Must admit that I hadn't expected it. A stunning performance at Croke Park today. Better than we could possibly have hoped for. Wales should have won by 20 points. A real team performance with no stars, unless you count Shane Williams who accelerating through a non existent gap to score the only try of the match, when he had no right to - and his rather polished stint as scrum half when Mike Phillips was in the bin for a rather stupid gratuitous knee in the back of an Irishman. In passing, can anyone tell me why Phillips was shown a yellow card for this act of juvenile stupidity, while the mad Irishman, Bernard Jackman, who put Ryan Jones out of the game with a much worse gratuitous assault in the second half got off with no punishment at all - except that Hook kicked the killer goal from the penalty I suppose. There's just not much to be said about the game, except that Wales were better in every aspect of the game. And the best bit of all was the last four minutes when we were in total control and ran down the clock. Mrs D thought this was boring. I thought it was brilliant - but then I was a forward. We must be hot favourites to beat France next week and win the Grand Slam.
At Murrayfield, England were just awful. The BBC's commentators just didn't know what to say. The match was that bad. They just couldn't bring themselves to tell us that Johnny Wilkinson was probably the worst player on the field. It was something of a blessing when Ashton took him off to avoid further embarrassment for one of the world's greats who is well past his best. Its a pity he took Neil Jenkins points record today, because its entirely possible that he won't play for England again.
If any of my readers have a spare ticket for next week's game, I would greatly appreciate an invitation. When I was an AM, I used to have multiple invites, but now that I'm a nobody, I don't get invited at all - well not very often anyway. Please.
2 comments:
I didn't object to Mike Phillips being sent off - what he did was wrong stupid and illegal, and cost Wales a penalty they fully deserved. Martyn Williams I felt was a bit more technical - but it was still illegal and it is fair enough that he should pay if he breaks the rules. What galled me and everyone else watching in the Castle was the fact that that vile skinhead Irishman commits a brutal, premeditated and dangerous assault and does NOT pay. If the ref. had been consistent, instead of...And I'll stop there because I've no proof that the Irish paid...I'll stop again!
Seriously, Jackman should have been sin binned and given a massive fine for what he did - was he actually unhinged or does he always behave like a spoiled brat? Much, much more serious than either Welsh offence (especially the Williams one). I'd advise the ref not to visit Aber for some little time (the rest of his natural span, for instance).
On a brighter note, glorious to see Wales still thumped Ireland and totally outplayed them, down to 14 men half the time and with 16 (sorry, couldn't resist) up against them!!!
Half blood - agree with every word - except that I thought Martyn Willaims deserved his card more than Phillips did. On another day, Jackman could have seen red. It really was a terrific performance. Wonder how they'll cope with being hot favourites next week.
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