Six Nations Theme Tunes

Another rugby-less weekend and I was left licking my wounds after the Dublin disaster. I reflected on my previous post - Cock-ups and Muscles and tried to come up with a list of songs that summed up the Six Nations so far. It’s a bit sad but here goes:

Scotland:        No Power of Scotland                           or (You Aint Seen Nothing Yet)

Italy:               Scrumtimes When We Touch                or (Parisse in the Springtime)

England:         We Will Ruck You                                or (Lost in France)

France:           Could it be Magic?                               or (It Can Only Get Better)

Ireland:           Fire and Brain                                      or (Oh Jonny Boy)

Wales:             Where Did Our Shove Go?                   or (Relight My Fire)

I’m sure that you could do a lot better but it’s a start!

Next stop the Millennium Stadium next Friday night. With any luck I should get home in time for breakfast. Why oh why do we have to play on a Friday night? I’d be interested to know if any spectator is actually happy with it.

Cock-ups and Muscles

Just got back from Dublin’s fair city where Wales provided the cock-ups and Ireland supplied the muscles.  It was hard to call it a match as the sides were a long way far from being evenly matched. Before the match, we assembled in various bars arguing with the Irish about why our side was going to lose. At least we won that argument! There seems to be something in both the Irish and Welsh psyches that hates the tag of favourites. Still rugby fans prefer to talk than scrap unlike our round ball counterparts.

We decided to walk to the ground from a bar in Lower Baggot Street (after some light refreshment) since there was a break in the rain. “Sure it will only take 25 minutes,” we were told. Well after 25 minutes we had reached the ground but we then had to follow ‘the red route’ that started by taking us further away from the ground before circling around behind it as if were trying to creep up on it. 8 flights of stairs later we had reached a concourse feeling slightly out of breath. From there we found our staircase and then we were faced with what looked like the North face of the Eiger. We were in row NN and we were starting at row F. I was puffing like Ivor the Engine and wishing that I had not drunk quite so much Guinness by the time I reached my seat. It had taken almost an hour to get there and no sooner had I sat down to catch my breath than the anthems started. My contribution to the Welsh cause was somewhat truncated by my lack of breath so it could easily be down to me that we lost.

In all honesty I didn’t really enjoy the game. It was plain from quite an early stage that Ireland were going to do a Munster on Wales and totally stifle any plans that we might have had. Sexton played the O’Gara role to perfection and a series of well directed kicks and flawless goal kicking piled on the pressure. The Irish forwards were well in charge particularly at the breakdown. Their driving maul from the lineout was almost unstoppable. We didn’t have any answers. We just had to sit and take our punishment, even cursing Barnes, the referee, didn’t make us feel any better.

The post mortem clasping a remedial pint of Guinness was conducted accompanied by England crushing Scotland on a big screen and was a desultory affair.  

So what went wrong? As a team we seem to lack hwyl which was a theme of the previous weekend too. The players do not seem to be enjoying playing this season and you wonder whether all that wrangling in Welsh rugby is having an effect on morale no matter how much the team management want to deny it. The other thing that is happening is that the regional combinations, that were a feature of the successful Welsh teams, are gradually disappearing as players move outside Wales. This time last year Sam Warburton was relieved of the captaincy to allow him to concentrate on his own game. Now he looks like he needs more rugby but of course he hasn’t got a team to play for at the moment. I certainly wouldn’t single him out as the cause for Saturday’s debacle. Nobody really came out of the game with an enhanced reputation and if you were picking a Lions squad on the basis of the first couple of weekends there wouldn’t be too many Scots and Welshmen on the teamsheet.

I suppose it would be easy to go overboard about this defeat and we should remember that the first half wasn’t quite as bad as the first half against Ireland last season and we went on to be champions. I fear that that may be beyond us this season but we could still win at least 2 of our remaining fixtures if we could rediscover our zest. It’s time for our senior players to come to the fore and lead us out our depression.

As always in Dublin, we had a great weekend with plenty of fun and the Irish were as hospitable as ever - apart from 2 hours on Saturday afternoon. It puts me in mind of the quote from 19th century America: “…..well apart from that, how did you enjoy the play Mrs. Lincoln?”

