Wales - great, or greatly deluded?

Wales coach Warren Gatland has never been shy of aiming his verbal hand grenades at teams in big-match build-ups.

The Kiwi's take on the game was echoed throughout the camp, players and coaches lining up to stress how close Wales are to greatness.

Ryan Jones claimed Les Bleus were "creaking" and "there for the taking", Shane Williams said France were "on the ropes" and Stephen Jones talked of Wales aiming to be "one of the best sides in the world".

It is a view that can easily seduce when one remembers the thrilling fight backs that have characterised the men in red's last three games, against France, Scotland and England.

But the idea can just as easily shatter when considering the lax and error-ridden early action that had left Wales so distant in those three Tests, and in November's hammering against Australia.

Former England coach Dick Best famously claimed that Wales' 2005 Grand Slam was built on foundations of sand, but that surely cannot be said of the present side.

The scrum shared the spoils with a formidable France eight and - although the line-out creaked once again - that seems to be a frustrating case of failures in accuracy and execution rather than personnel.

Key players like Gethin Jenkins, Matthew Rees, Alun Wyn Jones and Mike Phillips have been missing for extended periods, although strength in depth has been built in their absence.

Physicality at the breakdown is a concern, but Wales clearly have the fitness to live with the best and their attacking potential is beyond doubt.

The biggest deterioration since Gatland's inaugural, Grand Slam year of 2008 has undoubtedly been the defence.

Two years ago Wales conceded just two tries as they stormed to Six Nations glory. In three games in 2010 they have leaked seven.

Last week Gatland pointed to the continued absence of Gavin Henson as a key element in the defence's decline, but after the France game there was a more positive spin.

"We've picked an attack-loaded team and I was very proud of the defence," said defence coach Shaun Edwards.

"To keep France to no offensive tries was a great effort. But there is no doubt people are doing their homework and have seen they can get intercepts, because more than 30% of our tries conceded over the last 18 months have come from intercepts."

Whatever the problems in the Welsh side, it seems that self belief is not one of them.

This would seem a deliberate ploy from Gatland who has identified Welsh pessimism as a weakness and has been keen to build confidence in victory ahead of major Tests.

It is the sort of thinking that saw him question Mathieu Bastareaud's fitness before the France match, to ask whether New Zealand had lost their aura before the All Blacks game and to stress his players' dislike of Ireland before last year's Six Nations decider.

A trip to face the Championship holders in Croke Park on 13 March is next up for Wales.

"If we can be on a level playing field going into second half against Ireland... we feel we can beat anybody," flanker Jonathan Thomas has already declared.

Gatland said: "We're critical of ourselves and hard on ourselves and hopefully that will make us a better side moving forward.

Wales V Italy Hospitality

France V Italy Hospitality

Six Nations Hospitality

Ryan Jones doubtful for Ireland as Wales back row woe deepens

WALES are facing a back-row crisis ahead of their visit to Ireland in 13 days time.

With the disgraced Andy Powell out in the cold, captain Ryan Jones has emerged as a Dublin doubt after struggling through the 26-20 defeat to France with a calf injury.

“I struggled all week and was not able to do much training in the build-up to the game,” said Jones.

“I managed to get through the match, but it is pretty sore. We will see what the next couple of days might bring up.”

The Wales squad meet up again tomorrow with Jones expected to see a specialist this week. If the Ospreys skipper fails to make the Croke Park clash, Warren Gatland faces a No 8 headache with no clear replacement in the current squad.

The options would be Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton or Jonathan Thomas, but the trio are natural flankers.

Gatland would most likely turn to Thomas or Blues rookie Warburton who packed down at the base of the scrum in training last week in the absence of Jones.

But Wales could go outside the squad and call in Gloucester captain Gareth Delve.

Wales insist Powell still has an international future, but it is highly unlikely that the Lions back-rower will return to the squad so soon after being dropped.

The 28-year-old was punished after the Scotland game when he drove a golf buggy along the M4 motorway, allegedly under the influence of alcohol.

Powell missed the French defeat after being thrown out of the squad and is due to appear at Cardiff magistrates’ court on Tuesday.

Gatland is also waiting on the fitness of Lions front-row duo Matthew Rees and Gethin Jenkins, plus Blues hooker Gareth Williams.

Rees has not featured in the Six Nations because of a groin injury and is set to return for the Scarlets against Ulster on Friday.

