Oval Office February 2008

Hook, line and sunken

By Grant Batty

We know Wales have quite a lot of talent, but how on earth Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards moulded them properly in time for the heroics of the first Six nations game defies belief?

It was 20 years since Wales last won at Twickenham but now they will be the team to beat and could go through the card.

Wales skipper Ryan Jones hailed his team’s stunning 26-19 Six Nations win over England as the greatest day of his career and anyone who watched it could see where he was coming from.
Wales were 16-6 down at the break and were still trailing by 10 points with 20 minutes left before they ran in two tries to record their fantastic victory at the spiritual home of rugby – if you’re from north of the Equator.

Wales’s last visit to Twickenham, before the World Cup, ended in the embarrassment of a record 62-5 defeat and a proud Gatland said the significance of this latest scoreline could not be under-estimated.

New coach Gatland’s first Welsh team featured 13 Neath-Swansea Ospreys in the squad. They knew where the others would go. The quality of the support play and the respect for the ball in the second half smacked of club combination. They also had a superb stand-off.
“The result is everything. It’s a monkey off the guys’ back. They showed a lot of guts and dug deep,” Gatland said. Did they what.
Five-eighth James Hook was named man of the match after nailing six out of six goal kicks and playing a crucial role in his side’s first try. The way he booted those goals under pressure earmarked Hook for even bigger things.

Gatland has always coached well-organised teams with strong forward packs and there was little doubt that we would see Wales come good. But no-one was expecting that phenomenal late flurry that blew England off the park.

Shaun Edwards, Gatland’s former sidekick at Wasps who is now combining his work for the European champions with a part-time Wales role, said the visitors’ defence in denying England a second try, when hooker Huw Bennett got his arm under the ball as Paul Sackey plunged over, had been crucial to the outcome.

Gatland still warns fans against expecting too much too soon. Again, the sign of a good coach, which we know he is.

But the raw material is there. And this could be the man to get it right.

We don’t need the league converts

Despite the comical aspect of rugby league player Lesley Vainikolo, who hails from my part of the world, lining up for England, that isn’t the point.

The former New Zealand rugby league Test star went OK in the match against Wales. It was a good take to set the ball up from the cross-field bomb for the try that should have got the Poms home.
But while Vainikolo came into the team, another former league man, Andy Farrell, went out. He was an expensive experiment that flopped.

Winger Vainikolo, a barnstorming performer in the 13-man code will do well in rugby union, but is he worth the big money?

Jason Robinson won England a World Cup and nearly won the Lions a series in Australia. He was a sensational signing but he had played some union at junior level. He had a wonderful career in both codes.
But it’s time to dump the poaching of the high-profile league players. It didn’t work for Australia where league is particularly strong. Name me a massive success that wore the green and gold.

Lote Tuqiri went pretty well for the Wallabies but realistically no better than any other top-line union player. Joe Roff was as good a winger as any code would see. Big Lote has had his big games and big series. Tom Varndell of England can testify to that. Tuqiri’s early union experience showed too.

Wendell Sailor played strongly against sub-standard opposition. His lack of the basics was evident against teams like the All Blacks or South Africa. I’ll leave all the jokes about running the wrong lines to others. Matt Rogers was an impact player, a fine runner in broken play, but he didn’t play anywhere near as well when he was in the starting line-up. Andy Farrell was simply an odd signing by England’s officialdom – beset by injuries, very much a league player and with the clock ticking.

My point is where’s the value to the code? The millions and millions of dollars being handed to big name league converts could be spread among, say, 10 or 20 elite young players to bring them on. That’s how you get a test team. Rather than spend 10 million bucks on a couple of league stars, put it towards the total development of the best young talent you can find.

What team in the world wouldn’t like a player like James Hook? You won’t buy one from rugby league.

Clerc is class

Let’s have a quick look at some more from the Six Nations.
France’s new coach Marc Lievremont wielded the axe but that’s what happens there. Household names don’t stay household for that long. They were too patchy in the World Cup, playing out of their skins for the one match against New Zealand.

France has the best part of four years to see if these guys can get that bit of consistency we thought they would have at the World Cup. In Vincent Clerc though they do have a player worth the price of admission any time. Strong, blessed with fine footwork and a superb finisher from anywhere. Every team in the world would like to have him too – and he didn’t come from rugby league.

Scotland are well organised and Frank Hadden is a good coach but they just just don’t have that many top-flight players. They need to be stronger in the halves.

Italy gave Ireland plenty of hurry-up in the Six Nations opener. Despite the heroics they probably have to knock over Scotland in their final game to avoid the Wooden Spoon. But playing Italy is now spooky. New coach Nick Mallett is a class act, they have a good skipper in Sergio Parisse, the champion number eight, and their front row is always excellent. They don’t control so well.

Prop Idol

The latest joke these days is that perhaps a television network could launch a new reality program – “Prop Idol” in Australia. Surely there must be a couple out there amid 20 million people?