1
Wales captain Dan Biggar has refused to blame referee Mike Adamson for Wales’ narrow defeat at the hands of England in Twickenham.
ADVERTISEMENT
Wales’ 23-19 defeat against left them nine points off the scorching pace set by unbeaten leaders France. The loss consigned them to a fifth successive Six Nations loss at Twickenham, where they have not won in the tournament since 2012.
Head coach Wayne Pivac has claimed that the sole England try was illegal. No.8 Alex Dombrandt snuck over after a Welsh lineout overthrow, which Pivac alleges came as a result of a push to the back of secondrow Adam Beard.
Moreover, Wales appeared to struggle with referee Adamson’s interpretation at the ruck, and England flyhalf Marcus Smith took his opportunities, collecting an 18-point haul.
Biggar said: “We felt like we were not quite on the right end of it.
“You look at some of the calls – some are perhaps debatable, but some are clear. We’ve got no complaints about the performance of the referee at all.
“We have to look at ourselves. The start we made in that first 20 minutes, we deserved to be down on the scoreboard.
“We actually made some decent dents in that first half, but we couldn’t back up good on good.
“We know we haven’t quite got it right, but I thought we threatened the line and we brought a lot of players into play really well.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We have got to get that on the pitch from minute one. It allows us to dictate things. We have to get that on the pitch early doors, as opposed to being reactionary.”
Pivac insists that Wales have “plenty to play for” despite seeing their hopes of a successful Guinness Six Nations title defence effectively ended.
Les Bleus, on the scent of a first Grand Slam for 12 years, need victory over Wales and England to complete a clean sweep.
ADVERTISEMENT
France are averaging 34 points and four tries per game in this season’s tournament, which underpins their tag of being firm favourites when they head to Cardiff on March 11.
“We have two home games left, and from our point of view they are very important,” Wales head coach Pivac said.
“We would like to finish strongly, especially at home. What better place than to try and pick up a result against France, who are playing so well at the moment.
“There is plenty to play for. We’ve had two fantastic matches over the last couple of Six Nations against France.
“They are a good side, and it is going to be a great game if the last two are anything to go by.”
Wales have lost just one of their last five home matches against France in the Six Nations, but it will take a Herculean effort to keep that sequence going.
France’s imposing all-court game suggests few weaknesses, especially at the critical breakdown area, where Wales were guilty of discipline lapses against England.
Pivac added: “Some of them were silly penalties, not rolling away, getting trapped on the wrong side of the tackle.
“A couple of times we got isolated after line-breaks. Those things happen.
“It is an area of the game we are working hard on, and it is something we need to get right for France because they are dangerous.”
Despite scoring three second-half tries during an impressive fightback from 17-0 down, Wales were ultimately undone by the goalkicking of Smith and Dombrandt’s try.
Comments on RugbyPass
Pick 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.
15 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 commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
15 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
15 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
15 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
15 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
15 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
15 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to comments