Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, facing New Zealand is a difficult task, even if they are not at the top of their game right now. And facing them whilst missing some very important, very influential, players makes life even more difficult.

But I have seen on forums, twitter, etc people saying this is an impossible task… and I have to disagree.

In my mind rugby at international level is as poor as it has been for quite a long time. Australia are struggling, New Zealand don’t look anywhere near as commanding as they usually do, England have been poor, France hit and miss and Ireland won a Grand Slam that, whilst deserved, they never really had to hit top gear to attain. Only South Africa can claim to be on any real form and even then i would argue they are not as packed with world class quality as times gone by.

It’s all in the mind

This allows Wales some comfort in their own heads. We have struggled against Southern Hemisphere sides before not just because of their undoubted talent but because we beat ourselves before we step out, we consider them far better than us. Right now this is not the case… the are cracks in the armour, especially that of the All Blacks, and our players should be aware of that. These are not invincible teams.

Which is why Gatland is out at the moment, talking to journalists about how good New Zealand teams used to be, about how they were invincible. Operative word, were. Not any more. That is the message he is trying to get across… believe we will win and we have a much better chance of doing so. The crowd should also listen to this. We need to believe.

Game Styles

Now to show my complete lack of research… I read somewhere that someone was saying we are in trouble because the Aussies style suits the New Zealand game, making them easier to beat, and that we have a similar style to the Aussies. Now I think it was just an opinion on a rugby forum so perhaps not to be taken too seriously, but it also raises a good point.

No, not that we have a similar style to the Aussies, we don’t, but that how we tackle the All Blacks matters. Look at South Africa, they have given a couple of master classes in how to dominate the Kiwis, master classes I hope we were paying attention to.

They went at it with the same attitude as Dads Army; “they don’t like it up ‘em”… and they were right. The South Africans took the ball on at pace, they hammered into the tackles… but more they kicked long, chased hard and harried constantly. they played everything at a huge tempo, in attack and defence. They smashed into defenders, sprinted into rucks, harried, chased, fought and kicked.

In short, New Zealand couldn’t live with that kind of intensity, that kind of pressure. they started making simple mistakes, bad passes, dropped catches etc, because they were rattled. And that is a game we can play. Forget romantic notions of the ‘Welsh way’, Warren Gatland threw that out ages ago, what we have now is a high intensity game based on quick rucking, long kicks, a hard defence and a backline who can hit as hard as anyone. We are as fit, as strong and as powerful as any team in teh world… we now need to be as intense as the best team in the world, South Africa.

Problems

There are problems with this. Mike Phillips would be a huge asset for this style of rugby… Gareth Cooper is off form and we need him to be moving the ball away form the ruck as quickly as possible, with McCaw there ready to grab it whilst Cooper is slowing it down. But if he can we have a chance.

Paul James is another concern. In the last season and a half I have been very impressed with his improvement as a loosehead (especially last season), but I am not convinced he was of full international quality – and at tight head? I don’t know, I just hope Warren knows what he is doing. Adam Jones is almost perfect at pillaring rucks, if we play with a high intensity rucking game we need Paul James to do the same.

I would also like to have seen Ian Gough there. Luke Charteris is another who has impressed me with his improvement in form, and Bradley Davies has similarly been very impressive indeed. But Gough as a warhorse is unsurpassed in Wales in my opnion, his work rate, power, and ability to make the big hits when needed, would be a huge asset – not to mention the sheer number of rucks he hits.

But Warren gatland has selected his side and will have seen how South Africa not just beat but dominated New Zealand. We have the players and ability to do the same… we just need to believe, and to perform. Two aspects Wales have been short of in matches between these two nations in the last 50 years.

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