It was déjà vu at Twickenham yesterday. Rather like in the
Rugby World Cup, Wales went missing in the first half and let a rampant England
seize the initiative. This time it was far worse as Wales failed to register a
single point on the scoreboard. It is hard to explain how they could be so
lethargic but a lot of the credit for that must go down to the aggression of
the English. True Wales managed to stop Vunipola from making the massive
inroads that he made in their first three matches, but then there was young
Itoje who was a class apart from everyone else on the pitch. He destroyed the Welsh
lineout, he was colossal in attack and defence – what an athlete! England built
up a 16-0 lead and, in truth, it could have been even greater if England had
not kicked the ball away as much as they did.
Wales had to be better in the second half and they were. After conceding another three points from a penalty, they wasted a lot of time taking scrum after scrum in front of the English
posts. Almost inevitably they eventually squandered possession as the scrums had become a bit
of a lottery. They were fortunate that Biggar charged down a relieving kick
moments later to score under the posts and make the score 19-7. Could Wales
make an unlikely comeback again? The door seemed to be shut firmly as Wales
conceded a series of soft penalties and England increased their lead to 25-7
which was a far more formidable deficit to overturn than the 20-10 in the RWC.
Wales virtually cleared the bench and the introduction of
Webb added a bit of pace to their attacks with gaps appearing in the English
defence. Astonishingly they registered two quick tries and, at 25-21, an
unlikely victory was still on. Unfortunately the clock beat them when North was
adjudged in touch a few yards from the England line. Another few minutes and a
Welsh victory looked likely as England imploded. But it wasn’t to be - lightning doesn’t
strike twice.
So England look all set for the Grand Slam with a trip to
Paris in their last match. Could the French do us all a favour? It doesn’t seem likely on the evidence so far but you never know.
For Wales the final match is against the hapless Italians who
had a real mauling at the hands of the Irish yesterday. Wales really need to
turn on the style and put together a good eighty minutes of attacking rugby for
the first time this season. Let’s throw caution to the winds - there is nothing
to lose. Remember the exhilarating second half in Rome last year. Should Wales
make changes? I guess Warburton will not be available as he took a bad bump
yesterday so that means Tipuric will play. Cuthbert didn’t do himself many
favours yesterday so could Anscombe play full back and Williams play on the
wing?
The best moments of the weekend came from the Wales Under 20’s
stunning victory against their English counterparts in Bristol on Friday. It
was a performance full of vibrancy and passion that was the complete antithesis
of the senior team’s first half yesterday. There certainly look to be some
excellent prospects there and with any luck they should complete their Grand
Slam with a victory over Italy.
Pontypool didn’t have a game this weekend but there was a
lot of interest in the clash between arch rivals Bargoed and RGC 1404 who occupy
fifth and fourth places in the Championship respectively. By all accounts this
was an excellent match with Bargoed winning narrowly 23-20. The top of the
table now looks like this:
Team Played Points
Swansea 21 91
Merthyr 20 89
Pontypool 19 73
RGC 1404 18 65
Bargoed 18 62
With four teams to be promoted it is still all to play for.
Pooler have still to play Merthyr(h), RGC 1404(h) and Bargoed(a). Three really
tough tests which will surely determine their fate. First up is the match against
Merthyr next Friday evening. We need a big performance and a big crowd.
Come on Pooler!
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