At Last The Fireworks Are On The Pitch

The 2015 Six nations Rugby Championship exploded into life on the final day with three firecrackers of matches. Up until then it had been fiercely contested but defence had been the order of the day. It was OK if you were a partisan but for the impartial observer it had been pretty unappealing I am sure. As I settled down on the couch at 12.30pm, I certainly did not imagine the drama that was about to unfold.

As they kicked off in Italy, Wales were seemingly outsiders as their points difference was much inferior to the other contenders England and Ireland. The first half was about par for the course in the Six Nations with the main feature the dominance of the Italian scrum. Italy were probably marginally the better side as Wales made far too many errors and I think the away side were probably mighty glad to reach half time with a slender one point lead at 13-14. To add to the Welsh woe, Leigh Halfpenny had left the field with concussion. Wales looked a million miles from being championship contenders

During the half time interval someone must have lit the blue touch paper or given the Welsh team a rocket as they were totally transformed in the second half. From lethargy emerged a quite extraordinary high energy performance that quite simply blew the Italians away. Try followed try as Wales cast off the shackles of Warrenball and we began to dream that Wales could set a formidable target for the other championship contenders. They rattled up 61 points with no reply from Italy which would certainly give the others plenty to think about. As it turned out, the last few minutes severely damaged Welsh hopes. First Davies spilled the ball with the try line beckoning and then the Roman candle found one last burst and Italy scampered over for a try with the last move of the match. The upshot was a reduction of 14 to the points difference which was enough to give the other teams a realistic chance. Wales had done fantastically well and this was brilliant half of rugby that certainly ignited the next two matches.

So next it was the turn of the Irish who had to beat the Scots by more than 21 points at Murrayfield. A formidable task you would have thought. The power and drive of the Irish proved far too much for the hapless home team. It was soon abundantly clear that the Irish would overhaul the Welsh and but for some poor goal kicking by Sexton it would have happened quite early in the second half. Anyway Ireland eventually won 10-40 putting them in pole position and leaving a pretty dispirited Scotland with the wooden spoon. It was a really good purposeful performance from Ireland and left England having to beat France by 26 points at Twickenham.

There was just time to stretch my legs before returning to the couch for the final match. This was an extraordinary encounter with England going gung ho for the championship. The problem for them was the French were also happy to enter into the spirit of things and ran the ball at every opportunity. The French matched the English for most of the match in the running game and if they had possessed a reliable goal kicker the result would have been far closer. It was full of mistakes but that just served to make it more exhilarating as some of the running from deep was scintillating - it was almost as if two Barbarians teams were playing against each other. As we entered the last five minutes, the score was 55-35 with England scoring 7 tries to the French 5. England only needed a converted try to pinch the championship. Everyone held their breath and despite the French deciding to run the ball from behind their own line the score remained the same. Ireland were champions for the second year in a row and Wales had to settle for third place.

On reflection, I am not really sure what to think about the day. It was certainly a brilliant advert for rugby and wouldn’t it be nice if the RWC was played in the same way. Somehow I doubt if that will be the case and this was probably a one-off. The order of the matches fell just right with Wales setting a challenging target for the other teams which meant that they had to play attacking rugby. It would be interesting to know what would have happened if the matches had been played the other way round with England playing France first. Also you might think that the final games should have been played at the same time as they do in the European competitions - of course the TV companies would never allow that!

Should the bonus point system used widely in rugby be introduced into the Six Nations? I think it probably should as it might help to promote attacking rugby so that we have more days like this.

As for Wales, they were scuppered by the poor second half against England. From then on they got stronger and stronger. There were some outstanding individual performances - Alun Wyn Jones, Sam Warburton. Luke Charteris and the emergence of Rhys Webb to name but a few. The most worrying thing has been the attrition rate for our props. Wales took the field against Italy with their fourth choice loose head with Jenkins, James and Smith all injured. At tight head, the retirement of Adam Jones and the serious injury to Lee has left a gaping hole. The young lads who have stepped in have performed manfully but in that position there is no substitute for experience. This apart, the squad looks strong and in a good position for the RWC and the unenviable task of trying to emerge from the “pool of death”. The Italian game showed that we can still play some good attacking rugby if the team is given a bit of freedom. Of course there are far sterner tests ahead, but points difference may yet become a deciding factor in the RWC pool stages.