Jenkins limped off with a recurrence of a calf problem against Scotland last week and faces a race against time to prove his fitness.

Deiniol Jones’ rib injury will be monitored after the Blues lock was forced off in the first half against France.

Ireland V Wales Hospitality

Ireland V Scotland Hospitality

Six Nations Hospitality

Beeb needs Scots broadcast, just ask Colin, or rather Chris

IF ever there was a compelling case for BBC Scotland producing its own broadcast for Scotland rugby international matches, it was from Cardiff.

On the occasion of Chris Paterson's historic 100th match for Scotland, he was introduced by BBC presenter John Inverdale as 'Colin Paterson'.

The excuse that this was just a slip of the tongue does not interest me, because

Inverdale went on to call the player 'Colin' again before the match had even started.

If Inverdale does not know Chris Paterson's name after 100 appearances for Scotland, during which he has become the best goal kicker in the sport, he never will.

It was an insult to Paterson to get his name wrong not once but twice as he achieved such a milestone in the game, with only a handful of other players having won a hundred caps for their country.

We then had the commentators twice going on about Alasdair Dickinson's error of judgment which led to his sin-binning. Dickinson must have been wondering about that as well, because he had been substituted some time before his team-mate Scott Lawson was shown the yellow card.

To make matters worse, after having to suffer Jonathan Davies willing Wales over the try-line, we then had to listen to incredible remarks from players after the match about Wales going on to win the championship.

While consistent with similar claims of huge strides being made off the field, the problem is that it is still 'jam tomorrow'. The other difficult fact militating against accepting Johnson's assertion is that it is difficult to see under what circumstances such latent talent will come forth. Having forced Ireland to make four times as many tackles and dominated possession, territory and the set-piece scrums, England are unlikely to be able to have better circumstances from which to challenge the better teams in world rugby. Though they had all this ball, all these positions, they were still outscored by three tries to one and their crossing of the line came from good forward play. When they tried to engage their opponents with a more expansive game plan they were taught a lesson in finishing.

For heaven's sake, they lost to England and then scored with the last move of the game against 13 men. Champions? Champions of Wales, maybe.

Scotland V England Hospitality

Ireland V Scotland Hospitality

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Brian Moore: England's backs go missing in action against Ireland

The Twickenham agnostics, are metaphorically starting to hum this refrain after Martin Johnson's claim that England's narrow loss to Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday showed "there is still obviously a lot more in us".

The responsibility for this inability to score tries, or make repeated openings, has been laid squarely at Jonny Wilkinson's feet, but this game showed that the defect is far from his sole

responsibility. Riki Flutey's contribution from No 12 is the key to taking the right options during open play and whatever creative light he possesses it was hidden so far under the bushel as to be virtually invisible. He was simply missing in action.

When you add to this the failure of Mathew Tait to demand the ball, the continued non-communication between the back three and the technically-flawed service of his scrum-half, you see that Wilkinson is shouldering much of the criticism for what is a systemic failure of England's backs.

It is unfair and inaccurate to single out the No 10 when there are a multitude of other contributory factors: Toby Flood, for example, would have done no better last Saturday. Moreover, even if Wilkinson had played flawlessly, the refusal of nearly all his fellow backs to accept their responsibility to think clearly and act accordingly would have rendered his contribution worthless.

The most damning aspect of England's loss, however, was the one problem that has been highlighted so often that it has almost become accepted as a natural state of affairs; something intractable, criticised only by those who are fatally out of touch with the essentials of the modern game – slow ball. How many times does this point have to be made before it is addressed properly? The body positions of players taking the ball into contact, their delivery of the ball when going to ground, the failure of clearing players to go beyond the ball – all these remain clear. Without a solution to this malaise, England cannot progress properly and it is time someone was held to account.

Fortunately the French have been almost single-handedly showing that, sporadically, northern hemisphere rugby is capable of matching its southern counterpart. Their first-half dismantling of the Welsh was as clinical as was their mistaken tactical decision to sit back and play for territory in the second half, which merely ceded ball to a struggling opposition who gleefully accepted the implicit invitation to attack.

In making this mistake the French showed they are not immune from the muddled thinking that passes as 'the game today'. What remains ineluctable is that without the ball you cannot score and kicking the ball long means you do not have the ball. Perhaps the simplicity of this notion renders it unacceptable to modern thinkers who insist on cloaking everything in jargon.

