What a desperately disappointing weekend for the Welsh Regions. The European fixtures featuring English and Welsh teams turned out to be a whitewash for the English. This is nothing new in the European Champions Cup where only the Scarlets featured but Wales have been doing reasonably well of late in the Challenge Cup.
The Scarlets were well and truly demolished (14-57) by
a rampant Sale team that was certainly not taking any prisoners. What was most
disappointing was that the Scarlets did not really turn up and failed to offer
much more than token resistance despite having their internationals back in the
fold. The bulky Boks plus Curry in the Sale pack proved to be far too strong.
The match did little to enhance the chances of British Lions’ selection for
Messrs Owens, Wyn Jones, Jon Davies and Liam Williams. This was a humiliating
defeat that begs many questions.
In the Challenge Cup things were very different with
all three Welsh Regions building healthy leads at times but failing to close
out their games. The English teams all came on strong in the last quarter demonstrating
a combination of stronger benches, better fitness levels and a never say die
attitude. Playing week in week out in a more competitive league must surely
contribute to this. For the record the results were:
London Irish 41 Cardiff
Blues 35
Ospreys 24 Newcastle 28
Dragons 39 Northampton
43
All three games were thoroughly entertaining with
plenty of excellent running rugby and all could, in truth, have gone either way
with less than a score dividing the teams at the final whistle. Sadly they all
went the wrong way for the Welsh who will be left wondering how they let them
get away.
A miserable weekend though following so closely after
the brilliant Welsh triumph in the Six Nations Championship.
Still there is always next season – although I confess
I do not feel particularly optimistic. Maybe the prospect of watching the
Pooler again will cheer me up.
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