It was never going to be an easy start for Wales in the Six Nations Championship. Short on confidence from a long losing streak, Wales were facing France in Paris with the French team packed with players from the French clubs that are looking so unstoppable in the European Champions Cup. Most people expected a comfortable French victory with the bookies giving Wales a twenty five points start to gain parity.
Well, most
of the predictions came true as Wales failed to trouble the scorers in a 43-0
rout conceding seven tries. Quite simply Wales were second best in virtually all
aspects of the game. While the French were innovative and full of verve Wales
looked pedestrian and underpowered.
The Welsh
set piece held up better than expected and indeed Wales had plenty of
possession. The big difference up front was the heavyweight French ball
carriers made ground consistently while Wales never really got much go forward
at all. In mitigation, losing a key ball carrier in Wainwright through injury early
on was a big blow to the Welsh forward effort.
Behind the
scrum, with the mercurial Dupont pulling the strings, the French always looked
threatening with bags of pace and guile. The Welsh backs, on the other hand,
were ponderous and lacking in any sort of spark and were comfortably contained
by the French defensive system.
The French
discipline, up until the Ntamack red card near the end, was excellent probably
because they were never really put under much pressure. Wales, who were under pressure,
gave away too many penalties and were shown two yellow cards.
Wales, as
you would expect, never gave up and put in plenty of effort with captain Morgan
to the fore but the gulf in class between was far too wide for them to make a
dent in what is a really good French team.
Where do Wales
go now? The next match is away in Italy and the Italians will surely be favourites
to win. There will probably be enforced changes for Wales due to injuries
sustained in the French match. There is also an urgent need to introduce some zest
in midfield – maybe the injury to Watkins will bring Llewellyn into the squad
to press for selection. The forwards will largely remain the same, I guess,
with the injury to Wainwright the main issue. If Faletau is fit then he would
be the ideal replacement.
It is not
a great time to be a Wales supporter that is for sure. It has to get better
some time doesn’t it?
I am still
in rehab after my hip replacement so will not be travelling to Carmarthen to support
Pontypool in their latest cup tie. I’ll be thinking of them as I take station
on the couch for Scotland v Italy and Ireland v France.
Come on
Pooler!
Come on Wales!
PS Pooler Win at Carmarthen Quins
Some good news anyway - Pooler won 29-35 at Carmarthen in the cup match and have now won two from two in their pool. Next up Ebbw Vale at home in a couple of weeks.
In the Six Nations, home wins for Scotland and Ireland against Italy and England respectively . Italy did enough to show that they will be a real handful against Wales next weekend - it is La Sgranocchio or The Crunch for Wales.
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