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Posted 140 days ago
JANUARY SAW Olly Kohn and Andries Pretorius named in Wales’ Six Nations squad. Despite having their hand forced by numerous injuries to key back-row and second-row forwards, both Pretorius’ and Kohn’s selection has left the Welsh selectors, and supporters, in a tricky position.
Posted 199 days ago
This game was the horror movie version of Groundhog Day for Wales, who put in their best performance of a hugely disappointing autumn series only to finish bereft after losing narrowly to Australia for a seventh time in 13 months. The game was no spectacle of running rugby – in truth it was more of a kicking duel – but no one could say the game was meaningless.
Posted 206 days ago
WALES HAVE once again become one of those teams that takes positives from defeats against the world’s best. This time last year that wasn’t the case. Wales were a team who took nothing from defeat except the regret that another southern hemisphere scalp had gone begging.
Posted 213 days ago
I READ a lot of stat sheets prior to writing these articles. But the reason for Samoa’s win against Wales won’t be found on any of them. You can’t measure it and you can’t count it on the field of play. Barring Jamie Roberts, the Samoans simply hit harder than Wales. Much harder. In a modern game awash with complex defensive systems and running patterns, rugby remains simple, sometimes you just have to smash the man that’s standing in front of you – and that’s what Samoa did.
Posted 215 days ago
DEMOLITION DERBY. Those are the two words that spring to mind after this game. The hits were fearsome, the tackle contest was ferocious and Samoa so effectively shut Wales down that the hosts were unable to offer any significant threat in attack for the second week running.
Posted 217 days ago
The best way to describe Wales’ performance against Argentina is flat. There was no energy, no spark and certainly none of the pizzazz that is now expected from the men in red. Will the new faces be able to liven up Wales’ performance and get a much-needed ‘W’ against Samoa?
Posted 222 days ago
WARREN GATLAND’S mantra is paying off for Argentina – but not Wales. Gatland has long said that Wales can only get better by playing the best in the world – New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. While they’ve been doing that every year, they are still achieving success in peaks – followed by troughs. The Pumas, though, have clearly benefited from playing in the Rugby Championship and the intensity they brought to Cardiff allowed them to dictate the game.
Posted 223 days ago
WALES HAVE geared up for this autumn’s Dove Men Series with a week of gruelling training in Poland and are now hoping their tip-top conditioning programme will prove decisive in their Tests against Argentina, Samoa, New Zealand and Australia.
Posted 226 days ago
Rugby World spends a day with the Wales squad at their training camp in Spala
Posted 260 days ago
By Paul Williams
A month is a long time in Welsh rugby, so let’s take a deep breath and look at the highs and lows of the opening weeks in the Principality
Samson Lee – the new Adam Jones
Welsh rugby lunges from one positional wobble to another. No sooner had Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric filled Martyn Williams’ estimable boots, when thoughts…
