Preview Wales v England

For 2008 England v Wales click here


Final game of the 6 nations with both teams having something to play for. For England this could range from 1st to 4th place depending on the other results earlier in the day. For Wales avoiding the white wash and the wooden spoon.

England will be keen to progress from last weeks win and will love the idea of sealing Welsh fate to the white wash and wooden spoon. With Tindall out Matthew Tait has been rewarded with a start, as he has played well as a sub. Tait will be looking forward to banishing those ghosts from 2005 at the Millennium Stadium. He is a bigger, fitter and more rounded player from back then and has grown mentally from that experience. Ashton has cut Lewesy from the squad showing that he will punish bad performances. Leadership is a massive part of strategy and a good leader looks to reward the good (Tait) and punish the bad (Lewsey) to create the right type of team. All leadership books will discuss this point and references to it can be found in "The Prince" and"The Art of War". This was something Andy Robinson failed to do. How often did one of the players have a crap game yet still get picked the next time around (I don't want to mention names), but Andy Robinson definitely had his favourites. More on this after the 6 Nations were I will compare Aston to Robinson style of leadership and its role in strategy.

From Lewseys removal Cueto has been brought in to play at Full back. I find this strange, Lewsey was axed as he played the full back role like a winger, so he swaps one winger with another winger at full back!!!!!! Robinson is the natural full back for his club, allowing Cuteo or Lewsey to play in their natural position on the wing.

For Wales "Captain Crap" is out and James Hook looks to replace him at fly half. Is it just me or does James Hook look like Dean Gaffney?????

Some think this may actually help Wales. Giving Jones the title "Captain Crap" won't help and it gives him a tag of bad omen. Wales will be desperate to avoid the White wash and will give them extra fight on the day. Plus if there is a chance England could win the 6 Nations it will intensive this energy. The Welsh forwards found it difficult to compete against the other 6 nations and in the last 20 minutes are normally worn out leaving the hair bear bunch to prop things up. Wales have been a bit unlucky this year with decision going against them, but still have the players in the backs to cause serious damage. The are gaining ground and it won't surprise anyone for them to put in their best performance against the English. For Wales to win they need the ball in their backs to stand a chance. It will be interesting seeing the Welsh back line up against the new and improve English back line. Strettle put in some ferocious tackles against the French, so it will prove to be an interesting contest.

I believe England will win. Some of this is due to my rose tinted specs, but also they have the form and confidence going into this last game. England squad still need time to gel properly too reach their full potential. The new forwards will look to dominate the game and the new English back line will enjoy a run at the Welsh. The Welsh back line is an attacking force, but in defense they are weak. Like wise the English back line has shown against France they can defend well and they prevented any tries from the French attack, which no one else has done this 6 nations.

If England can get a few earlier scores on Wales then the Welsh team may crumble knowing that they are heading to a white wash and wishing they could get off the pitch as soon as possible. However, if Wales get the early score using the extra energy of avoiding the white wash to England, we could be in for a good fight. I think however, England would still win the game in the last twenty minutes. This appears to be the time when the Welsh slow down and their opponents take full advantage.

Result Italy 23 - Wales 20

Lets consider the Strategic advantages/dis-advantages of each team going into this game

For Wales a win would have meant avoiding the wooden spoon and a potential humiliation of a white wash sealed by their arch enemy England. Why is this strategic advantage!! The cornered man/army will fight twice as hard as the man/army with an escape route. This situation would have given them some extra drive against the Italians. Now against England on Saturday they will fell even more cornered and will fight much harder as there is no escape route and no second chance.

For the Italians they had done better than before in any 6 nations by winning away from home. This however, meant win or lose they could still hold their heads up high and claim progress at the end of the tournament. This was a potential dis-advantages for Italy as they had an escape route. This was nicely counteracted by the offer of £15k per player if they beat Wales, plus the sell out of all the remaining games with their country men and women fully behind them. They knew they could beat Wales and they had all the reasons to want to beat Wales as well.

Now to the game itself.

The Welsh forwards did complete better than expected and Italian backs also played better than expected against the Welsh. The turning point was the substitutions in the Welsh and Italian forwards. This gave the Italian forwards the clear advantage supplying them with the penalty and and the penalty kick for the line out resulting in the try.

Discussed before about using the expected to met the expected and the unexpected to win. This refers back to the unorthodox and the orthodox methods discussed in the England vs France preview. So you use the expected to met the expected and the unexpected to break the expected.

"Use standard methods to meet everyday challenges
Use unexpected methods to win big breakthroughs"


When Pez chipped the ball over the Welsh line you could see it was an unexpected move as it caught the defense on the back foot. Everyone expected Italy to keep the ball in the forwards trying to use their strength to barrel it over the line. The fact the try was under the posts resulting in a 3 point margin was critical to the controversy that surround the game in the last 10 seconds. Overall even a draw would have been disappointing for Wales and still left the Italians with their best 6 nations so far.

Preview Italy Vs Wales

I think Wales will really struggle against the Italians on Saturday. If the Italian forwards control the ball and starve the Welsh backs of possession and put in some good tactical kicks they have a very real chance of victory. The Welsh pack need to lose some weight if they are to keep up with the pace of the game and secure the ball for their backs. The Welsh backs are slowly getting it together, but can have a tendency to over cook it. They need a bit more direct play at times and be prepared to go to ground with the ball rather than losing it with the constant off loading. Could be they don't trust the support to re-cycle the ball and get it back out again.

I think with the home advantage and the prospect of a fourth place finish the Italians will go hell for leather against the Welsh. I never rated Gareth Jenkins, look how well Phil Davis is doing with the Scarlets since he took over!!!!

France vs Wales

Great game to watch with the momentum swinging back and forth like a chav on swing.
France like Scotland went down to some early tries from the visitors. However, unlike Scotland they didn't panic, as they realised they had plenty of time left and believed in their own abilities to win the game still. They didn't get flustered they just picked the ball back up and tried to re-establish their rhythm. France took their penalty and regained momentum with the 3 points to reduce the gap and with their rhythm re-established they start threatening the Welsh try line with the inevitable results. They continued to put away the penalties and keep the scoreboard moving in their favour, something they having been unable to do in the last few years, but with Skrela they now have accurate fly-half. "If you are not moving forward you are going back wards, there is no such thing as static," this a paraphrased strategy quote.

The recycling of the ball by the French was brilliant they kept momentum up on the attack keeping the Welsh on the back foot. Typical French however, as once the game was won they eased off content with the win by any margin. All the strategy texts discuss the need not just to beat your opponents, but to destroy them were possible. The All Blacks are great at doing this and it creates a psychological advantage for the next time they meet and sends out a clear message to all other opposition. When the next side faces them (All Blacks) they already fear an almighty thumping and tend to prepare themselves mentally for the loss of the game, and how to reduce the score line as much as possible.

For the Welsh it was a better night than I expected, with 3 tries giving them hope that their back line is regaining its confidence and direction.

Roll on the next set of games. I am going to write up something about all the matches up coming games this week end by the end of the week.