Analysis: 'Give Wales' front row the freedom of Port Talbot- or anything they ask for'
It’s been a long time since Welsh fans were treated to a properly world-class front row on the big stage.
Ever since Gethin Jenkins, Matthew Rees and Adam Jones retired from the Welsh men’s team, it’s felt as though you can only properly start enjoying supporting Wales once the first scrum is over; when you have the relief that the front row will be alright this week, that they’ll hang in there – or, in some cases, you realise you’re in for a long day.
Up step Gwenllian Pyrs, Kelsey Jones and Sisilia Tuipulotu. Wales have been excellent in their two convincing wins thus far this tournament, and the talking point has rightfully been how the Welsh front row has been unequivocally the best unit on the park. As the three of them walked off the pitch in the 79th (!) minute against Scotland, every Welsh fan imminently wanted to get them a beer, an ice bath, freedom of Port Talbot – anything they ask for – in exchange for the platform they gave the Welsh backs.
What’s especially astounding is only a couple of weeks ago this was a mildly controversial selection. Pyrs, less so, as she’s been the cornerstone of the Welsh pack for over a year now, and if an opposition tighthead was lacking, she’d just about get the better of them. Jones was seen by many as a great option to sit behind Carys Phillips, but has very much proven that the two shirt is hers. Tuipulotu, having never started a Test at tighthead before, made the step up and, well, she now has two starts there, two wins, two player of the match awards. And she’s only 19.
We’re not going to delve into the optics of the scrum today – we’ll leave that analysis to the more qualified front-row geeks out there; however, we can marvel at some stats. Wales mullered Ireland at the scrum, with 18-year-old Sadhbh McGrath making her debut on the loosehead alongside the usually explosive Linda Djougang. They got a nudge against Scotland’s starting props, Leah Bartlett and Christine Belisle, but really became dominant when the pair were substituted, which is rare.
Many will claim the true test comes this Saturday, when Sarah Bern comes to town. Bern and new front-row groupie Mackenzie Carson has been consistent in demolishing her opposition props thus far. Both England props stand at 170cm and weigh 90kg. Pyrs, the same height, weighs 103kg and Tuipulotu 113kg, with only an extra 5cm.
England have picked a starting front row of Carson, Lark Davies and Bern (with usual starting hooker Amy Cokayne away playing for the Royal Air Force). We’re looking at England giving way 32kg in the front row to Wales. Bern is one of the most ludicrously strong props in world rugby, but she’s going to have to be at her best to shift that extra five stone.
What’s more impressive about this Welsh front-row is the way they’ve dominated the carrying stats and the scoresheet. The props have five tries between them, equating to more points in the tournament than Keira Bevan or Pauline Bourdon. Jones averages a fantastic 5 metres per carry, which is almost the same as George Turner (5.09m per carry), the top carrying hooker in this year’s men’s Six Nations. Tuipulotu, though, is the third top carrier in the tournament with 29 carries; making an unholy 143 metres and averaging 4.93 metres per carry.
There are many ways to look at this stat. Firstly, it’s an absurd number of metres for a tighthead to make. Secondly, can you imagine how exhausting it is to tackle a 113kg Welsh behemoth and then get back up to your feet to make another one on someone else? Let’s have a look at how Wales have used their titans tactically to tire their opponents.
After a counter-attack by Courtney Keight, Wales work into a 3-3-2 structure. In the first group, Kate Williams is the lead carrier with Natalia John and Bethan Lewis in support. The second group contains Alex Callender, Georgia Evans and Pyrs. Jones and Tuipulotu are the furthest group out.
Williams carries and Wales play their next phase off fly-half Elinor Snowsill. Pyrs’ line is fantastic – she almost stands too flat, so the Scottish defence expect her to take the ball, but instead Wales’ other top carrier, Evans, takes a short ball and gets Wales inside the Scottish 22.
Wales then use Tuipulotu as a carrier, again off Snowsill. There are a couple of benefits to her being stood in this wide position: one is that she gets a 1v1 carry against Lana Skeldon, whose chop tackle is superb. Another is that the most realistic breakdown threat is Meryl Smith, a centre. This is why Wales have entrusted Jones to do the majority of the clearing out herself, with Hannah Jones helping out.
Tuipulotu is such a good carrier that much less impact is required on the clear-out as typically the defence will be backpedalling. Most importantly, this means Wales’ ball is quick and they can run at the same defenders who just tackled Evans.
Wales then go through six more phases, meeting the gain-line on five of them.
Tuipulotu’s next carry comes a minute later, and she once again runs at Skeldon and Smith. Skeldon makes another good tackle but this time surrenders two metres. Wales get super fast ball and within two phases Evans gets up to within seven metres of the Scottish line, thanks to some slightly more passive tackling.
Tuipulotu makes her third carry of the set less than 45 seconds later. Skeldon is once again the player to make the chop, but look at the contact area around the ball: Scotland have had to commit three forwards to get Gloucester’s powerhouse to the deck early. Wales pick and go for a couple of phases, encroaching on the Scottish line, and Scotland’s only way to stop them is by giving away a penalty for not rolling away.
Every time the Welsh front row, and particularly Scary Sisilia, touch the ball, there’s a knock-on effect on the Scottish defence. The runner is strong, therefore she is hard to chop, therefore defenders are more tired, therefore Scotland have to commit more women to the contact. By repeatedly targeting one of Scotland’s best tacklers in Skeldon, Wales made her hits progressively more passive.
There are so many late-on examples where Wales’ structure and speed into position kills Scotland’s pack – if you look at Wales’ lengthy passage of attack before the scrum for Ffion Lewis’ winning try, Scotland are constantly asked to dismantle a tank, immediately get back up and do it again, with no time to recover.
When Wales eventually knock the ball on, it’s no surprise that the Scottish front row are so spent they can’t scrummage. Watch back that passage (beginning around 75:20) and count how many tackles the Scottish front row have to make – and that’s even before you consider how far they’re running.
So why did the glorious Gwlad front-row all stay on for so long? Well, there are a few reasons. One is because they played so well and didn’t look like they were fading. Head Coach Ioan Cunningham clearly trusts the three of them, and wants to reward their exceptional form. The second reason is conditioning. All three of them are unbelievably fit, and can still get into shape faster than their opposition in the 79th minute. That’s next level.
And another reason, surely, is psychology. Everyone knows how rare it is to leave a full front row on for an entire game, so imagine the confidence boost it must give you knowing you’ve been trusted to stay on ahead of such fantastic stalwarts as Carys Phillips, Cara Hope and Cerys Hale!
In the 2019 Men’s World Cup, Bongi Mbonambi was initially picked ahead of Malcolm Marx; arguably the best hooker in the world at the time, and was told he could keep the shirt until he delivered a performance below an 8 or a 9 out of 10, which Marx delivers every week. Mbonambi’s 7/10 game simply never came, and that may well be the situation Kelsey Jones finds herself in right now.
Whatever happens against England on Saturday, one thing’s for certain: She absolutely deserves the freedom of Port Talbot.
Comments on RugbyPass
Big difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to comments