cormac wrote:hugonaut wrote:What are people's thoughts on the mini-controversy surrounding Sonja McLauchlan's questioning of Gatland's record?
He loses sh*tloads of friendlies [one win against SANZAR teams in 27 attempts, or whatever it is], but does well in competitions [three Six Nations championships, semi-final of a World Cup]. Is it a big deal?
Even in finishing 4th at the World Cup Wales only beat two decentish teams (ourselves and Samoa) and stil lost to both South Africa and Australia (and France). They were in a similar situation to the one they find themselves in now at this stage of the last RWC cycle. They were able to arrest that by bringing in some new blood like North, Warburton, Faletau and Priestland before RWC 2011 which gave them some impetus. Cuthbert and Tipuric followed shortly after. It's hard to see where that kind of talent is going to come from this time. Gatland has been there for seven years now and some fresh voices might be needed as they still have a pretty decent squad, albeit one that's a bit light on power in the pack.
I also think there's a soft culture in Welsh rugby at the moment, particularly at the regions. Part of that is due to the lack of money so that they can't hold on to their best indigenous talent or attract top-class NWQ's to drive the standards. They've also tended to promote home-grown coaches (possibly due to lack of money) and I can't help but feel that's not helped them either.
to be fair we lost to the boks by 1 point and a good goal kick was not given, we lost to france by a point after having played 70 minutes with 14 men in that world cup.
I agree we haven't kicked on but in Lee we have found a very good tight head for the future, Anscombe could well give us a different option at 10 and Eli Walker and Baker are both on the verge of doing good things in the test jersey imo.
We clearly have issues in tight games and I think that does come down to a lack of a winning mentality, the AB;S have it. And in fairness Ireland have certainly developed it over the last 12 months, playing in Provincial teams that win on a regular basis certainly helps.
Can you imagine a welsh regional team making a come back like Munster vs Sale or winning out in france while playing below average like you guys did vs Castres .
They other issue we have is a lack of depth, a few injuries and we struggle ,especially from the bench.
I would be bold in the 6 nations , go for a 6/2 split on the bench and have anscombe to cover the backs and have both Baker and Tupric on the bench.
We have our two hardest games at home so if we can win those who knows what happens?
Looking at it with unbiased eyes I would say Wales are the 3rd best team in Europe and the 7th best side in the world right now, not sure if that will change in the next 12 months if I'm honest , so world cup wise I can see a group stage exit
As for the coaches I rate both Gatland and Edwards highly, and I think we have played better rugby to watch this AI series. They have a track record of success and they seem to have the respect of the players, it would be madness to ditch either this close to the world cup.
With the players we have and the regional set up we have, could we really expect any better from them?
