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Spluttering Welsh Dragon

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RugbyChump

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Yet again Wales has gone into a world cup blindfolded, gagged and barely hopping on one leg. Our head coach has failed to develop a strike team that can truly cause problems for the opposition, we're playing a 'gameplan' which doesn't have a sense of itself from top to bottom, and one which we're ill-equipped to carry out. Fast rewind back to 2005, that moment of magic, the time when we had finally lifted ourselves up from the precipice and breathed fire for the first time in a longwhile. Our forwards whilst not the biggest worked effectively as a unit, they would make the hard yards and break over the gain line. Giving us more territory and offering a stable platform in which our backs could score from. It was like a renaissance, a gathering of the best crasftsman in the land to paint the canvas with their own colour and style. We would commit much fewer players to the breakdown, usually about 2 - 3, aggressively rucking, retaining and sometimes stealing quick ball and feeding it out to the hungry backs. Even the forwards would indulge in this beautiful art, their skills were magnificent and Michael Owen, Ryan Jones and Martyn Williams were the perfect link. Now we've stumbled backwards, into the old precipice that's dogged us since the 80's. Whilst our forwards aren't small they're still not big enough to bruise even the lightest of the southern hemisphere. There's certainly no power in them to make that many hard yards. They often get knocked backwards and we're found wanting as we scramble for the ball or dive into the ruck with far too many players. Exposing ourselves even more, just like a nudist beight caught out at peak time on a public beach.

However as it's been ever apparent, this is a common occurence amongst all the northern hemisphere nations. There must be several factor at work here. Too much emphasis on size; whilst saying Wales weren't big enough they can't be carrying that much muscle. Skill levels are atrocious, look at how the SH teams offload, it's a integral part of their game. Look how they handle a high ball and most importantly how they react. Often thumping it down the field a la Latham. Also kicking away possession needlessly is another old hang over for Wales. We get the ball and instead of running it we kick it aimlessly to the likes of Latham who will punish you mercilessly.

The blame for this firstly is lack of professionalism. Hearing stories about players going out on the ****, having witness this myself on numerous occasions. Autumn internationals 2005 at 'Jumping Jacks' a club in Cardiff. Seeing Gethin Jenkins carrying several bottles of VK Blue in his arms. A nice little huddle of players whilst they were adulated by women, pathetic. Now we hear that the coaching staff themselves do the same! Secondly the inept coaching staff. They've had what 18 games to shape us up, a tour to Argentina and Australia, several autumn/summer stand alone games. Yet we haven't progressed, in fact we've regressed to the good old days. When Ruddock took over he had the sense and aptitude to keep the then current coaches, Andrew Hore (NZ) fitness coach, Scott Johnson skills coach and Clive Griffiths (defence coach & former league player). No we have Robin McBryde as forwards coach, an ex-player who has no coaching experience whatsoever. Neil Jenkins the kicking coach also an ex-player who has no great experience with coaching. Nigel Davies the skills/attack coach who hasn't got a great track record with Llanelli. There's also Rowland Phillips the defence coach whose only experience as far as I know was with Neath, yet that's hardly international standard. I feel if Gareth Jenkins had surrounded himself with the very best specialists then things might've turned out a lot different. Instead he picked a pack of jokers that have made Wales a strong and proud rugby nation to be the laughing stock of the world and "village idiots".

Some may have detected some venom in my other posts. That's not because I despise Australia or anyone else. I thought they deserved the win they grafted out for themselves. I didn't like how people were writing off the Welsh players because they are utter class, they suffer heavily from a neanderthal coaching staff and their own hubris.

Let's not get into the rugby system of Wales. We have numbers upon numbers upon numbers of committee men that form the WRU. Any new changes or measures that are to be brought in has to be passed by these old farts in blazers who live in the amateur era. They only care about themselves and their own petty interests. Not about the greater good of the game in Wales. Of course only with foreign input; Graham Henry, Steve Hansen, Scott Johnson, Andrew Hore, David Moffet has there been any wholesale changes made to the game. The introduction of regions being one. With those regions the academies.

However it all seems it's gone to waste because we have utter donkeys in charge :wall:

I copied this from the RWC Pool B section, it's a post I made.
 
Just interested mate, there's been alot of criticism of Gareth Jenkins, Eddie O'Sullivan, Frank Hadden and Brian Ashton (and previously Andy Robinson).

In terms of having assets (in the form of players), which of these coaches has most underperformed. And which has done pretty well?

There seems to be a lot of blame aimed at the coaches mentioned above, is it really founded (and they deserve it) or do some of them simply not have enough world class players to compete?
 
