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Wales are dominating the Rugby World Cup in one area of the game
Mike Forshaw has described effort and hard work as Wales’ “bread and butter” as they build towards the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals.
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Wales were the first team to secure last-eight status, which they achieved following a record 40-6 victory over Pool C rivals Australia.
Japan or Argentina now await them in the knockout phase, although their one remaining group game against Georgia in Nantes next Saturday will see them guaranteed to progress as group winners if they triumph.
While Wales have scored 11 tries in the tournament so far, their defence – Forshaw’s specialist area – has been a dominant factor.
Defence 
141
Tackles Made
124
19
Tackles Missed
15
88%
Tackle Completion %
89%
They have made 506 tackles in three matches, while four players – Jac Morgan, Gareth Thomas, Will Rowlands and Taulupe Faletau – are all among the competition’s top 20, individually.
“We’ve had a lot of tackling practice haven’t we?” Wales assistant coach Forshaw said.
“You have got to give the boys a bit of credit. I think at the weekend (against Australia), the first 20 minutes was up to around 75 tackles, compared with Australia’s 20-odd.
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“Sometimes we are going to have to defend, we are going to be under the pump.
“I understand that in this competition because there are good teams, but I would like to see us playing a bit more, having a bit more even-stevens of a game where we get a bit more time to express ourselves with the ball.
“But when we have not got the ball, it is about that switch of transition and how good we can be. I always say the defence is the start of our attack.
“The biggest thing I like coaching is effort. We have to work hard and that is the bread and butter for us at the moment. These lads have been brilliant.
“If you are under 10 penalties (conceded) in this game and you are under 10 turnovers (conceded), you more or less win the game.
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“We were accurate, but I don’t want to get too carried away. We have got to repeat that.”
Wales’ players have returned to the training pitch following four days off and all attention is now on Georgia, a team that toppled them in Cardiff last November.
Whether head coach Warren Gatland makes changes remains to be seen, but it cannot be ruled out as Wales prepare for the World Cup’s business-end.
Forshaw added: “The last couple of days, I’ve watched their (Georgia’s) games and I think they can be dangerous.
“I think they throw the ball around well. They’ve got a very dangerous full-back. They have some heavy forwards around set-pieces. They get into your five-metre channel.
“It is how we manage that game. We won’t be taking them lightly, that is for sure.
“We’ve got a selection meeting on Sunday evening. I’ve got a couple of ideas, I’m sure that Warren has got a couple of ideas and some of the other staff.
“If I’m totally honest with you, I’m not sure on that question on what we will do with the team, but one thing is for sure, we will be a strong team.”
Comments on RugbyPass
As you say in your article Brett, the point was Hamish and his vanity - plain and simple. The crazy bit is that sua’ali’i has to be probably twice the player of mark N, no easy feat, just for RA to get their money's worth!?! And as you say, tahs aren't short of wingers, props on the other hand id like to see $1.6m spent on. I still shake my head at the absolute carry on in the media and comments section around the boon of getting sua’ali’i and the revenue it'd generate. It was all such hogwash imo and short sighted, real sugar hit stuff. And wasnt Waugh (and others) on the board at the time this money was spent? You say silver bullet, I'd say sugar hit but without the flavour.
1 Go to commentsNZR should play hard all a bit with some of these players and make them sign up to the next world cup. If they won’t, offer it to someone who will. Because what happens is the NH (especially France) swoop on a bunch of nz players coming off contract, weakening their depth, and nz scrambles less than 2 years out trying to get replacements up to speed.
1 Go to commentsNo thanks. Savea almost always leaves easy points out there and goes for the corner, no matter how many times it’s not working. He claimed he took “the learnings” from this when he kept making the same mistake against the Boks a few years ago. Then went out the very next week and did the same thing and SA snatched victory because of it. Years later he still does it, right up to and including the world cup final. Great player, not so great rugby nous.
10 Go to commentsIt certainly wasn't a rhetorical masterpiece coming from big E …. (just as a side remark: Eben is the better player, Siya by far the better talker - maybe that's why they don't seem to like each other very much) …. but could we please move on?
