New Zealand v Wales Preview

By Lestyn (19/06/03)
June 19 2003

At eight in the morning British time, Wales will face the almighty force that is the All Blacks. Wakito stadium in Hamilton is the venue where many expect the touring side to crash to their eighth defeat in a row.

But their is growing hope among the more optimistic of you that Wales could actually put up a good fight and give the home team a game. Last weeks encouraging performance in the loss to Australia, has given a side clearly short on confidence a major boost. Admittedly the Aussies were not firing on all Cylinders, but at least now Steve Hansen's team has something positive to build on.

Let's hope the player's don't become to complacent, because New Zealand will definitely be a completely different challenge all together. The All Blacks have always played a with an aggressive "in your face" approach, after last Saturday's narrow defeat in Wellington to England. They were let down by the boot of Carlos Spencer, and their inability to exploit the amount of possession and territory they had.

Spencer who was on fire during the super 12 for the Blues remains at outside half, however The Crusaders Dan Carter comes in at inside centre and may take over the kicking role instead. Loads of changes all round by Mitchell, Wales have the frightening prospect of facing both Howlett and Rokocoko on the wing. Mark Jones and Shanklin will have a tough job keeping up.

The expected changes up front will see the home side have a far more dynamic approach to the game. Jerry Collins and Marty Holah are both very mobile and fast back rowers, which will mean Colin Charvis will have to step up a gear. But Charvis is gradually approving, he may just get back to his best soon. Martyn Williams shaking off his ankle strain is a vital plus, he'll need to put in his usual work rate and more. As the Cardiff open side showed last week, he's quickly becoming one of the best exponents of slowing opposition ball up. Let's just hop he doesn't get a good stamping like English players did.

The other member of the back row, Dafydd Jones plays his first competitive match for over two months. A little bit risky, but it was Charvis's first last week for an even longer time. Jonathan Thomas did very well when you consider how little first class rugby he's had. We'll be looking for a massive display from Jones, similar to the one he put in against England in the Six Nations. Popham's ulucky not to make the bench.

Up front will as always be a key area in deciding the outcome of internationals, but for us it will absolutely crucial if we want to even compete with New Zealand. In the front five Wales gave Australia more of a challenge than they would have expected. Robert Sidoli and Gethin Jenkins were immense, Sidoli particular had the lineout sewn up, although credit must go to McBryde, who's throwing has improved since they got rid of all that tap dancing nonsense. Gareth Llewellyn remains at lock, but I felt that Chris Wyatt had a big game in him.

Basically our game plan must be to keep the game amongst the forwards, and kick for territory. Physically I don't think our back are quite big enough for the challenge. There's some useful pace in Rhys Williams and Jamie Robinson, but unless Taylor bucks up his ideas and actually starts sending players into gaps in the All Black defence, we'll be back to the frustrations of last weeks match.

Verdict-

The head says All Blacks by 25, the heart as always wants a Welsh win. Good Luck boy's,

The teams-

New Zealand: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Tana Umaga (vice-captain), 12 Daniel Carter, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Carlos Spencer, 9 Steve Devine, 8 Jerry Collins, 7 Marty Holah, 6 Reuben Thorne (captain), 5 Ali Williams, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Kees Meeuws, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Carl Hoeft.
Replacements: 16 Anton Oliver, 17 Dave Hewett, 18 Brad Thorn, 19 Richard McCaw, 20 Byron Kelleher, 21 Aaron Mauger, 22 Caleb Ralph.

Wales: 15 Rhys Williams, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Jamie Robinson, 12 Mark Taylor, 11 Tom Shanklin, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Colin Charvis, 7 Martyn Williams (captain), 6 Dafydd Jones, 5 Gareth Llewellyn, 4 Robert Sidoli, 3 Gethin Jenkins, 2 Robin McBryde, 1 Iestyn Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Mefin Davies, 17 Ben Evans, 18 Chris Wyatt, 19 Jonathan Thomas, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 Ceri Sweeney, 22 Gavin Henson.