Notes from a sporting week 17/03/08

Magical Wales earn just reward:

For once television got it right. The 6 Nations scheduling has come in for some abuse in recent years, not least allowing France to kick off their matches at 9pm local time in preparation for the World Cup.

However, on this final weekend of the championships it all worked out to perfection; Italy v Scotland for 5th and 6th place, England v Ireland for 3rd and 4th and Wales and France for the championship, Grand Slam and all done and dusted by 7pm local time. Why wasn’t it like this every week of the tournament?

As ever with important games in the principality the emotion factor was ratcheted up to factor 40; the players and staff wore memorial t-shirts to the former Wales centre Ray Gravell who died recently, whilst his daughters led the team out. Up in the stands Charlotte Church and the other valley WAGS were constantly on the big screen and with the roof closed (why France agreed to that I can’t work out) the emotional outpourings were not lost to the heavens.

Wales had an air about them from the moment the whistle went to signal their first win at Twickenham in 20 years, on the first weekend of the tournament. The new coaching team of Warren Gatland, Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley needed a quick boost of credibility and that win provided it (and confidence) in spades.

Edwards, over whom the RFU should be kicking themselves for offering such a shabby offer, revolutionised their defence and was it there for all to see as France failed again and again to pick a way through the massed ranks of red shirts. But, as Edwards promised they would do, they allied that to the Welsh desire to keep the ball in hand and spread the play wide.

Shane Williams showed again and again that there is always room for the little ‘un, whilst his namesake Martyn will be doing cartwheels that he returned from post-World Cup retirement. The pack was solid in all areas and provided a strong base for everything that followed, with captain Ryan Jones a revelation in the role. Meanwhile Mike Phillips appears to have secured the number 9 jersey from Dwayne Peel and James Hook will probably be first choice at flyhalf, but don’t expect Stephen Jones to be ushered out of the way just yet. In the centres Gavin Henson and Tom Shanklin were back to their 2005 Grand Slam best, whilst at fullback Lee Byrne showed aptitude and appetite in all facets of play, as well as scoring a number of crucial tries.

It is easy to say with hindsight, but this team has the air of solidity that the 2005 lacked. A year after their triumph the side had been torn apart, with coach Mike Ruddock handed his P45 which left aftershocks that reached all the way to the World Cup. This year though, there is a lack of overbearing players from the Welsh dressing room, ones who had a disproportionate amount of power and influence, such as Gareth Thomas and Colin Charvis. Likewise, one cannot imagine Edwards or Howley turning on their coach, as Ruddock’s assistant Scott Johnston did in 2006. This time the collective is stronger than the individuals.

On Saturday, France would have been confident of winning (and with the required 19 points), after all who likes pooping a party more than them. They hadn’t lost in Cardiff since 1986 and their most recent memories of the stadium was their World Cup win over New Zealand. It was a shame then that Marc Lievremont’s rotation policy came back to haunt him.

Whilst Lievremont might have cut a dash in his roll neck jumper and satin jacket, he will probably reflect on the lack of continuity that his rotation policy gave his team at the crucial moment. Sure it will benefit his squad to have blooded so many youngsters, but his decision to turn back to experienced heads cost him dear. 21- year old Francois Trinh Duc did enough to keep his place and should have been brought on at halftime; such was the paucity of David Skrela’s play. Damien Traille and Yannick Jauzion failed to gel in the centres, while the pack was still recovering from their mauling by England in week three.

Nonetheless, the fruit of his policy should be seen in a few years when the likes of Trinh Dub, Morgan Parra, François Picamoles and Fulgence Ouedroago move on to the larger clubs, experience European competition and bring those experiences to bear for the national team. But French rugby needs to look at what is happening to their traditional school of srummagging. During the World Cup there were worried remarks that the Top 14 is now too full of Argentines, Georgians and other assorted imports. Until the ferociousness returns, then les bleus are lacking one of their traditional strengths.

Second place will have come as something of a shock for England, but should not hide that they still lost two out of five matches. Worrying still was against Italy and Ireland the team went walk about for a while, whilst beating France was built on brute force and nothing else. The last 20 minutes against Wales and the whole match in Edinburgh should be what occupies the RFU members’ minds, but so should coach Brian Ashton’s conservative selection policy. Ian Balshaw was a liability at best, Lesley Vainikolo should be allowed time to develop in the English Premiership and whilst he was man of the match against Ireland, Jamie Noon should not be keeping Matthew Tait out of the side. So how all three played the majority of the matches should be taxing a few minds tomorrow. But by far and away the best thing the RFU can do now is get on the phone to Shaun Edwards, whose contract with Wales is up, and beg, plead, negotiate, promise, anything in fact, to get him on board.