Wales Pasta Test

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Captain’s Run for the Welsh team at the Millennium Stadium on the Friday before the Italy match. This was a new experience for me and we watched the players go through their pre-match routines from close quarters. The thing that was striking was just how serious the players and coaches were. There were not many smiles or laughs as the team completed their work and somehow you did not sense any buzz of excitement. The players then mixed with the fans for autographs and pictures and they were patient and obliging with nothing too much trouble. These guys take all their responsibilities seriously.

On the Saturday I went to the match and I guess that the feeling that I had got the day before was carried over. The players didn’t really have a buzz and were there to do a job. This was somehow quickly picked up by the crowd and created a somewhat flat atmosphere. From the moment Cuthbert scored the opening try, you never felt that Wales were going to lose despite the best efforts of the Italians who managed to close the gap to 5 points at one stage in the second half. The Italian defence was strong and well organised and Wales were a little careless at times in attack so they only managed one more try when Roberts broke a tackle to put Williams in. I hope that they were holding back some of their strike moves for later in the campaign because the Italians seemed to have little problem in stifling an unimaginative series of attacks from Wales. Still it’s a win and so on to a far more demanding encounter in Dublin next weekend.

The Irish took a while to get going against the Scots before running out comfortable winners. They don’t really seem to have too many weaknesses and look particularly strong at set piece and breakdown where we struggled a bit against the Italians. A win there is going to require a monumental effort from Wales and I would think that the Irish start as favourites. I am heartily fed up with the resurrection of O’Driscoll-gate and the way the BBC Wales talk about “the media” stoking it up as if they are not part of the media themselves. I sincerely hope that when I take my seat in the Aviva Stadium next Saturday I am not sitting next to O’Driscoll’s fourth cousin three times removed.

So to England and the best moment of the weekend. It was with great glee that I watched the French score the winning try late in the game to take the wheels off the chariot. Truly a champagne moment. For most of the middle part of the game the English were on top and I was dreading reading the Sunday papers. We can all breathe a sigh of relief - England can’t win the grand slam. The guys working in the MBE factory can take it easy! Nevertheless, I think they showed enough to make them favourites for the title as they play Ireland and Wales at home.

I watched the first instalment of inside Welsh Club Rugby and was impressed. Follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/user/IWRTV The challenge will be to keep it going and keep it fresh but it’s an excellent start. I don’t want to think about the regional mess anymore but another deadline seems to have passed.

I’m looking forward to the Irish trip. I wonder how much a pint of Guinness is these days.

Welsh Rugby is Contracting - It's Official

I am ashamed to admit that I took one look at the weather and I decided not to go to Bonymaen to watch the Pooler. Instead I reclined on the couch and flicked between watching the Dragons v Northampton and Racing v Toulouse whilst paying attention to the twitter feed from Ken Long who was braving the elements in Bonymaen. In the end, Pooler lost a close match 10-8 with the stormy conditions having a large influence on the result.

The Dragons’ match was not close at all and it was a salutary lesson for those who think that the Welsh regions could breeze into the English Premiership. Make no mistake, this was Northampton seconds who brushed most of the Dragons’ first team aside.

In France, I thought that the Welsh representatives in the Racing team acquitted themselves well and were all fully committed despite the first Six Nations game being only a week away. Mike Phillips was particularly prominent and at his spiky best. I assume the Welsh based members of the Welsh squad all had their feet up somewhere. I guess this is the harsh reality of playing in France.

So Sam Warburton is the first Welsh centrally contracted player - let’s hope that he is not the last! I don’t think it makes much sense having a small number and at the very least it should be two per region. Can the WRU afford this? Even at around quarter of a million pounds per player the WRU are still far short of Leigh Halfpenny’s reported deal in France and what I suppose George North got from Northampton. Are we wasting money battling against market forces when our pockets are not really deep enough I wonder? The whole subject of centrally funding players begs a lot of questions and we haven’t really been party to the WRU’s thinking yet. Who decides who is centrally contracted, how much they are paid and who they play for?

Of course, centrally funding one player hasn’t really solved any of the underlying issues that are tormenting Welsh rugby but at least it might be viewed as a statement of intent from the WRU. I watched last week’s Scrum V Special with a mixture of sadness and disbelief. It seems hard to imagine the issues being solved by those on view who seem content to waffle on without actually saying (or doing) anything. And then there was David Moffett who seems to want to throw his hat in the ring. His interpersonal skills will certainly not pour oil on stormy waters. What a mess!

