It turned out to be what everyone expected. It was a non-event as far as rugby was concerned but a fitting finale to a Welsh rugby great. A stagnant first half finally came to an end with the home team leading 6-3 after Rhys Priestland and James O’Connor had traded penalties. The game ambled its way to the turning point which was the unfortunate sin-binning of Leigh Halfpenny. From where Jonathan Kaplan was standing it was an undoubted penalty and given that James O’Connor would have inevitably slid in for the try had he not been hauled down, the sanction had to be a yellow card.
While the fullback was sat on the naughty step, he watched his side yield 21 unanswered points as Will Genia, Lachie Turner and Berrick Barnes all crossed for tries that were converted by James O’Connor. Rhys Priestland then answered back for Wales with a smart finish only to see his conversion attempt rebound back off the upright. With Wales trailing 11-24 going into the last play, the game was over but there was still time for Shane Williams to sign off with a trademark finish as he slipped the tackle of Berrick Barnes to race in for his 60th test try (58 for Wales, 2 for the Lions) to send the 69,537 crowd and Jed Thian’s rugby universe into a state of delirium.
The game struggled to spark into life with the error-strewn first half dominated by the sound of the abrupt whistle of the South African referee. No team was able to put any significant phases of play together and although Wales held a 6-point advantage for the majority of the half, they were never in control. The scrappiness of the match was emphasised by the amount of kicks in open play. Wales kicked away possession 33 times to Australia’s 27. We saw the return of the dreaded aerial ping-pong that marred the game prior to the new breakdown interpretation last season. The Wallabies were penalised countless times for breakdown infringements early in the game which added to the stop-start nature of the contest. Had these illegalities happened in the last 10 minutes of the game Kaplan would have almost certainly reached for his pocket, but his tolerance was frustratingly generous for the viewing public who wanted to see a flowing game. Add to this the constant handling errors from both teams and an eternity spent crouching, touching, pausing and engaging and you have a pretty dire test match.
Although the Shane Williams fairytale moment put a gloss on the performance, there’s a well known adage about polish and excrement that must be remembered.
With the 6 Nations fast approaching, it was a chance for the maybe men of Welsh rugby to put their hands up. Only Ian Evans stood up to the test. Injury and poor form had resulted in a three year international rugby exodus for the Osprey and it showed. He was a rare banker at the lineout with 4 takes and made 6 effective carries and 9 tackles in the loose. Another who stood out was Toby Faletau who was the top carrier of with 14 beating 3 defenders on the way as well as a 13-tackle defensive shift. Ryan Jones replaced Ian Evans in the second row and was on laughable form once more with 5 carries amassing an incredible 6 metres, an incredible feat for the 6ft 5in, 18st man. Another who flopped was Lloyd Williams. Although he was playing behind an inferior pack of forwards, the skills that got him into the team let him down. He was painfully slow at the back of the ruck and his basic handling on the whole was poor. Something he has to pick up quickly if he wants to oust Richie Rees from his starting berth down at the Cardiff City Stadium is that starting a game at number 9 is a very different assignment than coming off the bench.
The same old problem reared its ugly head for Wales, the set piece. This brings more pressure on the already under fire Robin McBryde, the only clunky cog in the Wales coaching machine. Following the RFU fallout, Graham Rowntree has been strongly linked with McBryde’s position as forwards coach which expires. Rowntree was one of the very few individuals representing England to come back from New Zealand with his reputation still intact. His work with the Lions in South Africa during the 2009 tour brought him rave reviews, stark contrast to Wales’ set piece statistics. On Saturday, they lost a third of their scrums against the head whilst their opposition took 100% of their own ball. The line-out wasn’t much better with the home side’s 78% success rate missing out to the visitors’ 81%.
The upsetting thing is; the front row that dismantled the Wales scrum offered very little outside the set piece. The Welsh front rowers carried the ball 10 times and made 26 tackles between them whilst their Australian counterparts managed 6 carries and 10 tackles.