So are Ireland worthy champions? Well they won it didn’t they so they must be! Will I be able to buy a newspaper on Monday without having to read about how England are going to win the Rugby World Cup? - I certainly hope so but I fear that I might be disappointed.

Congratulations to Ireland now let’s get back to the travails of Pontypool.

They Shall Not Pass

From a committed spectator’s perspective, yesterday’s Wales v. Ireland match was at times almost unbearable to watch. The Irish must have felt deep frustration as they battered away at the Welsh line for what seemed like an age. As a self-confessed biased Welsh supporter, there was unbelievable tension coupled with tremendous pride as the thin red line stood firm. This match will live long in my memory for the ferocity and commitment that the Welsh team as they defended their narrow lead. I don’t think I have ever seen anything quite like it. Well maybe there was that cup match in Cardiff when Pontypool held out the home team…..

Wales had started in bright and breezy fashion and quite quickly built up a useful lead through the boot of Halfpenny and Ireland looked anything but potential grand slammers. The loss of Samson Lee at what seemed to be the first scrum came as a bit of a body blow for Wales. The Irish team spent the lengthy delay while the unfortunate prop was stretchered off drawing breath and regrouping. Slowly but surely they eased their way back into the game and garnered a couple of penalties. More disruption was to come for Wales as Warburton was yellow carded and with the score at 12-6 it was crucial that they managed to keep their noses in front while they were short-handed. A well-taken drop goal by Biggar was just the tonic Wales needed and although the Irish responded with another penalty Wales had kept their 6 point lead with the score 15-9 at half time.

The second half seemed to consist of the Irish banging away in attack and Wales countering everything that they tried with stern defence. I was sitting behind the posts and had a brilliant view of the Welsh defensive work as they drove Irish horde back repeatedly. It just needed Ivor Emanuel to sing Men of Harlech and it could have been made into a film.

The Welsh forward effort was immense and, even though they had lost both of their first choice props to injury, their young replacements battled bravely under severe pressure in the scrums. The Welsh lineout performed brilliantly and often disrupted the Irish as well as stealing a few against the throw. Wales were ferocious at the breakdown with Warburton at his best. It was red blooded stuff indeed.

There were a few Welsh breakouts and they looked quite dangerous on the counter attack. From one such breakout Scott Williams, who had come on as a substitute for Jamie Roberts, sliced through the Irish defence to score a try. Unfortunately Halfpenny missed the conversion but Wales had a bit of breathing space at 20-9.

We all knew the Irish were far from done and sure enough back they came and were soon hammering away at the Welsh line again. Eventually even the Welsh defence had to crack although it needed the referee’s assistance to score the try. They were awarded a penalty try when a maul collapsed to bring the score to 20-16. I suppose Wales were fortunate not to have a yellow card for this but it didn’t seem like that at the time.

If there was something that summed the Welsh spirit it was the way that Warburton turned the ball over shortly afterwards to earn a penalty for Wales which Halfpenny duly converted. At 23-16, and with time running out, the Irish grand slam dream was surely over. A converted try could still give them a draw and make them strong favourites for the Six Nations title so they certainly did not let up. There a few more nervous moments but Wales just about managed to hold out for a hard earned victory.

The Welsh contingent gave a concerted sigh of relief whilst the Irish sighed in resignation. Yes the whole stadium sighed.

Make no mistake this was as hard a test match as you will ever see and there will be a lot of battered bodies turning up for training on Monday. Let’s hope that the injury list is not too long as there is a visit to Rome coming up next Saturday. Could we see a cameo role for Adam Jones I wonder?

Well done Wales you have done us proud.

Steel Too Strong For Brittle Pooler

It was a glorious spring-like afternoon in Port Talbot and perfect conditions for running rugby. Tata Steel, the home side, took full advantage of this but for the first half an hour it looked like Pontypool were still in hibernation. They were quite simply blown away by the power and commitment of the home side who were certainly very impressive. Tata swiftly built up a 22-0 lead that included three well worked tries and Pooler were staring down the barrel of an embarrassing defeat. Tata were on top in all aspects of the game and the Pontypool tackling was fragile to say the least.

A rally towards the end of the first half saw Pooler score what was almost a consolation try from a driving lineout and then they somehow managed to prevent Tata from scoring again before half time. With the score at 22-5, Pontypool stayed on the pitch for the half time break trying to gather their thoughts on how to haul themselves back into the game. On the evidence of the first half, it would need the escape committee from Colditz to mastermind such a turnaround.

