The youngest of the Home Nations sides competing in the tournament, Wales faced a tough Pool Stage including holders South Africa, Samoa and Fiji, the latter being the team that kept Wales out of the quarterfinals in 2007. However, Wales came back from losing by a point to South Africa in a game that they should’ve won to qualify in style, putting 66 past Fiji with no reply. This Wales team, written off by many before the tournament as a team lacking in experience, instead showed great maturity and took the game to all comers. They should be in the final.
Best moment: aside from the 66-0 thumping of Fiji and the almost-win in their opening match against South Africa, the quarterfinal against Ireland, in which Shane Williams scored in the first two minutes and Wales subsequently defended for the rest of the half, was a tour de force. The young team, under the excellent captaincy of (22-year-old) Sam Warburton, did not lose their heads when Ireland appeared to mount a comeback late in the day, and saw out the game 22-10.
Worst moment: aside from the 9-8 result, which saw France’s one point lead turned into victory by unfortunate kicking misses from the Wales replacement kickers, the worst moment for Wales was undoubtedly Warburton’s red card in the first half of the semi-final. Regardless of whether or not the tackle was legitimate or deserved a yellow or red, the moment that referee Alain Rolland decided that Warburton had to go was devastating for the team, who never recovered. An almost spear tackle that will live on in the memory as the moment that a referee knocked Wales out of a final that seemed destined to be theirs.
Highest points scorer: full-back Rhys Priestland, described by some as one of the finds of the tournament, who scored 29 out of Wales’ 210 total points.
Best player: up until the red card, undoubtedly Sam Warburton. Honourable mentions should go to the evergreen Shane Williams, Mike Phillips, and the young tyro George North, who at only 19 and already with 14 caps under his belt surely has a very promising future.
No comments:
Post a Comment