September 18th 2015 should ring exciting alarm bells amongst rugby fans. That is the date that the Rugby World Cup kicks off at Twickenham, as England host Fiji. Wales do not play until the 20th against an undecided ‘Play-off Winner’, which is highly likely to be Russia. The Russians play Zimbabwe in a semi-final, and meet the winners of Uruguay versus Hong Kong in the play-off final. Whoever does come out on top of this will join the ‘pool of death’, with: Wales, England, Australia and Fiji. So how will Wales fair against the world’s best?
Legendary Australian winger David Campese, has predicted that the “World Cup winner will come from the ‘pool of death’” but added that Wales won’t get out of the group. Wales only have themselves to blame for the pool that they find themselves in. With the pool draws being made just after the embarrassing autumn internationals of 2012, Wales found themselves at 9th in the world and therefore having to play two of the world’s best teams. At the time Australia were in a difficult place, and Wales beat England 30-3 in the following Six Nations but as we get closer to the world cup both the English and Wallabies are looking strong.
Wales Rugby Team to Light Up 2015 World Cup
Wales have the talent in their ranks, it is impossible to win two Six Nations and provide the bulk of a winning Lions team without that talent. However, they have rarely played to their full potential in the last couple of years. When Wales play to their full potential they are amongst the best in the world, the narrow loss to South Africa proved this. A game which should have been won given the position Wales put themselves in. It is an issue of consistency, being able to fulfill the teams potential on the pitch. If Wales can perform as they have done in games against England (30-3) and South Africa (30-31), then they will get out of the group, and if they maintain the performances they can lift the Webb Ellis trophy.
That may seem a bold statement, but why not, Wales are the most successful team in Europe since the last world cup, a world cup where they finished fourth. At the 2011 world cup, Wales had a crop of young starlets and they performed admirably. These players are now seasoned internationals and many of them are world class players. George North, Leigh Halfpenny and Jonathan Davies would slip into most teams back line quite comfortably. They can cause any defence in the world problems. On the Lions tour we saw the danger of George North, as he lifted Israel Folau over his shoulder. We also saw the counter attacking ability of Leigh Halfpenny from deep.
Wales need to have more faith in their back play, it has become too predictable. The players we have are capable of so much more. Simply look at the highlight reel of the world cup three years ago, the game plan Wales executed was vastly more expansive than the current game plan.
The vital games will inevitably be against Australia and England. The game against the ‘play-off winner’ should be a bonus point victory for all of the big three. Fiji will provide a stern test but all three team mentioned should see them off comfortably. Then it comes down to a simple three team round robin to decide the qualifying spots. Wales will need to beat at least one of England and Australia to go through. They are more than capable of beating the old enemy and have won three of the last four against England.
Australia are a different problem, the Southern Hemisphere provides Wales with a psychological block they simply can’t overcome. There has been so many games they should have won, but have thrown away in the last five minutes against Southern Hemisphere opposition, particularly Australia. They will need to break through that mental barrier if they are to do anything in this world cup.
Welsh rugby may not be in the best place right now in terms of politics as well as off field issues. However, if Wales make it out of the group, I believe they will make it to the final. I do think that David Campese is half right in what he says, the winner could well be from the ‘pool of death’, but I wouldn’t be so quick to write off the Welsh.
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