Warren Gatland has opened a can of worms with his suggestion regional rugby doesn’t prepare Welsh players for facing the might of the southern hemisphere.
If that’s the case, how come come Ireland have racked up a hat-trick of triumphs over both South Africa and Australia since the Five Nations became Six 13 years ago?
And how have their provinces managed to dominate the Heineken Cup against money-laden French and English opposition with six titles when they play in the same league as the Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets?
And how have Scotland, who have been an utter shambles for most of this century, twice managed to beat both the Springboks and the Wallabies during the same period?
Then there’s England. The Red Rose have beaten Australia 10 times, five in a row most recently, South Africa seven and New Zealand three.
Yes, that’s the same England who Wales have beaten three times on the bounce and thrashed by a record 30-3 to retain last season’s European title.
The opposing view: Delme Parfitt argues Gatland is right
Since the formation of the Six Nations with Italy’s upgrading in 2000, Wales have won it the most, with titles in 2005, 2008, 2012 and this year, the first three with Grand Slams.
France haven’t exactly covered themselves in Six Nations glory yet they’ve beaten South Africa on six occasions, drawing another and losing three.
They’ve also accounted for Australia four times, losing nine and five of their last six against the Wallabies, and New Zealand three. However, they have lost 17 against the All Blacks, including their last eight meetings.
What do theses statistics tell us?
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Some teams have a knack of getting results against certain opposition – for example, England versus Australia and the Wallabies against France – while they also show Wales’s record against New Zealand, South Africa and Australia is worse than all their Six Nations rivals apart from Italy.
Another thing bleeding obvious from the evidence is the southern hemisphere big three are consistently the best teams in the world by some margin.
No surprise there because Wales coach Gatland is 100% correct when he states the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship and regional Super Rugby’s tournaments are the best in the world.
Yet injury-hit Argentina, who I suppose are the Rugby’s Championship’s equivalent of Italy or Scotland despite finishing third at the 2007 World Cup, were beaten 31-12 by England at Twickenham last weekend.
Seemingly, the only certainty is Wales will lose to South Africa, who they have only beaten once (1999) in 107 years of combat and New Zealand, who they last defeated in 1953 because they can’t overcome the “psychological problem†candidly addressed by captain Sam Warbutorn against the big two – they did beat Australia in 2005 and 2008.
Interestingly, the consensus among South African pundits and media is the Springboks didn’t play well at the Millennium Stadium last weekend but they still managed to see off Wales 24-15, out-scoring their host 3-0 in tries.
Their starting line-up also included three players in official man of the match Fourie du Preez, Jaque Fourie and wing J P Pietersen on the books of Japanese clubs and two with European clubs in Francois Louw (Bath) and Morne Steyn (Stade Francais).
Nevertheless, it was scrum-half du Preez and centre Fourie who brilliantly combined for the former to score the winning try as Wales pair Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Priestland dithered in defence.
Gallery: Wales’ tale of autumn woe
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Wales fielded French-based Dan Lydiate (Racing Metro 92), while scrum-half Mike Phillips was with Bayonne until his recent sacking for alleged misconduct and George North is with English club Northampton Saints.
And there are those who would passionately argue those three had ineffectual games with flanker Lydiate quiet, Phillips’ lack of game-time showing as he blew heavily and North failing to bring down Bryan Habana despite getting hands on him, the South African escaping to set up their first try in a passage of play that was to prove so costly with wing Liam Williams (concussion) and talisman centre Jonathan Davies (pectoral muscle) both being injured attempting to stop it.
The nub of the Welsh problem, to me, was they were tactically bereft of ideas. Wales had more possession (53% to 47%), more territory (52% to 48%) and made more line-breaks but failed to take advantage.
If they are going to persist with cross-kicks and and grubber-kicks rather than retaining the ball and building pressure and phases, they might as well call up the uncapped Jason Tovey at No.10 because that’s his game and he’s a master at it.
Asking Rhys Priestland, whose strength is putting runners into holes, to play an alien game was madness.
World Cup holders New Zealand are the best team because they assess situations better than their opponents, wherever they are on the field, their support play and work off the ball is exceptional, and their decision-making is usually exemplary.
Why?
Because their players are taught, in school, to play head-ups rugby, to straighten when running and draw their marker before passing so they can utilise any space out wide.
Wales created two clear overlaps against South Africa but went the other way on the first occasion and somebody looked and found contact by attempting to crash up the middle on the second when text-book draws and gives would surely have brought a score.
How the Wales players rated v South Africa
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“Talk to our players about coming out of club and regional rugby (into Tests) and they will tell you it’s like chalk and cheese,†said Gatland after the match.
So would most players from other countries, countered South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer, who didn’t buy the Kiwi’s theory.
What could be discerned from Gatland’s comments is some of the home-based members of the Wales squad allegedly don’t think some of the coaching they receive at regional level is up to it.
I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with them and, if it’s the case, they should do something about it. Hammer down the doors of the boardroom, demand change and drive it through.
But, if they want to improve the regional product and bring more of an edge to it, some of them should show far more appetite and commitment to it than often merely going through the motions.
The buck starts with them!
Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/wales/24842465
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