What a thriller at the Principality Stadium. Wales
almost pulled off the most unlikely of victories after falling 27 points
behind. In the end they ended up agonisingly just a point short.
Wales were abject in the first half while Scotland were
business-like and ruthless. The Wales kicking game which was the mainstay of
their tactics was poor and presented no real threat to the Scots. This added to
unreliable set pieces and handling meant that this was really poor stuff. No
surprise then that Wales found themselves 0-20 down after the first half.
Indeed, it could have been worse if Scotland had taken all their chances.
The Welsh management team had to do something to try
and salvage some pride. Wholesale changes were made at half time. Almost before
those changes had taken effect, Scotland’s van der Merwe was galloping down the
field to score a splendid solo try which left Wales at 0-27 and surely dead and
buried.
Scotland relaxed and suddenly Wales came to life.
Prompted by Tomas Williams and spearheaded by Wainwright they hit their straps. A seismic shift in
momentum occurred and it was all Wales. They threw caution to the winds with an
invigorated display from the pack providing plenty of possession for the backs.
This was far more like it and the scoreboard starting moving in the right
direction to the excitement of the home fans. In an inspired half an hour, Wales
scored four tries and with three successful conversions were within a point at
26-27. Scotland looked shellshocked and had received two yellow cards during
this time. There were still around ten minutes remaining for Wales to complete
the seemingly impossible.
Frustratingly Wales went back to the kicking game and got
pinned in their own half by some strong Scottish defence so it wasn’t to be.
The Scots had overcome the Cardiff bogey but had been given an almighty scare.
Wales ended the match with two bonus points and
outscored Scotland four tries to three. The stark difference in performance between
the two halves will give Warren Gatland plenty to think about when he considers
team selection for the match in Twickenham next weekend. There were some encouraging
signs from the young squad when the tactical shackles were removed and they had
nothing to lose. Surely there are some clues here about the way forward.
On Friday night the Irish were just awesome as they
blew away a dispirited French team. On this kind of form Ireland look well set
to win another grand slam. If you were picking a Lions team today you might
field the Irish team en bloc!
In Rome, England secured a narrow victory against
Italy. I guess a strong England will emerge over the next few weeks but this
was not a convincing start. The Italians seemed to have recovered their mojo
after the disasters of the Rugby World Cup and look to be competitive and certainly
cannot be taken lightly.
So, an interesting first weekend in the Six Nations
and no doubt there are some twists and turns to come. Let’s hope Wales can
build on that tremendous second half yesterday.
I did watch a fair bit of the Wales U 20 v Scotland
match on Friday evening and I was delighted that the players with a Pontypool
connection showed up well in a good win for Wales. It was great to see Huw Anderson
and Walker Price crossing for tries and some strong work from Jordan Morris.
Well done boys.
It is off to Twickers for Wales next weekend. A
daunting challenge but one I am sure the squad will relish.
Come on Wales!
No comments:
Post a Comment