We should be looking forward with eager anticipation to the Six Nations but somehow the political wrangling seems to still have centre stage. Perhaps they all hope that it will all go away like magic once we kick off against Italy. I have got news for them - it will not.

The one down side of the Six Nations is the lack of club rugby. Only one game scheduled for the Pooler in February - why?

Welsh Rugby Top Ten

Unfortunately the Pontypool v Llanharan game was rained off and so I turned to musing about Welsh rugby’s current mess. It’s quite sad really but I came up with this list of songs that sum up the situation as I see it:

1.         We don’t talk any more                                  Cliff Richard

2.         Money’s too tight to mention                           Simply Red

3.         Breakaway                                                    The Beach Boys

4.         I guess that’s why they call it the blues            Elton John

5.         Euros to me are everything                             The Real Thing

6.         These boots are made for walking                   Nancy Sinatra

7.         Lost in France (or finance)                              Bonnie Tyler

8.         Come back and stay                                      Paul Young

9.         If you leave me now                                        Chicago

10.       With or without you                                         U2

Close contenders are “Help” by the Beatles and “All I need is a miracle” by Mike and the Mechanics. I am sure that you can think of plenty of others.

I did watch a bit of the Heineken Cup on the TV and it is interesting to note that none of the current Welsh squad will be playing in the quarter finals.

Let’s hope the sun shines next weekend or I’ll be thinking of a top ten of films! 

Quick on the Draw

I had been away on holiday to grab some Winter sun and had missed the last two Pontypool games so I was in urgent need of a rugby fix as we headed for Bridgend Athletic. Recent games have been close affairs with the outcome still in the balance in the last few minutes so this was going to be a stern test for Pooler after their narrow defeat at home to Newbridge in the Cup last week.

The game was played in glorious sunny conditions but on a sticky pitch that had suffered from the ravages of the recent bad weather. The game was a really scrappy affair, littered with mistakes, with neither side able to achieve any measure of control for a significant period. Bridgend Athletic probably edged the first half in terms of territory and possession and deserved their 6-3 interval lead.

The second half was a little better with an early exchange of penalties taking the score to 9-6. Pooler scrum half Quick then had a clearance kick charged down by his opposite number who won the chase for the ball to score the first try of the game. The conversion was missed but a 14-6 lead in the context of this game looked pretty significant. To their credit, Pooler upped their game and responded with a penalty before Quick atoned for his earlier mistake by scoring try in the corner from an attacking scrum. Mills narrowly missed the conversion so the score was tied at 14-14 as the game entered the final quarter of an hour. The home side came back strongly but could not breach a determined Pooler defence. Pooler had a glorious chance to pinch the game with the last play of the game but Norton knocked on with line at his mercy.

A draw was probably a fair result at the end of the game as neither side really did enough to win. It was a good job that the game was relatively low scoring as there was no scoreboard and there weren’t any announcements!

I had hoped that when I came back from my holiday that the row in Welsh rugby between the WRU and the Regions would have been settled. Surprise, surprise the situation has deteriorated, if anything, with ultimata coming and going and much vitriol. A further surprise came when I heard David Moffett being interviewed on the radio. He wants to be the white knight who is going to come all the way from the Antipodes to sort Welsh (and European) rugby out. It puts me in mind of a Bonny Tyler song! I guess he would then move on to design an economic nuclear fusion reactor. The one thing in his favour is that he will speak his mind and might knock a few heads together but I thought that we had managed to get rid of him. I thought that ultimately the clubs ran Welsh rugby through the WRU. Is no one interested in what the smaller clubs think? In the real world, I think that a CEO would be more than a little concerned about his position if he presided over a debacle of this magnitude 

Quite simply the Welsh Regions have not got enough money or resources to compete at Heineken Cup level. Yes the players that they can afford can raise their games every now and then to gain an excellent victory. To do that for six games in the qualification stages, however, is beyond them as this season’s competition has demonstrated yet again. If it was a straight knock-out competition from the star, we might have a better chance. What the Heineken Cup is doing for us is accelerating the development of young players who just have to be thrown in at the deep end as the injuries to the senior players mount from squads already depleted by defections to France and England. This certainly has benefits for the national team but there is no prospect of a Welsh Region winning the Heineken Cup. Standing on the Bank in Pontypool, I wonder if it matters.

Happy New Year.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The good news is that Pontypool recorded a hard fought victory over Tata Steel on a cold, grey and windy afternoon at Pontypool Park.

