Warming Up

After what seemed like an eternity, I was hoping to watch Pontypool play rugby again. Unfortunately, this was scuppered as the planned warm-up match against Dings Crusaders was first transferred to Bristol and then cancelled. Never mind Pooler are due to play at Pontypridd next Saturday in another warm-up match – it’s only seven days away!

The first signs of Pooler’s promotion to the Premiership have arrived with a big increase in the price of a season ticket and the fact that the first league game at Newport will now be at Rodney Parade and be played on a Sunday evening so that it can be screened live on TV. Neither of these are particularly welcome but if you want to play with the big boys I guess they are a necessity. I am more than willing to put up with this to watch Pooler operate in the next tier after the years of frustration in the Championship. It will be a formidable challenge that is for sure.

The afternoon therefore saw me back on the couch in front of the TV. There was plenty of rugby anyway. I started with Scotland v France Seconds in one of the myriad of pre-Rugby World Cup matches. Team selection during this period seems to be a bit of a lottery with coaches trying to whittle their squads down to the final thirty-three and give players much needed game time. What we got was a classic “game of two halves”. France were really dominant in the first half and built a substantial lead but then stopped playing with any kind of passion in the second half while Scotland did the complete opposite and, despite losing Fagerson to a red card, overhauled the French to snatch victory. That must have been some team talk in the Scottish dressing room at half time!

That match was followed by the main event which was Wales against England in Cardiff. Both teams were not at full strength with Wales fielding an almost entirely different team to the one that finished the Six Nations. England were well on top in the first half having the lion’s share of possession and territory and giving the new Welsh props a torrid time in the scrums. Luckily for Wales, England had a severe case of butterfingers and couldn’t cross the whitewash to score a try. In fact, but for a stumble close to the line, Rees Zammit could have scored a try for Wales. England did lead 6-9 at half time but it could and should have been much worse for Wales.

In the second half, the Welsh confidence grew as England seemed to fade. An excellent try from Gareth Davies saw Wales take the lead and this was backed up by a try from George North to give Wales a 20-9 lead which they never really looked like losing. Wales went close to two more tries first through Grady and then a brilliant kick and chase by Rees Zammit which the TMO chalked off. This was way better than anything Wales had produced in the Six Nations with the players looking fit as fiddles.

There were plenty of positives for Gatland and Co not least the work of Jac Morgan and Aaron Wainwright who were both outstanding. It also revealed an encouraging development of strength in depth in most positions. The worrying thing about warm-up games is the risk of injury and Wales were reduced to seven forwards towards the end of the game. Wales lost Elias in the first few minutes to what looked like a hamstring injury. Let us hope that there is nothing too serious.

Next week Wales travel to Twickenham and can expect a warm reception from a wounded England squad. We can expect two different teams to take the field so it is difficult to predict the outcome.

I did watch some of the Argentina v South Africa game but have to confess that my eyes closed a few times. From what I saw, South Africa were dominant and will surely give Wales a tough examination in a couple of weeks.

Well that’s it. Rugby is back!  All we need now is a bit of Pooler Power.

Come on Pooler!

Come on Wales!