Wales v England, not the spanking that everybody had predicted, but a professional performance and controlled win. the first 30 minutes were very powerful and as is the want of the modern interantional test match it is difficult to dominate in all phases and sustain such pressure. Eventually you have to give the ball to the opposition and pressure them on defence. Man for man, the Welsh team outplayed their opposite numbers with the exception of Mark Jones who was beaten for pace by Paul Sackey for their opening try. Worsley was given MVP by Brian Moore, preseumably for allowing England to keep the score down to the 8 points. But what about Gethin Jenkins - scrummaged the much vaunted English front row, tackle count was huge and also put in some telling link work in attack. Now we can go on about English bias ...... but that would be falling into the trap of being sore winners after being sore loosers for so long. English rugby is suffering from too many foreign imports at the skill positions and not being able to carry on the process of developing talent and introducing them into a winning team. The remainder of the season will be interesting. we go to Paris on a Friday night, (the first evening kick-off) as obvious favourites, which will be a motivating factor in itself. The French management team don't seem to know what their best combination is. They have opted for Beauxis at 10 and there aren't too many of the old crew. Wales have shown, through Gough, Alun Wyn, Ryan and the remainder of the pack that they can match the French physically. The lineout is far better and the defence can frustrate the French. Our kicking game is superb which will put the French back trio under pressure. Poitrenaud is suspect, Heymans is exciting but unpredictable. if the chase is good and he's put under pressure who knows. The crucial thing will be to get our game in order. Against England, we missed Shane Williams' ability to run from the base of the ruck after the ball had been quickly recycled. It is a rugby league ploy when they use a hooker to rush after the first receiver has made a dart at the opposition on first and third tackles. This gives us great go forward ball and obviously puts the defence on the back foot. They then tend to offend and if the French are going backwards, the crowd get onto them and they fall apart. Oh, and Martyn Williams also has a stand out game against the French where he is allowed to play a more expansive game. My prediction - Wales win by more 10 points. How good are England? How good are Ireland. Where will they play Worsley, to mark O'Driscoll? Is there a real english revival Mr. Inverdale?
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Welcome to David Cynan Jones Blog
Wales v England, not the spanking that everybody had predicted, but a professional performance and controlled win. the first 30 minutes were very powerful and as is the want of the modern interantional test match it is difficult to dominate in all phases and sustain such pressure. Eventually you have to give the ball to the opposition and pressure them on defence. Man for man, the Welsh team outplayed their opposite numbers with the exception of Mark Jones who was beaten for pace by Paul Sackey for their opening try. Worsley was given MVP by Brian Moore, preseumably for allowing England to keep the score down to the 8 points. But what about Gethin Jenkins - scrummaged the much vaunted English front row, tackle count was huge and also put in some telling link work in attack. Now we can go on about English bias ...... but that would be falling into the trap of being sore winners after being sore loosers for so long. English rugby is suffering from too many foreign imports at the skill positions and not being able to carry on the process of developing talent and introducing them into a winning team. The remainder of the season will be interesting. we go to Paris on a Friday night, (the first evening kick-off) as obvious favourites, which will be a motivating factor in itself. The French management team don't seem to know what their best combination is. They have opted for Beauxis at 10 and there aren't too many of the old crew. Wales have shown, through Gough, Alun Wyn, Ryan and the remainder of the pack that they can match the French physically. The lineout is far better and the defence can frustrate the French. Our kicking game is superb which will put the French back trio under pressure. Poitrenaud is suspect, Heymans is exciting but unpredictable. if the chase is good and he's put under pressure who knows. The crucial thing will be to get our game in order. Against England, we missed Shane Williams' ability to run from the base of the ruck after the ball had been quickly recycled. It is a rugby league ploy when they use a hooker to rush after the first receiver has made a dart at the opposition on first and third tackles. This gives us great go forward ball and obviously puts the defence on the back foot. They then tend to offend and if the French are going backwards, the crowd get onto them and they fall apart. Oh, and Martyn Williams also has a stand out game against the French where he is allowed to play a more expansive game. My prediction - Wales win by more 10 points. How good are England? How good are Ireland. Where will they play Worsley, to mark O'Driscoll? Is there a real english revival Mr. Inverdale?
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