Daily Mail, Monday, August 19, 2019
69
EDDIE HAS
TO OPT FOR
A SPEEDY
BACK ROW
T
HE World Cup is going to
be so open in Japan, with
lots of the top teams all at
a similar level. Of the main
contenders, everyone has
been beaten in the last few
weeks — which makes things
even more interesting.
There is no doubt that the warm-
up matches in the Southern
Hemisphere — particularly New
Zealand’s Tests with Australia — have had
much more intensity than the ones up
here. That will stand them in good stead.
I look at New Zealand and Australia and
think they have an advantage because
their coaches are so experienced. Steve
Hansen and Michael Cheika know what it
means to go to World Cups.
How Rassie Erasmus, the rookie South
African coach, copes with the pressure of
the World Cup will very much dictate how
the Springboks go, but make no mistake,
they are real contenders. The same can be
said for Wales. Having such an experienced
coach is huge.
Their coaching team reminds me of my
England group of Andy Robinson, Dave
Alred, Dave Reddin and Phil Larder.
Like Warren Gatland, Rob Howley, Robin
McBryde and Shaun Edwards, we were
together for a number of years, which really
helped as we were all on the same page
and knew what each other thought when it
came to running a Test team — especially
with the issue of selection.
Wales are so settled and secure. Eddie
Jones and England do not have that,
having brought John Mitchell in for Paul
Gustard last year.
Gatland will be delighted with Wales’s
preparation so far. They needed the loss
against England to sharpen their minds
and played well in Cardiff on Saturday. He
has also handled the No 1 in the world
rankings question well in the media.
He is not bothered about it at all, but it
really does show how good a coach he is.
Wales were ranked 10th in the world when
he took the job in 2007, so to take such a
small nation to No 1 is remarkable.
The stand-out result for me in recent
Tests is France’s 32-3 win over Scotland
this weekend. I am still worried about
France. Like Australia they are almost
always good at World Cups, they seem to
thrive there, so that is a dangerous
prospect for England in their pool.
Knowing France, however, you have to
save your verdict until next week when
they play Scotland at Murrayfield. They
could easily lose that by 30 points!
To see Gael Fickou and Wesley Fofana in
the centres makes me worry for England
— when the two teams meet in the pool itis going to be an amazing game that will
have a huge impact on the tournament.
With Wales needing to play Australia,
New Zealand facing South Africa and
Ireland playing Scotland at the pool
stage, it is going to be a huge start to
the tournament.
However, the only real surprise I see in
the pool games is Argentina potentially
beating France or England, which would
change everything.
Pace will win World Cups, power won’t.
England have a quick team if they decide
to select it, as long as they put the right
back row out — with Tom Curry, Sam
Underhill and Billy Vunipola combining —
to rival Australia and New Zealand.
The one theme I have noticed across
these rounds of matches is the lack of
catching quality under the high ball.
Australia are struggling in that depart-
ment without Israel Folau, Elliot Daly was
bombarded in Cardiff and even Leigh
Halfpenny dropped one.
If I were coaching a top team today the
first person I would call is my old kicking
coach Dave Alred. It amazes me he is not
involved with a big side.
He was a kicking coach for our whole
team and spent so much time with all our
players teaching them not only to kick but
how to catch properly. Having spent so
much time working in Aussie rules he is
without peer.
We did loads on getting them to jump
high and lift their leg up — Jason Robinson,
Josh Lewsey, Ben Cohen and the others
were fantastic under the high ball.
The other man I would bring in would be
Ben Ryan, the former Fiji sevens coach
who won gold at the 2016 Olympics. He is
so good at coaching the skills of the game.
It’s an own-goal from all the top interna-
tional team not to have those two involved,
but especially England.WORLD CUP
WINNING COACHSIR CLIVE
WOODWARD
Danger: France scrum-half Antoine
Dupont against Scotland GETTY IMAGESWALES will not be boasting about
their new No 1 status, having risen
to the top of the world after
beating England in Cardiff.
When the world rankings are
updated today, Wales will sit at the
summit for the first time in their
history — with New Zealand
dropping to No 2 for the first time
since November 2009.
But the Welsh are refusing to get
carried away. ‘I would prefer to be
there at the start of November,’
said hooker Ken Owens, referring
to the World Cup final on
November 2. ‘But it is now just a
table and something to talk about.
We are pretty happy. We know we
have to improve again and we are
not the finished article yet.’
Wales have only lost one Test in
their last 16, against England last
week, but head coach Warren
Gatland said their ascent will no
doubt annoy New Zealanders.
Wales have not beaten the All
Blacks since 1953 and have only
triumphed over the three-times
world champions three times, the
others coming in 1905 and 1935.
‘Lots of journalists will be out there
saying, “This is a joke” — probably
Kiwi journalists more than
anything!’ Gatland said.
‘It’s just a number. We’re not
making a big fuss of it.
‘It’s a nice accolade to have but it’s
all about backing it up in the World
Cup. We’ve got to keep things in
perspective.’Gatland: It
will annoy
New Zealand!
By WILL KELLEHER
WALES TOP OF
THE WORLD
WHEN the world rankings are
updated at lunchtime today, Wales
will be No 1 for the first time in
their history.1 WALES 89.43
2 NEW ZEALAND 89.40
3 IRELAND 88.69
4 SOUTH AFRICA 86.83
5 ENGLAND 86.79
6 AUSTRALIA 84.05
7 FRANCE 80.58
8 SCOTLAND 79.01
2009
THE last time
New Zealand
were not
ranked No 1 in the world. They went
back to the top in November 2009 by
beating Wales 19-12, overtaking South
Africa who lost 20-13 to France.11
CONSECUTIVE home wins for
Wales — their last home defeat
was against the All Blacks in- It equals their second-best
run of 11 wins at home between
1900 and 1906. Their longest
unbeaten home run came between
1907 and 1912 when they did not
lose for 13 games.
High-flyer: Wales’s
Biggar puts in a
big hit on Itoje PA