The seismic change in the French attitude to defence has underpinned every success they have achieved in the last two years and if they can rid themselves of even a modicum of inconsistency, they have the chance to mount a serious World Cup challenge.

The Scots have been handed a similar lecture, albeit that theirs has come at the other end of the spectrum; it takes only one period in which you dominate, but do not score, to see you scrapping for the wooden spoon.

This Six Nations rugby has been distinctly average, although it still produces the unexpected and has provided several tight finishes; in this at least it continues to demonstrate its worth.

France V England Hospitality

Scotland V England Hospitality

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1990 Grand Slam match 'only a game'

RUGBY legend David Sole has criticised claims Scotland's 1990 Grand Slam victory over England was more than just a game.

In a letter in today's Scotsman, the man who captained Scotland to that historic 13-7 victory says it was not a question of "settling scores, of getting 'one over' on the English or of putting political wrongs right".

It was, he said, just a great sporting moment.

Earlier this year, former England rugby hooker, Brian Moore, belittled Scotland's victory, claiming anti-English bigotry and hatred of the poll tax were behind the historic success.

In his autobiography Beware the Dog, Moore claimed the Scottish victory in the winner-takes-all Five Nations decider was fuelled not by superior skills and tactics, but by hatred over the imposition of the poll tax by Margaret Thatcher's government, as well as anti-English fervour.

Moore's view that the match was more than just the clash of two rival sides is echoed in Scotland of Sunday chief sports writer Tom English's new book The Grudge: Scotland vs England, 1990, in which Moore repeats his belief that Scotland saw the England side as "Thatcher's team".

The book also includes comments by the then England captain, Will Carling, who said that in the run up to the game he had been branded by the media as "Thatcher's captain".

However, Sole dismisses claims of a political or anti-English dimension in the Scottish team's phenomenal performance on the day. He said there was already a bond of friendship between both teams that had been formed during a tough British Lions tour of Australia the year before.

"Friendships were forged that remain to this day but above all, a mutual respect grew amongst the squad of players – respect that carried over from 1989 to the Five Nations Championship of 1990," he said. "It was not a question of settling scores, of getting 'one over' on the English or of putting political wrongs right. It was simply a game of rugby – the only difference was that there was a Grand Slam at stake.

"It is a shame that the victory has been interpreted by some as something more than that, but if that is the belief that they hold, then that is their right, but to do so diminishes what the game represented for many others.

"To continue to hold such xenophobic beliefs is not healthy for Scotland as a nation. We should continue to be fierce rivals of England, but in my view that rivalry should be no different to any other nation that we compete against. Let us be proud of our achievements – and I shall be extremely proud of the Grand Slam of 1990 – but let us view them for what they are – great moments in sport, no more, no less."

Over the years, alternative explanations have been given for the Scottish team's fervour on the pitch. They include tales of commemorative "England Grand Slam 1990" T-shirts and ties being on sale in Edinburgh before the game.

France V England Hospitality

Scotland V England Hospitality

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Wales boss Gatland warns Martyn Williams and Ryan Jones

Coach Warren Gatland says that veteran Wales flanker Martyn Williams and skipper Ryan Jones must improve their displays against France on Friday.

Wales rescued an incredible last-gasp 31-24 win against Scotland in their last championship game in Cardiff.

But Williams, Jones and Andy Powell - now dropped for disciplinary reasons - were outshone by Scotland's back-row and must up their game against France.

"We missed, I think, 10 tackles between them," Gatland said.

"Martyn's missed a few tackles and he's been the first to put his hand up and needs to rectify his performance and get it right and he normally responds exceptionally well to that.

"I think what's pleased me about Martyn in the last week or so is he's recognised that as a loose-forward trio we probably didn't do so well against Scotland.

"So it's a sign of his experienced leadership in the squad, and for Ryan I think he's developed well into a captain.

"He's showing really good signs in terms of the way he's leading this team. He doesn't speak for the sake of speaking and he's starting to let his rugby do the talking.

"But he knows himself after his performance against Scotland he needs to go up a notch against France."

Williams, 33, will equal Colin Charvis' 94-cap record for a Wales forward when he runs out at the Millennium Stadium against the Grand Slam-chasing French.

