England, Ireland and Wales are among the throng pushing to challenge New Zealand as the World Cup enters crunch timeNormal service has been resumed. After the surreal scenes of the All Blacks not being No 1 (Wales were, then Ireland!) they enter the quarter‑finals back at the top of the rankings, rated by the bookies as twice as likely to win the tournament as the second favourites. Don’t be so sure. It goes without saying they remain the best when on form, but that cancelled game might well be more of a hindrance to them than anyone, given that their last meaningful fixture will have been four weeks before their quarter‑final against Ireland. At least Italy would have been semi-meaningful....
No10s end a 35-international match gap since Wales last scored with a drop goal and help win a game in which they were outscored by three tries to twoWales used to be the masters of the drop goal. A method of scoring that has become an endangered species accounted for more than one-quarter of Barry John’s points tally for his country. In one club match for Cardiff, when two of Llanelli’s back-row forwards were his brothers who had threatened all sorts if they got hold of him, the game’s greatest fly-half barely made a break or passed all match, but his four drop kicks delivered a 12-9 victory.Before Sunday’s effective group decider against Australia, it had been 35 internationals since...
Warren Gatland’s final home match in charge of Wales did not go to plan with Ireland’s players responding to criticismIt is difficult to know what will have annoyed Warren Gatland more. The end of his glorious tenure in Wales with defeat, the end of Wales’s 11-match unbeaten run in Cardiff, the end of their one-match reign as the world’s number one? It could be any of the above, but the unifying grief is almost certainly that it should be Ireland who inflict all those maddening niggles, just as he prepares to announce his World Cup squad.No one can say he hadn’t asked for it. Gatland was at it again in midweek, unable to resist a little dig against his former...
Wales will replace New Zealand at No 1 in world rankings after a win over England that advances their World Cup credentialsAs the revitalised All Blacks showed against Australia in Auckland the world can change dramatically in the space of a week. Wales further underlined that fact here in Cardiff with a first-half display far removed from their one-paced effort at Twickenham last Sunday. Take them home, country roads, to the place they belong, and everything sounds and feels totally different.It may have been the August holidays, with the sun shining brightly outside, but under the closed roof of the leeky cauldron the final outcome was also a notable one for Warren Gatland’s squad. When the latest world rankings are...
Eddie Jones’s creative chaos appears to be working well in World Cup buildup as experimental team end grand slam winners’ record unbeaten runThese World Cup warmup games mean nothing, of course, but it does not stop us searching for significance. No one had to look very hard here. Wales could have gone to No 1 in the world rankings with a win and extended their record unbeaten run to 15. And they picked a team to suggest these were landmarks that meant something to them. Alas, either they did not mean enough, or Wales are not ready to claim them.The latter, surely. They have moved on to the shoulder of New Zealand at the top of the rankings courtesy of...