Player
Carries
Tackles
Gethin Jenkins
3
6
Huw Bennett
4
8
Scott Andrews
3
12
James Slipper
0
5
Tatafu Polota-Nau
4
2
Salesi Ma’afu
3
2
This just shows that the endeavour is there by the players, it’s a simple case of technique. Granted, Wales were without their boulder-like corner stone in Adam Jones and the specialist scrummager Paul James, but this isn’t the first time that Wales have been beaten in the battle of the set piece. The backline were without Mike Phillips, Jon Davies, Lee Byrne and James Hook, but they coped. Given the nature of the match and the amount of restarts witnessed because of errors, the set piece had a huge bearing on the outcome. Leigh Halfpenny’s yellow card resulted from a wide backs move that was made possible by Australia demolishing the Welsh scrum and taking the back row out of the game.
Let us not forget that no more than a couple of years ago, Wales pulverised the same Australian scrum at the millennium stadium and the Wallabies were renowned around the world for being a team who could not and did not want to scrummage. Jim Williams and Robbie Deans have turned that around in a matter of months, Wales have been static in this department for a matter of years. It’s paramount that this area is addressed before the 6 Nations to propel the team forward as they look to continue their form from the World Cup.
The game and the outcome itself isn’t important, but it was a chance for Warren Gatland to assess his options ahead of picking his squad to take on the Northern Hemisphere. One man’s services he won’t be able to call upon are those of Shane Williams. The match was dubbed Shane Williams’ farewell and it was one facet of the game that lived up to its expectation. It may have taken 80 minutes, but it was what we’ve come to expect from the flyer from The Amman. The first 80 minutes were frustrating for him as he tried his utmost to make an impact on the game. It seemed the more he tried to unlock the golden wall, the more worse it got for him. Uncharacteristically, he made a big impact in defence with 2 of his 4 tackles being try-savers on Turner and Barnes. That was until the last of his 7 runs in a Welsh shirt carried him over the line for his final 5-pointer. He’ll be sorely missed by his adoring fans and it’s been an honour to watch him light up the international stage. The once-in-a-lifetime, half-pint sized winger leaves behind him a legacy that he can be extremely proud to look back on. His shirt read at the home of Welsh rugby; Diolch. Diolch yn fawr, Shane.
While the fullback was sat on the naughty step, he watched his side yield 21 unanswered points as Will Genia, Lachie Turner and Berrick Barnes all crossed for tries that were converted by James O’Connor. Rhys Priestland then answered back for Wales with a smart finish only to see his conversion attempt rebound back off the upright. With Wales trailing 11-24 going into the last play, the game was over but there was still time for Shane Williams to sign off with a trademark finish as he slipped the tackle of Berrick Barnes to race in for his 60th test try (58 for Wales, 2 for the Lions) to send the 69,537 crowd and Jed Thian’s rugby universe into a state of delirium.
The game struggled to spark into life with the error-strewn first half dominated by the sound of the abrupt whistle of the South African referee. No team was able to put any significant phases of play together and although Wales held a 6-point advantage for the majority of the half, they were never in control. The scrappiness of the match was emphasised by the amount of kicks in open play. Wales kicked away possession 33 times to Australia’s 27. We saw the return of the dreaded aerial ping-pong that marred the game prior to the new breakdown interpretation last season. The Wallabies were penalised countless times for breakdown infringements early in the game which added to the stop-start nature of the contest. Had these illegalities happened in the last 10 minutes of the game Kaplan would have almost certainly reached for his pocket, but his tolerance was frustratingly generous for the viewing public who wanted to see a flowing game. Add to this the constant handling errors from both teams and an eternity spent crouching, touching, pausing and engaging and you have a pretty dire test match.
Although the Shane Williams fairytale moment put a gloss on the performance, there’s a well known adage about polish and excrement that must be remembered.
