Winning Ways

For the second time in a two weeks I walked out of the Principality Stadium feeling slightly deflated. Yes Wales had beaten France but there was no warm feeling of excitement. If ever there was a game that was won by strong defence this was it. Horatius Cocles would have been proud of our boys as they kept wave after wave of French attacks out. On the other hand the Welsh attack did little to warm the cockles of heart. Yes of course we won the game, but I can’t help feeling that we deserve a bit of attacking flair for our £80 ticket. Wales’ full complement of attacking ploys seems to be: chase a variety of kicks, send the big boys up the middle and if that fails hope the scrum half can sniff out a gap. At least it must be easy for the players to remember!

The toothless Welsh attack has been a feature for too long now. The current approach may win more games than it loses in the Six Nations but it really isn’t exciting to watch and won’t do against the big beasts of the Southern Hemisphere. We used to have players on the bench who could change the game. Why not give Matthew Morgan a go? Why did we not bring on Tipuric? I could mention James Hook but I won’t. We seem to have a surfeit of good pacey scrum halves can we not persuade one of them to do a Shane and play on the wing- Gareth Davies looked the most dangerous runner on the field and look what Lloyd Williams did at Twickenham.

As the pragmatist would say it is better to win 3-0 than lose 44-45 so let’s rejoice in our victory.

So to Saturday and the most important fixture of the weekend – Pontypool were back in action after a long lay-off and entertained Beddau at the Park. There was a chill wind but thankfully it was dry so there was every chance of a decent game. Pooler had only just edged out Beddau in the away fixture so this would be a tough reintroduction to rugby. Pontypool played down the slope in the first half but with the wind against if anything.

The home side started like an express train and looked in great form. The attacking intent was clear to see as they spurned potential kicks at goal in search of tries. They amassed 12 points in as many minutes and Beddau had barely touched the ball. Tries by Williams and Thomas one of which was converted by Gullis left the visitors looking slightly bemused. Beddau are made of sterner stuff, however, and are not in sixth place in the Championship for nothing. Their forwards got them back into the game with some muscular work. From a lineout near the Pooler line, they drove over for a deserved try and followed that up with a penalty goal to close the gap to 12-8. It was getting a little close for comfort.

Pooler regrouped and finished the first half strongly running in another two tries. Mills supported a good break by Gullis to score and then Thorley crossed to register the bonus point try. Gullis converted the Mills try so at half time Pooler led 24-8. This was a highly satisfactory first half with Pontypool playing some good rugby and building up a substantial lead. We hoped for more of the same in the second period.

I am afraid the second half did not live up to expectations and it turned out to be a very scrappy affair. There were far too many handling errors by both sides for there to be much flow in the game. A rather pernickety referee didn’t help matters and the game seemed to drift along without much to cheer the crowd. The introduction of Hurley added a bit of sparkle to Pooler and his break and feed to Parry led to a good try in the corner which put the game safe at 29-8 but other than that the home side struggled to find any inspiration.

As the game entered its closing minutes, Beddau, who were finishing the stronger, did find some hwyl and scored two tries in quick succession as Pooler’s concentration lapsed. This left the final score at 29-20 with Pooler getting the 5 points they needed.

Pontypool can be delighted to have come out of a tough match with a good win. At times they played some really good rugby but at times the lack of match practice showed. Next week they face an extremely taxing challenge with the long trip up to North Wales to face arch rivals RGC 1404 who are one place below them in the Championship. Let’s hope that the Beddau match has blown away all the cobwebs.

I got home just in time to see the England v Ireland game. There is no doubt that Wales will have it all to do at Twickenham in a fortnight’s time as England power on. Billy Vunipola has stood out as the player of the Six Nations Championship so far and Wales’ chances will surely revolve around stopping him. Those years in Pontypool are obviously coming to fruition as he goes from strength to strength.

Come on Wales and come on Pooler!