Wales Vs France, A win for Brute Force
Last night France faced Wales at the newly named Principality Stadium that had its roof open due to a technical fault. This game turned into a game not for the purist who likes running exciting rugby and also illustrated why the Northern Hemisphere is so far behind the Southern Hemisphere in terms of quality rugby. This game was built around rugged defences and sheer brute force.
Also factor in that most of the France 23 played for their clubs last weekend whereas all of the home based Welsh players had the weekend off outside of the replacements that Warren Gatland deemed needing game time.
Looking at the game , it was like two teams that were given 30 sledge hammers and told to go out a slog away for 80 minutes to see who would come out on top. Yes some wonderful Wales defending kept France at bay until the 77th minute. But the now famous Welsh tactic that has been christened “ Warrenball” was in full flow last night where both Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies were up to the usual tricks running hard lines against the French defence.
Yes this tactic worked last night against France but down the road against sides like New Zealand , Argentina , South Africa and Australia this tactic will come unstuck again like it did on their Summer tour of South Africa and also against the same opposition in the 2015 World Cup.
France were no better than Wales , with one off runners giving scrum half Maxime Machenaud no real choice but to keep the ball with the forwards. France only looked dangerous on the counter attack and that didn’t happen as often as they would have liked. Guy Noves has made some changes h it up the middle to this French team but I still feel that they are a long way behind most of the top sides in the World.
Wales will delighted to have won such a tight game but there game plan needs to evolve beyond crash up the middle and work from that. They along with the other sides in the 6 Nations need to move away from the Hell, Fire and Brimstone approach that has long been associated with the 6 Nations.
The bonus point system needs to be brought in ASAP, and this may just entice teams into attacking more and also it would in my opinion stop teams from just using the sledge hammer approach. If any of the 6 Nations sides wish to close the gap on the teams from the Rugby Championship they need to embrace a more attacking approach.
There are a number of laws being trialled in the Super Rugby Competition that if successful will be introduced next season in the Northern Hemisphere. Some laws will improve the speckle that is Rugby Union. Most of the issues surround the scrum and one of the new laws being trialled will see a scrum even if it collapses continue and this will see the game speed up as there will be less resets.
Back to the 6 Nations, Wales will be delighted they won last night and are on course to reclaim the 6 Nations crown they last won in 2013. France will just have to regroup and prepare as best they can for their final two fixtures.
Wales will feel they can push on from there victory last night and win another 6 Nations title under Warren Gatland. After last night’s game I just wonder will we ever see another Northern Hemisphere World Cup winner , Barring England in 2003 , no other Northern Hemisphere side has won the games biggest prize. On last night’s evidence, if the teams up in this hemisphere don’t buck up their ideas , the Rugby Championship sides will kick further and further clear.
Super Rugby kicked off yesterday and there were some wonderful tries scored by all the teams in Round one and that’s the key word Try because the 6 Nations sides seem to have forgotten how to create tries in open play. It has nothing to do with weather as New Zealand and other sides like Australia and Argentina have proved there are more than one to skin a cat….
By
Cian Mc Gibney
27/02/2016