In the second half Pooler had the assistance of the referee who showed no less than three yellow cards to Tata and this helped the away side to become more competitive. Fourteen man Tata, however, quickly put paid to any forlorn hopes of a Pooler comeback by scoring the first try of the half after Pooler turned over possession in the home 22.

The lead at 29-5 was surely unassailable. The away side had different ideas and began to make their numerical advantage pay. Tries by Prosser and Norton, one of which was converted by Mills, closed the gap to 29-17 and a bonus point or two seemed to be within Pooler’s grasp. This turned out to be a pipedream as normal service was resumed when Pooler lost Blackmore to the sin bin. Tata staged a really strong finish to score two more tries by brushing aside some pretty weak tackling. The final score was 41-17 which is an accurate reflection of the disparity between the two sides on the day.

This is surely one of the low points of the season for Pontypool who were soundly beaten. It is hard to find any redeeming features from this defeat - the pack were overpowered and the backs made too many mistakes. There is certainly plenty for the coaches to work on - it is perhaps fortunate that there is a three week gap before the next league game.

Our thoughts return to the Six Nations for the next couple of weekends. Wales take on Ireland in Cardiff on Saturday and will bid to halt Ireland’s march towards a Grand Slam. This will not be easy on the evidence of the games so far as we can be sure that Ireland will have done their homework and will have a plan specifically designed to beat Wales. I still shudder when I think of the match in Dublin last year when they did to us exactly what they did to England last Sunday.

The downside of beating Ireland of course is that it will most probably mean that England will be Six Nations champions and their RWC bandwagon/chariot will be back on the road for the next six months. With that and the General Election, I would have to consider selling the TV and not buying any newspapers.

Of course I still want Wales to win, I can always watch S4C on the TV and read the Western Mail!

Up And Under Here We Go

In the immortal words of Max Boyce, “Are you ready yes or no?” Wales had better be ready as there will be something only marginally less ferocious than the Pontypool Front Row heading their way in the Millennium Stadium in a week or so. Yes the Irish Air Force will be in town and Wales can expect an aerial bombardment rather like the one that we observed at the Aviva Stadium yesterday. It certainly isn’t pretty to watch but it is rather effective if you have the right man to make the ball land in the right place and chasers who arrive with the ball. Ask England, who found it difficult to cope with I think something like 44 such kicks. Of course Ireland are not alone in employing the tactic but they seem to have perfected it. Competing for the ball has become something of a lottery with yellow and red cards waiting for those who mistime their challenge for the ball. Let us hope that we will not be treated to a RWC where all the teams use the high ball tactic as we will be waiting for a TMO decision every couple of minutes.

By the way, I was mighty glad that Ireland beat England as it lets Wales back into the race for the 6 Nations title. I have just come back from an excellent weekend in Paris and was delighted to watch the thoroughly professional way that Wales disposed of France. It didn’t take very long before the French fans were making their displeasure with their team very apparent. I hadn’t been to a match in Paris for some years and I had forgotten how enjoyable it is especially if you are supporting the winning side. The only frustration was getting back to the centre of Paris after the match - it was almost as bad as trying to get a train back to Newport from Cardiff.

Wales can make things difficult for Ireland if they can up their performance another couple of notches. The teams would seem to quite evenly matched on paper although Ireland on the back of ten straight victories must start as favourites. The battle between the half backs will be crucial. If you were picking a Lions pairing today you would certainly go for Murray and Sexton so the Welsh boys will have it all to do.

Before the Six Nations started, I wondered whether Scotland could be more of a force than in recent years. Well the answer is clearly not as they seemed to be heading towards the wooden spoon after their calamitous home defeat to Italy. I certainly didn’t see that coming after the Scots performance against Wales.

The real low point of the weekend came by text from Pontypool Park and the news that Pontypool had lost to Swansea. It quite put me off my pastisse. It sounded a pretty scrappy game and I am sure Pooler will be anxious to put it right in Port Talbot next week. I also noted that our friend Roger Lewis is standing down from The WRU. Let’s hope that his successor cares about valley’s rugby.

Come on Pooler and come on Wales!

