I Support The Welsh At Rugby

A Miracle to Behold

So, Wales sit, balanced precariously, on top of World Rugby's preposterous pyramid.

The Welsh XV, ably assisted by a French referee intent on extracting full revenge for Waterloo and Agincourt, scraped past a scratch England team to win by a narrow margin of 13-6.

The gallant men from the valleys pulled on their blood red shirts to face the assembled might of England - failed Kiwis, failed South Africans, south sea islanders, and some second XV players from the leagues, all led by Eddie "I'm certainly not Welsh, boyo" Jones.

When the referee realised that the red devils were in danger of defeat, he sent an English knight from the field for daring to tackle one of the Welsh primadonnas. He then allowed the Welsh to score a try while England were just standing around, trying to work out what happened - not altogether an unaccustomed condition for the English these days.

Every time the English tried to restart the game quickly, the referee told them to wait, as the Welsh players were still adjusting their make-up.

Later in the game, our French arbiter encouraged a mass attack by Welsh hooligans on the innocent English, without sanction or penalty.

To be fair - and it is not something I do too often, I feel quite uncomfortable being fair to the Welsh - it was clear from the general run of play that England, even if they had had the backing of the referee, both linesmen, and the massed bands of the Brigade of Guards, would have struggled to make much impression on the Welsh defence.

So - and this does stick in my throat - congratulations to Wales! Let's hope that the point of the pyramid does not penetrate too far into your soul.

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

TheSirfurryanimalWales · 61-69, M

Wales will rise to the top of the world rankings for the first time after they ground out a 13-6 victory over England in the World Cup warm-up in Cardiff.

George North's try after inspired play from Dan Biggar helped Wales build a 10-0 lead at the end of a keenly contested but disjointed first-half.

England edged into it with two George Ford penalties as defences dominated.

But Leigh Halfpenny struck the decisive penalty on his return to the Wales side after an injury-ravaged year.

That means on Monday morning, when the next world rankings are released officially, Warren Gatland's men will sit at the summit for the first time since World Rugby introduced the ranking system in 2003.

It also ends New Zealand's uninterrupted 10 years at the top, despite the All Blacks' 36-0 victory over Australia earlier on Saturday.

Man of the match Dan Biggar was a rock in both defence and attack for Wales
Biggar inspires Wales improvement

By making only three changes to the team that lost 33-19 to England at Twickenham last Sunday, Gatland said he was giving his players the chance to "redeem" themselves in Cardiff.

And while this Wales side is still evidently a work in progress where the World Cup is concerned, this was a marked improvement.

Whereas they were 14 points down in as many minutes at Twickenham, Wales wrestled their way into a position of strength at the Principality Stadium.

Their scrum may have still creaked a little against a powerful England pack, but in Biggar they had a fly-half made for these tight encounters - and perhaps with a point to prove after former British and Irish Lions wing JJ Williams claimed Wales would not win the World Cup with the Northampton man at 10.

Biggar was starting as a result of fellow fly-half Gareth Anscombe's tournament-ending knee injury and he peppered England's back three with an early bombardment of high balls that was a taste of things to come.

When England wing Anthony Watson was sent to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on, Biggar - whose earlier penalty had put Wales 3-0 up - sensed an opportunity from the resultant penalty and took it quickly.

His long cross-field kick found Josh Adams and, after the wing made ground, from the next phase Biggar repeated the trick to set up North in the opposite corner for a fine try that the fly-half converted for a 10-0 lead.

There were precious few opportunities for Biggar to demonstrate such creativity in a second-half in which both attacks were frustrated by disciplined defences.

He did, however, show his appetite for the physical side of the game, stopping galloping England lock Maro Itoje with a shuddering tackle that might have been called high had referee Pascal Gauzere reviewed the footage.

But the intervention illustrated Biggar's willingness to put his body on the line for his country and sealed his deserved man-of-the-match award.

England fail to ignite

While Wales' players were still auditioning for a place in their final World Cup squad - expected to be named on 1 September - England coach Eddie Jones has already decided on his 31-man party for Japan.

There was therefore less on the line for them in Cardiff perhaps, but there was no lack of motivation, with Jones imploring his side to be "absolutely brutal" in their attempts to halt Wales' 10-match winning run at home that stretches back to a defeat against New Zealand in 2017.

The likes of Billy Vunipola certainly heeded that call, the man mountain of a number eight bulldozing towards Welsh tacklers at every opportunity.

Billy Vunipola offered his usual physical presence from number eight - but it was not enough for England
But England struggled to cut through the opposition defence as they did at Twickenham and, while the scrum remained a weapon, their driving maul was less of a threat.

Neither side was at its fluent best in attack and it was not until Watson's yellow card left England a man down that the visitors found their defence meaningfully breached.

The Principality Stadium crowd found its voice after North's try but, despite that setback, Jones' men gathered themselves and chipped away at Wales' advantage in the second-half.

Ford, keeping the kicking duties despite the introduction of Owen Farrell at centre, struck two penalties to reduce England's deficit to 10-6.

There was no way through Wales' determined defence though as England failed to replicate their attacking precision from Twickenham and missed out on their own opportunity to top the world ranking.

Wales: L Halfpenny; North, Jonathan Davies, Parkes, Adams; Biggar, G Davies; Smith, Owens, Francis, Ball, AW Jones, Wainwright, James Davies, Moriarty.

Replacements: Dee, W Jones, Lewis, Shingler, Navidi, A Davies, Evans, Watkin.

England: Daly; McConnochie, Joseph, Francis, Cokanasiga; Ford, Heinz; Genge, Cowan-Dickie, Cole, Launchbury, Itoje, Lawes, Ludlam, B Vunipola.

Replacements: George, Marler, Sinckler, Kruis, Singleton, Youngs, Farrell, Tuilagi
by Dafydd Pritchard
BBC sport

KiwiBird · 36-40, F

@TheSirfurryanimalWales

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen isn't too fazed about his side losing the world No.1 rank - he doesn't even understand how it's calculated.

Despite last night's impressive 36-0 win over the Wallabies in Auckland, the All Blacks lost their top spot to Wales who beat England 13-6 a few hours later in Cardiff.

Wales ended the All Blacks' 509 week-long streak at the top with the result, moving ahead on a difference of 0.03 points.

Hansen said the entire system is a headscratcher.

"How do you work that out?" he said.

"To me, I've never understood their system. You win a game and you lose the top ranking."

The All Blacks coach said when you sit back and look over the rankings system, the All Blacks were always likely to be roped in by Northern foes.

"The top-ranked sides are playing each other in the Northern Hemisphere and you get more points if you beat the top sides."

Wales went on a 14-Test winning streak from 2018 to earlier this year, completing a Six Nations Grand Slam in March before losing to England last week 33-19 at Twickenham to bring their impressive run to a close.

Hansen said Wales "have been great" recently.

"Now they've got the expectation that they're number one in the world so they'll take it into the World Cup."

In other words Australia being so piss-weak and lowly ranked cost us our Rightful "Number One" ranking.

Yulianna · 26-30, F

@TheSirfurryanimalWales

Dafydd Pritchard

now he wouldn't be Welsh at all, boyo, would he?

He did, however, show his appetite for the physical side of the game, stopping galloping England lock Maro Itoje with a shuddering tackle that might have been called high had referee Pascal Gauzere reviewed the footage.

what was it i said about the French official being bent on revenge?

Yulianna · 26-30, F

@KiwiBird Wales... coming first in august - premature ejaculation, i think!