FT: WALES 25 - 7 IRELAND. Grand Slam winners

[Robin Friday's Ghost]

You're going to the crux of what I am saying there. We have risen to second in the world on the back of Saturday's win and fourteen consecutive wins says that we have to be considered as possible winners in Japan - if we were looking at any side going into a World Cup competition in any other sport we'd be saying they have to be serious contenders. Both in terms of the statistics and what we see out on the pitch, our defensive play looks to be good enough for a World Cup winning team, but the statistics and the evidence of what our eyes have been showing us for a year and more tell us that our attacking game isn't up to those lofty standards.

I'll make one prediction about the World Cup, if we win it playing the same sort of rugby we've played during our winning run, there'll be law changes as a consequence in much the same way as football had to make the game more attractive after the dull 1990 World Cup.

I haven't got the stats but England won the World Cup relying very heavily on Wlikinson's kicking.

[the other bob wilson]

I haven't got the stats but England won the World Cup relying very heavily on Wlikinson's kicking.

Yes they did and I don't remember them as being an attractive team, but in the fourteen matches England played up to this stage of the World Cup cycle in 2003 (i.e. up to the end of the Six Nations that year), they scored a total of fifty four tries and one penalty try from a fixture list which included Six Nations games and internationals against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Wales have scored thirty six tries and one penalty try in their fourteen game winning run and nine of those (and the penalty try) came against Tonga, while another five came in the first match of the run at home to Italy - I think fourteen matches over a period of more than a year is enough to confirm a trend and Wales' try scoring record is very low compared to what most rugby followers would expect from a team on such a fine winning run - people seem to be taking what I'm saying as some sort of national insult when all I'm doing is looking at the situation logically.

[Pearcey3]

I haven't got the stats but England won the World Cup relying very heavily on Wlikinson's kicking.

This this and this again. We outscored England three tries to one in the World Cup quarter final in 2003. It didn’t matter because Wilkinson kicked us to death and we lost. I cannot remember much squealing back then about England winning the World Cup on the back of Wilkinson kicking so many penalties.

World Cups are usually won by pragmatic sides, South Africa in 95 and 2007, Australia in 99 and England in 2003. They won on the back of strong defences rather than free flowing rugby.
Gatland and Edwards have instilled a disciplined style of play backed up by brilliant defence and fantastic back rowers. I’m not sure if even the All Blacks have such strength in depth in their backrow.

If we win the World Cup using this style of play I wont give a damn. No one has criticised Ireland for all their recent success but they certainly haven’t been playing great rugby. Quite why some of our own on here are talking down Wales baffles me. If we win the Wotld Cup there will be no rule changes.