Sunday, February 15, 2009

Six Nations - Week 2

Been listening to people who were disappointed in Wales performance yesterday. People who thought we were going to win by 30 points. Some people do not inhabit the real world. If Wales had won three Grand Slams in a row, and England had 'won' three Wooden Spoons, I'd still take a one point victory. Wales were awesome yesterday. They were justifiably the pre-match favourites. But as expected England fought like animalistic underdogs. OK, so they came with a defence mindset, to shut off our main attacking thrusts through Roberts and Powell, and to tackle like demons - and they did. But we came through it. Roberts was terrific again, keeping Worsley busy. And both Stephen Jones and Gethin Jenkins were terrific. A word of support for Mark Jones who was outpaced by Sackey for the try. He's not quite at his sharpest after a lay-off, but he had a decent game. There were no failures. I was more impressed by Wales this week than last. They met fire with fire, kept cool heads, and came through a brutal encounter victorious. Just bl***dy brilliant.

France beat Scotland, and that's about all you can say about it. It was a poor game. The Scots were better than last week, and showed more enterprise than the French. They could easily have nicked it. Wales will be clear favourites again next week. Problem with France is, you just never know. There's always one incredible performance incubating inside that Gallic mystery. Hope its not next week. A one point win will do.

And Ireland beat Italy, and there's not much you can say about this game either. O'Drisoll's men were too good for Italy, but disappointing. In the end, the Irish boys scored a few points, but on another day..... Someday, the Italians are going to make the grade, but its not going to be this season. I don't even fancy them to beat the Scots on the evidence of this weekend.

Still too early to talk Grand Slam. Perhaps I'm just saying this to avoid tempting fate - but after coming through the England examination, its definitely on.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Watched THE match at a friends down in Pontycymer - great great match spoiled for me by England's lack of discipline. Two yellow cards is far too many at this level.

However it was superb to watch .. I suspect the Welsh fans were on the edge of their seats during the second half (why did England go for the posts for that last penalty?) ...

Great advert for the game though

Glyn Davies said...

Unixman - Tindall was unlucky. But it did follow a clear warning from the ref that the next one would go to the bin. And it was tough on Goode, but he knew exactly what he was doing, and Wales would quite possibly have scored, if the ball had come back quickly.

I didn't expect England to go for the penalty. They needed two scores, and they had to take the one that was offered. Flood really should not have missed that one. I too thought it was agreat game - not blessed with great skill, but the desire and tention were special. It took two teams to produce that.

JPT said...

You're right people need to get real. Last year at half time against England Wales were dead and buried but came back to win in what was a big upset.
That was just one year ago, so as I say get real and appreciate a great win last Saturday.

Glyn Davies said...

JPT - Well said.

Anonymous said...

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