46 Go to commentsMan who wasn't there and hasn't held a conversation with those who were present weighs in on dead rubber debate and is presented as representative of the Irish Rugby Union’s spokesperson on subject he has no apparent knowledge of whatsoever.
46 Go to commentsanybody who bends at the waist when they tackle
3 Go to commentsThe evidence is not strong that this is necessary. Mounga choked on clutch kicks in the WRC final and lost the match by not performing his core goal kicking role to the level required. He also choked in the Semi final against England and was targeted as the weak point in the defence allowing them to score. Not a test great frankly. Why bend the rules for a player that is competent but not brilliant at test level?
11 Go to commentsDear Robbie, Please return to the Crusaders next season. Sincerely, Scott
1 Go to commentsDid the big E call the Irish the ‘White Can’ts’? That would’ve been good
46 Go to commentsDalton Papalii will be lucky to be selected on the Matchday 23. Ardie Savea, Ethan Blackadder, Luke Jacobson, and Peter Lauki are all as good or better openside flankers
10 Go to commentsScott Barrett is a lock and they have a much longer shelf life than a loose forward. Far more likely that Barrett will still demand a starting position based on performance at age 33 at RWC 2027 than Savea, whose explosive athleticism will have declined and he will in all likelihood have been surpassed by Hoskins Sotutu, Wallace Siti, Peter Lauki and Brayden Iose.
10 Go to commentsExtremely frustrating to get yet more speculation over whether or not Eben actually counted 12 players or not, but honestly big respect to McCloskey for keeping it classy and not pointing out Etzebeth’s hypocrisy. The Irish are a popular team outside of Ireland because they do their talking on the pitch, and its honestly a PR masterclass that they’re keeping it that way following Etzebeth’s provocation.
46 Go to commentsGood option for the lineout lost there.
1 Go to commentsIt’s not like Saffas have a long history of spouting absolute shite at any & every occasion. Oh wait… The dangers of an inferior third world education strike again.
46 Go to commentsI’m so glad we’re revisiting this. Really needs to be dissected further. I’m also so glad that a guy in the stands who wasn’t anywhere near the field when any of it would have been said (and even confirms this) has taken the lead and commented as Ireland. Definitely cleared it all up. This article would be hilarious if it wasn’t so misleading.
46 Go to commentsits such a shame he hasn’t achieved more success at club level. He’s really not been a potent finisher for a while now, but he’s still excellent in the kick chase. That’s the kind of skillset that generally only gets appreciated when you’re playing in premiership and european finals. I’m not sure whether the challenge cup counts given the quality of the competition seems lower than in previous years, but his duel with Mapimpi should be enthralling.
1 Go to commentsThe point is the irish players were arrogant,call it like you want sugar coat it aswell but they were you could see it in their way they handeled themselfs on the field when they got something right so dont tell me it was not arrogance it was,you can fool other people but not me,and to say to one of our players see you in the final put a nail in the coffin for this bullsh@t,just be grown men and accept it that you were arrogant,you could if seen it from a mile away, and then you lost to the allblacks what a cocky move that didnt work out for you ,Eben was right when he said u were arrogant,the point is you will deny it because you lost it all just grow some balls and move on we had won you lost accept it.
46 Go to comments“summer tour of North and South America” so its a summer tour of america?
1 Go to commentsEverybody is giving the Irish players the benefit of the doubt in ‘what they meant’, but none of these pundits or commentators offer the same courtesy to Eben. I don’t think Eben went, 1, 2, 3… etc. What might have happened is he didn’t count and when the 3rd or 5th guy said he went, hang on why are so many of them saying this… and then started to concentrate on it more and more as players continue to say it. So no, he didn’t count it, he realised many Irish players said it and made an assumption based on that… The Irish team was VERY confident at the time and I do believe they believed they were going to win the World Cup, which borders a bit on the arrogant side…
46 Go to commentsI can see how some of the Irish players would have said”see you in the final” as a gentle comment after a victory. It’s open to interpretation but it’s clumsy language. I don’t know the fella but I assure you Eben doesn’t have an axe to grind with Ireland. He has never been the media seeking pro. Oh and BTW it is I’ll be our winter in July so won’t be wet.
46 Go to comments