Scarlet Sahara

I was confined to barracks on Saturday afternoon as Pontypool did not have a fixture. I hunkered down on the couch and watched two matches on the TV. In fact they were two pretty good matches: Scarlets v Munster and Bath v Northampton. There was not a lot to choose between the quality of rugby and the intensity of play with both matches going right down to the wire. The big contrast, however, was in the atmosphere in the grounds. The Rec was full to bursting while Parc Y Scarlets had vast expanses of empty seats. The official attendance figure at Llanelli was over 6000 but it was hard to believe that this was the case from the pictures on the TV. When the home side really needed the crowd to get behind them as they struggled to withstand a late Munster onslaught the response seemed pretty muted and confined to booing the referee.

How come they seem to be able to fill the grounds in England and Ireland while in Wales the support is so half-hearted? I sat next to a Bath supporter on the plane back from Scotland and he told me that they get 5000+ watching the Bath second team’s home games. We are a million miles away from this in Wales which is much touted as a rugby country. There surely must be some lessons in marketing that we can learn from our English counterparts.

When I reflect on it, I suppose the four professional teams have become glorified city/town teams based in large centres of population and if you went back to the great days of Welsh club rugby these were the kind of crowds that Cardiff, Swansea. Newport and Llanelli used to get. So why would you expect more people to come? Perhaps the strategists thought that by downgrading the resources of the other rugby clubs the fans would gravitate to their regional centre to watch higher quality rugby. This clearly hasn’t happened and the total numbers watching rugby must have plummeted alarmingly.

“But we still get a huge crowd watching Wales at the Millennium Stadium,” I hear you say. Well it seems to a large proportion of the crowd that watching an international match is like going to a night club. The WRU have certainly reinforced this idea by playing excessively loud music and using flashing lights as well as selling alcohol all through the match. I know a lot of dyed-in-the-wool rugby supporters who have stopped going to matches as they can’t stand the constant stream of revellers going back and forth to the bar and toilet. I can understand where they are coming from.

I am sounding like a grumpy old man this morning so I’d better stop but I do care about Welsh rugby. Too many potential fans “don’t give a damn” and if we are not careful Welsh rugby will be “gone with the wind”.

I wish I had the answers. 

Roaming in the Gloaming

Just got back from a successful trip to Scotland. I travelled with a feeling of trepidation after the events of the previous week but the win for Wales was the icing on the haggis. Well done boys!

We travelled up on the Friday which left Saturday “at leisure”. I think the Sunday kick-off certainly detracts from the weekend but you have to make the best of it! The best of it was a long lunch in an Italian restaurant (where the England v Italy game was banned from the TV). Plenty of pasta and red wine and then we found our way to a pub for the anxious wait for the Pooler score to come through. The pub in question was the famous Café Royal which really has a magnificent bar festooned with beautiful tiled pictures of famous Victorian scientists. We were absolutely delighted to hear of the Pontypool victory but couldn’t persuade Max Boyce to give us a rendition of the Pontypool Front Row in celebration!

I have to admit to only half watching the Ireland v France match but I saw enough to make me dread Wales losing to Scotland. That would be followed by games against those two with Wales low on confidence.

From the Café Royal we stumbled the short distance to another beautiful pub called Tiles. The name probably gives away the fact that is another building with lovely tiled walls and a spectacular ceiling. No I didn’t view the ceiling from a vantage point under a table. As often happens on a trip to Scotland, a Welsh male voice choir appeared from nowhere (Cor Meibion Taf in this case) and soon we were treated to the usual repertoire of Welsh hymns and arias. Bloody lovely too and a nice way to end a pleasant day.

The weather on Sunday morning was beautiful so a gentle stroll up the Royal Mile and then down Princes Street was just the thing to set us up for our pre-match warm up. A few pints to calm the nerves and then the long trek out to Murrayfield. When you get to a certain age, a long trek and a couple pints can only mean one thing - particularly when the route is devoid of public conveniences. Yes I was absolutely bursting when I finally made it to the ground but with a sprint and side step that Shane would have been proud of I weaved my way through the crowd to the sanctuary of the gents.

Fast food was called for after expending all that energy and I can safely say that I had probably the worst hot dog that I have ever had in my life. Absolutely atrocious and there wasn’t even any mustard available to try and improve the taste.

So to the game. We were behind the posts right next to a host of plastic daffodils. Not a bad seat at all and only £50 - WRU and especially RWC take note! Wales looked pretty good for the first half with the exception of gifting Hogg a try and the last couple of minutes when the Scots were camped on our line. A six point lead at half time seemed about right. Just keep the Scots out for the first few minutes of the second half and we should be all right - especially for the period when we were without Jonathan Davies.

