Welsh RWC Review

So the four year wait is almost over and the Rugby World Cup jamboree is only a month away. Time for a look at the teams and despite my Jonah tendencies I will look at my beloved Wales who are perfectly capable of messing it up without my help!

Wales have been drawn in Pool D with Champions South Africa, Fiji, Samoa and Namibia. Possibly the nearest to a Group of Death for 2011. The IRB rank SA at 3, Wales at 7, Samoa at 10, Fiji 14 and Namibia 20 so it’s a shoo in for Wales to reach the Quarters then! Not on your Nelly!

Historically Wales have failed to reach the Quarters three times out of 6. In the last tournament 2007 when they were dumped out after losing 34 – 38 to this times opponents Fiji a team including Kameli Ratavou, Nicky Little and one of the men of the tournament and current Sarries coach Mosese Rauluini, in 1995 losing to the All Blacks and Ireland and 1991 losing to Australia and another of this years opponents Samoa 13 – 16.

In 2003 Wales lost in the quarters to the eventual Champions England 28 -17 and in 1999 lost to eventual Champions Australia 24 – 9.

Wales best RWC result was the inaugural year 1987 when the tournament was last held in New Zealand when they beat England in the Quarters before losing to the winners New Zealand 49 – 6 eventually claiming 3^rd place beating Australia 22 – 21 in the play off.

So Wales have South Africa who’s recent tri nation form means little with 15 players injured and unavailable plus their bogey teams of Samoa and Fiji. In fact it is not just during the RWC that Samoa and Fiji have upset the order against Wales with Fiji drawing 16 all at the Millennium Stadium last November and scraping a win against Samoa 17 – 13 the previous November. In fact as far back as November 2005 Wales only narrowly beat Fiji 11 – 10. Samoa’s form going into the tournament is sparkling with their recent historic triumph over Australia meaning they will fear no one and will fancy their chances against Wales.

So to Wales their form since the last World Cup and the appointment of Warren Gatland as head coach following the dismissal of Gareth Jenkins after the Fiji RWC 2007 loss has been up and down to say the least. A Grand Slam in 2008 has been followed by indifferent performances in the 6 Nations, victory over Australia in 2008 and Argentina in 2009 and occasional morale boosting performances against the Southern Hemisphere teams during the autumn internationals and summer tours.

The general feeling for the last few years has been that if Gatland could put out his first choice team then things might start to happen but since 2008 and the Lions tour of South Africa the following year when the likes of Adam Jones, Gethin Jenkins, Alun Wyn-Jones, Mike Philips, Jamie Roberts and Lee Byrne were standout players injury and loss of form have stopped this happening as well as the enigma that is Gavin Henson.

The other facet of Welsh rugby which has been thought to be lacking and stopping the break through to wins against the big 3 is mental toughness. They have attempted to address this with 2 recent training camps in Poland. This sounds at first old school and a million miles away from the four and five star treatment the squad has been used to and has led to such escapades as Andy Powell’s golf buggy jaunt down the M4 and in a way it is. The hotel facilities at Spala are described as more like one star and the squad itself chose for it to be a “dry” camp though I’d bet that wasn’t a unanimous vote! However, Spala is the Polish Olympic training facility and is a renowned centre for Cyrotherapy, which is the use of low temperature to accelerate recovery time. Gatland has said that using these facilities they have been able to do twice the training with a particular emphasis on the mental toughness aspect. Whether it will work we have yet to see.

Although for the second training camp in Spala the squad was reduced to 35 with the likes of Andy Powell and Jonathan Thomas being jettisoned the squad for this weekends first match against England has been increased to 38 (with Rob McCusker being ruled out due to a shoulder injury) with this squad being reduced to the 30 maximum for the RWC after the final warm up match against Argentina. The squad could still be amended as the English Clubs do not have to release Welsh Players until the IRB 35 day window comes in on August 4^th when players such as Dwayne Peel can be considered. Matthew Rees the hooker and captain throughout this year 6 Nations has also been ruled out of the England matches.

 Gatland has stated that he will not make the same mistake Gareth Jenkins made in 2007 when a second string Welsh team was humiliated in a warm up match by a third string English team 62 – 5. The teams for the warm up matches will come from the 38-man squad from which the final 30 will be chosen based on performances over those matches. A nucleus of players has been chosen but they must now translate their training form onto the pitch and places are open in the final squad. Gatland believes England twice and Argentina in the warm ups will stand the team in good stead.

Of course to us Welsh results matter less than style (when we lose), honest guv, and it’s all a conspiracy that there were no RWC during the Golden Age of Welsh rugby. Our squad should of course include the Pontypool front row, Allan Martin, Delme Thomas and Geoff Wheel at lock, Mervyn Davies, John Taylor, Terry Cobner, Jeff Squire in back row, Gareth Edwards, Barry John, Phil Bennett, JJ Williams, Gerald Davies, John Bevan, John Dawes, Ray Gravell, Steve Fenwick and my personal favourite JPR Williams.

However, dreaming over and how would those greats compare with modern day professional players back to 2011? 2011 a new name on the premiership trophy is it time for a new name on the Webb Ellis trophy? Could it be Wales? Well if they qualify for the quarterfinals as runner up in Group D they will have done well. They would then face the winners of Group C probably Australia who I actually quite fancy to win the whole thing! If they should then beat the Aussies then they could face England or France in the semis but I don’t think I’ll go there! Knowing Wales they will beat South Africa in the opening match lose to Samoa and Fiji fail to qualify for quarters and sack Gatland!