With the 6 Nations fast approaching, it was a chance for the maybe men of Welsh rugby to put their hands up. Only Ian Evans stood up to the test. Injury and poor form had resulted in a three year international rugby exodus for the Osprey and it showed. He was a rare banker at the lineout with 4 takes and made 6 effective carries and 9 tackles in the loose. Another who stood out was Toby Faletau who was the top carrier of with 14 beating 3 defenders on the way as well as a 13-tackle defensive shift. Ryan Jones replaced Ian Evans in the second row and was on laughable form once more with 5 carries amassing an incredible 6 metres, an incredible feat for the 6ft 5in, 18st man. Another who flopped was Lloyd Williams. Although he was playing behind an inferior pack of forwards, the skills that got him into the team let him down. He was painfully slow at the back of the ruck and his basic handling on the whole was poor. Something he has to pick up quickly if he wants to oust Richie Rees from his starting berth down at the Cardiff City Stadium is that starting a game at number 9 is a very different assignment than coming off the bench.
The same old problem reared its ugly head for Wales, the set piece. This brings more pressure on the already under fire Robin McBryde, the only clunky cog in the Wales coaching machine. Following the RFU fallout, Graham Rowntree has been strongly linked with McBryde’s position as forwards coach which expires. Rowntree was one of the very few individuals representing England to come back from New Zealand with his reputation still intact. His work with the Lions in South Africa during the 2009 tour brought him rave reviews, stark contrast to Wales’ set piece statistics. On Saturday, they lost a third of their scrums against the head whilst their opposition took 100% of their own ball. The line-out wasn’t much better with the home side’s 78% success rate missing out to the visitors’ 81%.
The upsetting thing is; the front row that dismantled the Wales scrum offered very little outside the set piece. The Welsh front rowers carried the ball 10 times and made 26 tackles between them whilst their Australian counterparts managed 6 carries and 10 tackles.
Player
Carries
Tackles
Gethin Jenkins
3
6
Huw Bennett
4
8
Scott Andrews
3
12
James Slipper
0
5
Tatafu Polota-Nau
4
2
Salesi Ma’afu
3
2
This just shows that the endeavour is there by the players, it’s a simple case of technique. Granted, Wales were without their boulder-like corner stone in Adam Jones and the specialist scrummager Paul James, but this isn’t the first time that Wales have been beaten in the battle of the set piece. The backline were without Mike Phillips, Jon Davies, Lee Byrne and James Hook, but they coped. Given the nature of the match and the amount of restarts witnessed because of errors, the set piece had a huge bearing on the outcome. Leigh Halfpenny’s yellow card resulted from a wide backs move that was made possible by Australia demolishing the Welsh scrum and taking the back row out of the game.
Let us not forget that no more than a couple of years ago, Wales pulverised the same Australian scrum at the millennium stadium and the Wallabies were renowned around the world for being a team who could not and did not want to scrummage. Jim Williams and Robbie Deans have turned that around in a matter of months, Wales have been static in this department for a matter of years. It’s paramount that this area is addressed before the 6 Nations to propel the team forward as they look to continue their form from the World Cup.
The game and the outcome itself isn’t important, but it was a chance for Warren Gatland to assess his options ahead of picking his squad to take on the Northern Hemisphere. One man’s services he won’t be able to call upon are those of Shane Williams. The match was dubbed Shane Williams’ farewell and it was one facet of the game that lived up to its expectation. It may have taken 80 minutes, but it was what we’ve come to expect from the flyer from The Amman. The first 80 minutes were frustrating for him as he tried his utmost to make an impact on the game. It seemed the more he tried to unlock the golden wall, the more worse it got for him. Uncharacteristically, he made a big impact in defence with 2 of his 4 tackles being try-savers on Turner and Barnes. That was until the last of his 7 runs in a Welsh shirt carried him over the line for his final 5-pointer. He’ll be sorely missed by his adoring fans and it’s been an honour to watch him light up the international stage. The once-in-a-lifetime, half-pint sized winger leaves behind him a legacy that he can be extremely proud to look back on. His shirt read at the home of Welsh rugby; Diolch. Diolch yn fawr, Shane.
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