Whilst Ireland boss Eddie O’Sullivan will be sleeping a little uneasily after his team’s showing, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Whilst prior to the World Cup he was recognised for sticking to the tried and tested, with scrumhalf Eoin Reddan the only played to upset the old order, this 6 Nations may have opened his mind a little. Sure the likes of Tommy Bowe, Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble and James Heaslip only made the team because of injuries, they show that there are a number of players who can perform if Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy and Shane Horgan aren’t performing.

O’Sullivan might also like to leave the captain’s armband with Ronan O’Gara. Brian O’Driscoll isn’t so much as struggling for form, as much as over-trying when things aren’t going well. There were signs of the old magic here and there and it might do him the world of good to focus on his own game for once. Ireland and the paying spectator would be the obvious beneficiaries. For now O’Sullivan should be safe, thanks to the four-year contract he signed pre-World Cup, but a new direction, with new personnel would surely serve him well.

There have been calls galore for Scotland coach to be given his marching orders. After all any man so blindly loyal to Dan Parks, should not be an international coach goes the line. But frankly Parks is the tip of the iceberg. Scotland has probably fewer world-class players than any other team in the tournament (and I include Italy in that) with only captain Mike Blair and the redoubtable Chris Paterson of any decent standing.

The team reeks of mediocrity; Simon Webster, Andrew Henderson and Nicky Walker in the backs and Hadden’s tactics have done nothing to change that perception. When he looked at the backline and saw dross he decided to beef up the pack and try to out-muscle teams. So out went an out and out openside and in came converted number 8 Ally Hogg. Out went the traditional quick rucking game that has allowed them to punch above their weight for so many years and in came one long arm wrestle of a game plan. Their one win of the tournament, against England, came when the opposition were worse than them and the decision to focus the professional game away from the borders heartland, appears to be having the inevitable effect. The game has been a mess for many years and it would be a massive pity if they were to drift further and further out of the reckoning.

One coach that won’t be going anywhere is Italy’s Nick Mallett. It was refreshing to hear him during the build up to their final match against Scotland saying that he would rather take an improved showing with the ball in hand, than a win secured by 10-man rugby. He has done well to build on John Kirwan and Pierre Berbizier’s work and was true to his word of developing their play. The fact that outside centre Gonzalo Canale will look back on two spilled passes with the try-line at his mercy is testament to that. In the past the ball wouldn’t have made it that far down the line.

The flyhalf role is still a problem, though converted-three quarter Andrea Masi did show some improvement as the tournament went on. Andrea Marcato, their drop goal hero against Scotland, has been their find of the season and looked comfortable in the unforgiving arenas of Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium and Stade de France. He is still young and will probably fill the number 10 shirt in years to come, as he did on occasions this tournament. Simon Picone and Pietro Travagli are solid scrum halves, though need to start making breaks of their own, rather than just being a conduit between backs and forwards. Then there is their pack that is as solid as ever and captain Sergio Parisse, who was phenomenal against Scotland, throughout the tournament and is probably the best number 8 in the world right now.

What Italy needs now is for their domestic structure to be sorted out, with the need to turn rumours of two teams entering the Celtic League into solid negotiations. With Mallett on board to drive the bargaining, the FIR should start pushing hard now.

Overall it was an enjoyable tournament, but questions of style still remain and the way some of the teams lined up makes you wonder if they even have a basic grasp of the fundamentals of alignment and quick passing. There is still an emphasis on defence though, with teams flying up, whilst the back three sit deep, so that both of options of running or kicking the ball give way to recycling it once again in the forwards. Thank god therefore Wales and their ability to find gaps where they didn’t exist, the tournament would have been a lot duller without them.

Jez’s Allstars - Team of the tournament:

1) Andrew Sheridan (ENG), 2) Leonardo Ghiraldini (ITA), 3) Martin Castrogiovanni (ITA), 4) Carlo del Fava (ITA), 5) Ian Gough (WAL), 6 Ryan Jones (WAL), 7 Martin Williams (WAL), 8) Sergio Parisse (ITA), 9) Mike Blair (SCO), 10) Ronan O’Gara (IRE), 11) Shane Williams (WAL), 12) Gavin Henson (WAL), 13) Tom Shanklin (WAL), 14) Vincent Clerc (FRA), 15) Lee Byrne (WAL)
JI 17/03/08