"It's a great milestone for Martyn," Gatland added. "I think it's a fantastic achievement for him.

Jonathan Thomas switches from lock to back-row to fill the gap vacated by Powell's banishment from the squad after being charged with drink-driving following an incident with a golf buggy on the morning after the win against Scotland.

Jones' inclusion was the major talking point when Gatland announced the team on Monday, with Luke Charteris only getting a place on the bench despite his man-of-the-match show for the Dragons at Ulster.

Gatland also admits that picking Mike Phillips on the bench - despite the British and Irish Lions star playing just 40 minutes of rugby in four months - is a gamble.

Phillips has been selected ahead of Dwayne Peel - who has missed only a month of action recently with a groin strain - as the back-up to Richie Rees of the Blues.

While Phillips came on for the second half of the Ospreys' 19-17 win over Connacht in the Magners League on Sunday, Peel played the full game when Sale lost 19-10 to Leeds on Friday.

Gatland cited the precedents of Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery recently returning to Test action after injury and Scotland having Mike Blair on the bench against Wales following a lengthy lay-off.

Gatland said of Phillips: "Even though he's not 100% match fit, he's medically fit and he gives us something a little bit different.

Gatland admits he was wrong to pick Cooper to start against Scotland, with Rees having made a strong case for the starting nine shirt with his performances off the bench.

Ireland V Wales Hospitality

Six Nations Hospitality

Six Nations 2010: Rees vows to keep Phillips on bench

Phillips made the Wales replacements, even though he has played just 40 minutes of rugby – coming on as a half-time substitute for Ospreys in their narrow victory over Connacht last weekend – in four months following a serious ankle injury sustained against Clermont Auvergne in the Heineken Cup.

The first Rees, who began his senior career with Ospreys before arriving at the Blues via English Premiership club London Irish, where his top-flight career had taken off, knew of Phillips and Dwayne Peel having been called up by Gatland was when the pair turned up at Wales’ Vale of Glamorgan headquarters.

“I didn’t know either of them were coming. When they both walked into the hotel, I thought, ‘here we go!’ If I was selected, I was selected – if not, it wasn’t to be,” he said pragmatically.

“I tried not to think about it. I had an hour or two on tenterhooks until the side was announced.”

Now, having got the nod with doubts surrounding the match fitness and sharpness of Lions Phillips and Peel following their injury-interrupted campaigns, Rees is focusing on facing up to France’s scrum-half hotshot Morgan Parra.

“It’s nice to have them back, but I just try to concentrate on my own game. We will see how Friday goes and then take it from there,” he said.

“The coaches were pretty pleased with what I offered and now I’ve got a start, which is obviously what you want.”

Rees could have his hands full, not only trying to halt France’s Six Nations title and Grand Slam march, but also keeping their new general Parra quiet.

Parra, five years Rees’ junior, delivered majestic displays during victories over Scotland and Ireland, kicking 23 points and frequently tormenting the opposition through his full array of skills.

Rees would like to follow suit, knowing getting the better of Parra would aid him in that quest, and in keeping the challenge of Phillips and Peel at bay.

“Parra’s had a very good start to the Six Nations, to be fair to him,” Rees acknowledged.

“I’ve looked at his last couple of games and I think he controls a lot of what the French do – he is key for them.

“Maybe I have got to try and get in his face a little bit and see where that gets us. It’s my job to do a number on him.”

Whatever happens under the Millennium Stadium floodlights, though, it will be a far cry for Rees from last season’s inaugural Six Nations Friday night Test between France and Wales in Paris.

While Wales fought – and ultimately failed – to preserve their unbeaten Six Nations record under Gatland, Rees was sampling the delights of Edinburgh on tour with Crawshay’s Welsh invitational team.

Wales captain Ryan Jones is backing his former regional colleague to come up trumps against the physical French, saying: “I’m incredibly impressed with Richie.

“It’s an opportunity he has to take with two hands and we are going to support and help him do that the best we can.”

Jones was adamant, if Rees plays well, he could stave off the challenge of Phillips.

“That’s the one thing with Warren, he doesn’t make changes for the sake of it.” Gatland was insistent: “Richie has played himself into the starting line-up.

“He has made a definite impact coming off the bench in the last two games, he has impressed us with the way he has trained and this is a great chance for him.”

Ireland V Wales Hospitality

Six Nations Hospitality