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The coast to coast reason why Italy have Gatland and Wales worried
Wales know they must stall the coast to coast Italy attacking game in their quest for an overdue Guinness Six Nations victory on Saturday. The only countries without a Six Nations win this season go head to head at Stadio Olimpico in Rome. It is 20 years since Wales finished bottom of the pile and were wooden spoon recipients, but that scenario could now easily unfold.
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Successive defeats against Ireland, Scotland and England have left Wales scrambling around the Six Nations basement, yet to break their points duck and scoring only three tries in more than four hours of rugby.
Italy are one point above them, courtesy of a losing bonus collected against France, but six tries in losses to Les Bleus, England and Ireland showcased an adventurous approach.
“They are definitely the most athletic (Italy) side that we have seen,” Wales head coach Warren Gatland said. “They try to play a wide-wide game. They have had some success in the tournament, but they have also been squeezed.
“England knocked them back and put them under pressure, and Ireland changed defensively after being caught narrow and put them under pressure as they got more width in the second half.
“They will try to move the ball from their own 22 and play a lot of rugby from coast to coast. If you get caught and get narrow, you will get punished. But you can also get rewards from getting your spacing and line speed right.”
Gatland has chopped and changed in terms of selection throughout the tournament, with only Josh Adams, Joe Hawkins, captain Ken Owens and Adam Beard being picked to start all four games. Wales have just five matches left before a testing World Cup opener against Fiji in Bordeaux on September 10, with work continuing on combinations and forging the right blend of youth and experience.
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There is another opportunity for a new Wales centre partnership of Mason Grady and Hawkins, while Exeter lock Dafydd Jenkins has been preferred to the 157-cap Alun Wyn Jones as Beard’s second-row colleague.
Gatland added: “We have had a lot of changes and midfield partnerships, so it is about getting some continuity there. There is a 9-10-12 familiarity there with the Ospreys (Rhys Webb, Owen Williams and Hawkins) and the centre partnership from the (Wales) U20s.
“Dafydd Jenkins is still learning his roles in terms of calling the lineouts, defensively, but he has got a bit of a hard edge about him. For him, the challenge is the pace and intensity of international rugby and coping with that.
“He is physical and carries the ball well, and he has definitely got a lot of attributes in terms of improving over time, really. We are still giving players a chance to impress. There is a balance between continuity and seeing where players are at this level. There are some players who have improved and others who still need time at this level.”
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A 33-strong playing group will head from Rome to Nice, with Wales basing themselves on the Mediterranean coast for five days ahead of tackling France. But the immediate priority is a first win since Wales toppled Argentina four months ago and improving a miserable 20 per cent success rate over the last 15 Tests.
Comments on RugbyPass
There’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
7 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
7 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
132 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
132 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
132 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
7 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
7 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
132 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
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