Just interested mate, there's been alot of criticism of Gareth Jenkins, Eddie O'Sullivan, Frank Hadden and Brian Ashton (and previously Andy Robinson).

In terms of having assets (in the form of players), which of these coaches has most underperformed. And which has done pretty well?

There seems to be a lot of blame aimed at the coaches mentioned above, is it really founded (and they deserve it) or do some of them simply not have enough world class players to compete?
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Hi dude

As often with "or" questions a bit of both. Gareth Jenkins has been playing too much of a forward dominated game, like sticking a square peg in a circular hole. We haven't got forwards the size nor power of the SH to bash over and batter other teams. The backs are Wales' ace in the hole but they're not utilised properly with the tactics he's using. We also suffer from a lack of depth. Where if we lose key players we suffer heavily. Such positions as lock forward and flanker. We're doing ok with props since we have Gethin Jenkins, Chris Horsman, Adam and Duncan Jones. We also do not have a decent inside centre, Henson on form would be on fire. Parker's flat and one dimensional, James Hook is creative but hasn't got the bulk. Ceri Sweeney has come in there and he has some power but he's hardly played there, plus he's more of an outside half. There's Gavin Evans and David Bishop, but as far as I know they've never played for Wales there, especially since they only play club rugby thus far. Would be a step up, plus changing another combination could throw us off balance. Full back tends to be another headache, Gareth Thomas can't play there and Lee Byrne seems to be awol. Who on his day can be a potent attacker.

Eddie O'Sullivan. Earlier this year and last year Ireland were doing very well, they seemed to have a nice equilibrium. Whilst an aging squad they could compete with South Africa and Australia. However if you took out a few key players like Brian O'Driscoll, Paul O'Connell and Ronan O'Gara (always 'O!) they'd be in 'O trouble :lol:. However all those three have been present in the recent games and I can't explain what's happened to their form. Although cracks started to appear when they narrowly beat Scotland in the 2007 6N. They do not have depth either and although new talent has come in, such as Eoin Reddan (scrum half) and Andrew Trimble (wing) it isn't enough. They'll probably need a new generation of players to lift them up again. I heard somewhere that a fitness coach for Ireland had increased their bulk but at the expense of speed and fitness somehow lol.

Frank Hadden had struggled with Scotland in the past, because of the severe lack in depth of quality players and good skills. Although they'r always gifted with good scrum halves and fly halves which is always a good thing. However he has honed this team and they certainly seem to have been physically conditioned for the RWC; and it shows in the recent games. Their forwards are sharp and work well in the loose, I expect them to give New Zealand a rubbing at least.

Brian Ashton was given a very shitty plate by Andy Robinson who stuck with the 2003 RWC squad, bad mistake. That team should have been binned after the RWC, the following summer England were hammered down in Austrlaia heh. Andy Robinson didn't bring that many new players to the squad and England lost any cutting edge it had in the backs. There are glimmers of hope in the form of Jason Robinson (touch wood), Strettle, Tait, Cueto, Wilkinson, Sackey (class) but they need to operate and function as a team. Their forwards are capable of competing with the big guns but something has gone drastically wrong. I think severe lack of confidence has infiltrated the team and it shows. Things are so bad that one coach/physio said they didn't have world class players anymore heh. Apparently disagreements between players and the coaches. Possibly a breakdown somewhere. You'll note in the England v South Africa game England had an opportunity at scoring. However the attacking line was far too deep and when the support players came up, they were a little flat or shallow. So they got their tactics wrong. I'd say the 'blame' for this lays at the foot of the coaches who clearly haven't instilled anything good in the guys.
 
Brian Ashton was given a very shitty plate by Andy Robinson who stuck with the 2003 RWC squad, bad mistake. That team should have been binned after the RWC, the following summer England were hammered down in Austrlaia heh. Andy Robinson didn't bring that many new players to the squad and England lost any cutting edge it had in the backs. There are glimmers of hope in the form of Jason Robinson (touch wood), Strettle, Tait, Cueto, Wilkinson, Sackey (class) but they need to operate and function as a team. Their forwards are capable of competing with the big guns but something has gone drastically wrong. I think severe lack of confidence has infiltrated the team and it shows. Things are so bad that one coach/physio said they didn't have world class players anymore heh. Apparently disagreements between players and the coaches. Possibly a breakdown somewhere. You'll note in the England v South Africa game England had an opportunity at scoring. However the attacking line was far too deep and when the support players came up, they were a little flat or shallow. So they got their tactics wrong. I'd say the 'blame' for this lays at the foot of the coaches who clearly haven't instilled anything good in the guys.
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I find it quite funny that five out of those six players are recognised wingers :D
 

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