at the breakdown which leads to frustration in the stands. It can be such a frustrating game to watch when you add in the time it takes for scrums to be reset and the frozen animation of the scrum half at the base of rucks. Still most people would have been happy with a twenty one point margin before the kick off and Wales move on to the Grand Slam game. We do need Warburton back to boss the breakdown if we are to beat France.
Ireland looked quite useful that evening against the disappointing Scots but that is the limit of my analysis as the "extras" caught up with me.
I agonised about what was the best result for Wales before the France v England game. After some thought I came up with a one point win for England which would mean France could not win the championship and England would need two surprising results to snatch the championship on points difference. The problem with that was that it would mean supporting England which is virtually illegal in Wales. In the end I couldn't resolve the issue and watched dispassionately. Strangely France also seemed dispassionate and diffident which meant that England were able to race into an early lead. The commentators enthused and it seemed as if it were England under 15s playing and winning against all the odds rather than a team of seasoned, highly paid professionals. France did manage to stir their stumps towards the end and actually could have won with a late drop goal but messed it up as they had done against Ireland the previous week. England were jubilant but the French did not seem that bothered. I wonder whether they are more interested in keeping their places in their club teams with the massive influx of top quality imports heading their way. I consoled myself in the knowledge that this was almost my ideal result even though they were wearing white jerseys.
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