From: cjp@aber.ac.uk (C J Price)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.rugby
Subject: Wales XV 43 Italy 12
Date: 8 Oct 92 16:01:29 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept., UCW Aberystwyth

Last night Wales triumphed over insurmountable odds.
No, not the Italians, but Fred Howard, the scourge of the Welsh.

It was a particularly satisfying evening for me. I've only ever seen
fiery Fred in action on the box before, but we had tickets quite near
the touchline, so I could express in person the invective I've only
ever managed to voice at my TV before.

Fred gave me my first opportunity just a few minutes into the game
when the Welsh went over for an excellent try which he immediately
disallowed. He was fairly subdued for the rest of the first half, but
as the Welsh relaxed 29 points ahead, he came back with a number of
questionable decisions which put the Italians firmly in Welsh
territory and over for their first try.

Seriously folks, it was an interesting match to be at (but as an
armchair watcher, I missed having action replays). The Welsh scored
seven tries, with two in reply by Italy halfway through the second
half. The second Italian try was excellent, with superb running angles
and passing blowing a hole in the Welsh defence. The scorer of that
try, Cuttita, and the full back Vaccari looked very good. 

Wales were by far the better team, their backs easily outclassing the
Italians when they wanted to, but with a few worrying aspects for when
they play serious teams. Webster and Stuart Davies were very
influential again - they have made a big difference to the Welsh back
row. Scott Gibb put in some crunching tackles and some big runs.

The biggest worry was the lineout. Recall that the Welsh team lost the
lineout against Australia last year by 26-2. They struggled against
Italy yesterday (impression: again, when you are there you miss the
detailed statistics they give you on TV). My heart sank as I saw a
Welsh put in to a 3-man lineout go straight to the unmarked Italian
number 8. More encouraging was the amount of loose ball won by the
Welsh - but you can't expect that against a better team.

Next biggest worry was the fact that Wales still do not have a kicker
who can put the ball between the posts regularly. Colin Stephens gets
my "man most likely to be dropped" award. 

Less significant, but appalling, was the ineptness with the tapped
penalty. Maybe half a dozen by the Welsh. The best result was a
lumbering charge, a quick ruck and some second phase ball.

There was some good play among the Welsh backs, but some (e.g. Rayer's
run for the final try) was club-level rugby that worked against the
Italians, but would not get him near the line against a stronger
defence.

So what is going to happen against Australia. Easy. We will lose badly
in the lineout, and starved of good possession, our backs won't get a
sniff at a run. We've seen it all before.....

Still, it was nice to stick 40 points on some else for a change.

Cheers,

Chris Price
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Chris Price, Department of Computer Science, University College of Wales,
             Aberystwyth, Dyfed, SY23 3BZ, United Kingdom.
email: cjp@uk.ac.aber (within UK) cjp@aber.ac.uk (rest of world?)
Telephone: 0970-622444
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