Pooler got off to a fast start playing down the slope when lock Jones crossed after some good interplay by the backs and forwards. There was a strong cross wind that made kicking difficult to judge and the try went unconverted. The home team continued to press and increased their lead when, following a lineout on the visitor’s 22 metre line, Norton took a well-timed pass by Mills at pace to slice through and score without a hand being laid on him. The successful conversion gave Pooler a handy 12-0 lead. Tata stormed back and showed that they had plenty of pace in their back line but it was the power of their pack that paved the way for an unconverted try. Pooler almost immediately responded when loose head prop Prosser scored a try after an attempted relieving kick was charged down near the away team’s line. The successful conversion increased the lead to 19-5. The last score of an entertaining first half was a penalty for Tata that closed the gap to 19-8.

In the second half, Tata emerged with real purpose and began to dominate possession and territory with their scrum getting on top. They hammered away at the Pooler line for about 15 minutes but the home defence somehow managed to keep them out. Very much against the run of play, Pooler managed to escape from their 22 for Mills to kick a penalty and increase the lead to 22-8. The play returned to the Pooler 22 but Tata still couldn’t manage to cross the line despite their best efforts. It was left to Taylor to hammer the final nail in the coffin when he scored Pooler’s bonus point try after a kick and chase.

This was another gutsy performance from Pontypool who once again took their chances and scrambled well in defence. Hopefully the team will continue to develop and we can look forward to a successful new year and a top three finish in the Championship.

So on to the bad and the ugly but I will let you choose whether it is the WRU or the Welsh regional rugby teams that are bad and ugly.

So the Welsh regions have finally realised that Welsh rugby needs to be saved. They didn’t seem to be the least bothered when the WRU funding of the smaller clubs spiralled downwards as they frittered away money on second rate overseas players rather than helping the clubs any distance away from the M4 to develop their own. A lot of people warned that the roots of the game in Wales were being irreparably damaged in large swathes of the country as they were starved of funds. Small wonder that, after a while, the other parts of the tree are feeling the effect. If we are not careful the whole lot will collapse and have a major negative impact on the national team.

We currently seem to have just enough high class players to be competitive at test level in Europe but it wouldn’t take too many injuries before we would start to struggle. The exodus of our top players to France and England will surely lead to more injuries as they are forced to play week in week out in a far tougher league than they are used to.

The regions have recently launched a Protect Our Game campaign but perhaps it should be Develop Our Game. This not only sounds more forward-looking but the acronym also sums up the performance of the regions as businesses.

The regional product has never really worked in Wales as the results in the Heineken Cup and the poor attendances at home games clearly seem to indicate. The Welsh are a parochial race and we like local derbys and the only time the regions get decent crowds is when the play other Welsh regions - perhaps there is clue there.

In order to be competitive we hear, the regions need even more money to spend on players’ wages. This of course will just serve to fuel the upward spiral of player wages in Europe and we will inevitably end up in the same position as we are now but paying higher wages to even more mediocre overseas players as we can surely not compete with the deep pockets in England and France for the best players. Since there is no extra money available something else would have to suffer and I don’t suppose it would be the wages of the WRU staff but more likely the clubs again.

So what can we do?

The regions answer seems to be to bully the WRU into submission by getting popular support for their demands and threatening to go and play in England. They even talk about getting politicians involved but this is surely the kiss of death for any campaign. Could the WRU just cast the regions adrift and let them play in England like our major soccer teams? If they did that what would be the impact on the national team? This of course means that the WRU relinquishes control of the top players but at least they wouldn’t have to subsidise their wages.

From the WRU perspective, there is talk of central contracts for a small number of key players to keep them in Wales but they will need to pay big bucks to be competitive - even Ireland could not persuade Sexton to stay when the French came calling. There therefore doesn’t seem to be any point in wasting even more money in this way particularly when the regions may not even give these players a game. Then there was the empty WRU threat to players that they would not be picked for Wales if they played outside Wales. It soon became clear that this was not practical as the exodus of players gathered pace.

If you add to this standoff the uncertainty surrounding the Heineken Cup then you indeed have a recipe for disaster. I think it was Richard Burton who said that if you put a Welshman in a room with a hundred doors he would leave through the only one marked self-destruct and he should know. So it is no surprise that it seems to be the way that Welsh rugby is heading.

What would I do? I think that I would bring in the highly developed interpersonal skills of Vincent Tan to sort things out