The second half turned out to be much the same as the first with Wales seeming pretty dominant to the impartial observer. There was the usual exchange of penalties that always seems to happen at Murrayfield but Wales deservedly kept their noses in front. We seethed at the disallowed try but then were elated when Jonathan Davies finally scored under the posts to open up a ten point gap.

Now the good sides would certainly be able to protect a decent lead with ten minutes to go. I cite the example of Australia against Wales in the autumn and that team who play in white last week. There was a time when we could have done it reasonably comfortably but not at the moment. We presented Scotland with the ball far too much and very nearly suffered the consequences. As it was, amidst some controversy, Wales only conceded seven points and that virtually on the final whistle to record a narrow victory.

I do think that Wales were deserved victors but they did make it hard for themselves. There is still plenty to work on - the lineout was far from infallible and although we applied plenty of pressure we did not manage to cross the line enough. You must credit the Scotland team who were immensely committed and defended stoutly and also had a dangerous back division with plenty of pace that was quite capable of scoring from deep. I wish them all the best for the rest of the season - especially for the trip to Twickenham!

The build up has already started for the trip to Paris. The sheep’s head is in the wash and I am anxiously monitoring the exchange rate so that I buy my euros at the right time. I feel a bit more confident that we will put up a decent show and you never know….

Princes Street in the sunshine

A host of plastic daffodils

Yours truly in full voice

The Bare Necessities

The contrast could not have been much greater. At Pontypool Park on Saturday rugby fans had gathered to watch the game that they love rather than have a drunken orgy - well most people anyway. There was no light show and no fireworks and the music that played over the public address system did not make you reach for the ear plugs.

Yes we had come to watch a game of rugby and there didn’t seem to be the need to have our faces painted or wear a daffodil head. We took our places on the Bank and we didn’t constantly have to move to let people go and buy a pint of beer or have a pee. In the main people understood the game and the inane comments were kept to a minimum. You could rest easy and enjoy the game and not worry about how you were going to get home.

Yes we were back in our comfort zone and the picturesque surroundings of Pontypool Park and the angst of the previous evening gently drifted away.

Pontypool have been going through a patchy period of patch form of late and had been heavily defeated earlier in the week in a rearranged cup tie at Bedwas so they really needed to get back on track and put up a decent performance against the visitors from Glynneath.

Playing down the slope in the first half Pooler quickly established control with the forwards getting on top in the scrum  and loose and allowing the backs to get some good clean possession in the Glynneath half. It took a while to break down the visitors’ defence but tries started to come at regular intervals as the backs began to fire. The lively Hurley probed intelligently and scored the first try himself before combining with the equally influential Davies to put Quick in for a well-worked try. Brooks showed his dazzling footwork and pace to score a fine individual try from a tap penalty. All three tries were converted to give Pooler a commanding 21-0 lead. A bout of handbags resulted in Brooks and Party from Glynneath being yellow carded which knocked Pontypool out of their stride for a few minutes  before a great pass from Mills allowed Davies to burst through and run around forty metres to score. The try was unconverted but at 26-0 Pooler had secured a bonus point and looked to have built up an unassailable lead at half time.

Glynneath had obviously been treated to a few wise words during the interval and presented a much stiffer challenge playing down the slope. Their backs ran the ball at every opportunity and the match became far more evenly contested. Both sides brought on replacements and as always it disrupted the flow of the game as they got up to speed. It was Pontypool who finally broke the second half deadlock when Norton latched on to a kick ahead at pace and crossed near the posts to bring the score to 33-0.

Pontypool seemed to relax and were also reduced to fourteen men by a yellow card for Laing and the Glynneath backs seized the opportunity to show what they could do. They ran in three tries in the last ten minutes of the match to bring the final score to 33-17.

So a good win for Pooler in a very enjoyable and open game of rugby. This should put them in good heart for the visit to Cardiff Met next week. This match up has been blighted by bouts of fisticuffs in the past and Pooler need to keep their discipline this time.

For my part, I am making the trip to Edinburgh to watch Wales. Both the Scots and the French looked quite impressive in their match yesterday. With the match against Scotland being followed by a trip to Paris, Wales will need to be on their mettle or they could find themselves with three straight losses. The Welsh team suffered a number of head injuries against England and this could significantly weaken their scarce resources. It certainly underlines what a tough and physical game it is at the highest level as concussion type injuries happen all too frequently.

I guess the only headache I am likely to have next weekend will be caused by too many pints of heavy! Come on Wales and come on Pooler