Sunday 16 March 2014

Wales 51 v Scotland 3

Ouch! Greg Laidlaw put Scotland in front at the Millennium Stadium yesterday and then I had to suffer seven Welsh tries as Scotland were routed. The dismissal of Stuart Hogg after twenty minutes finished any lingering hopes of a competitive match. Most of us missed the tackle for which Hogg was initially yellow carded but a replay on the huge screen had the crowd, the Scots included, gasping at the brutality of the follow-through on Dan Biggar. The referree also saw it the same way and flourished a red card at Hogg who was, by now, in the dugout.

Time for a few more beers and I was able to reflect on what a fine stadium they have, especially with the roof closed as it was yesterday. I was also receiving text updates from the New Den where we managed to prevent Millwall from scoring and secured another nil-nil draw. We are afloat again with the point and are above Yeovil and Barnsley on goal difference. Millwall remain three points ahead of us but we must have growing confidence that we can close the gap and finish above the three sides who are as poor as us.

Bournemouth should be beatable on Tuesday night at the Valley but we will have to reckon with the Kermogant factor. It's an early opportunity for the feisty Frenchman to make three points to M Duchatelet. We will need to hope there is a settling for mid-table amongst Kermy, Harry After, Simon Francis and company.

Finally, I was encouraged to learn this week of the organisation of 20-odd prominent supporters who are as concerned as many of us at the sacking of Chris Powell and the direction in which the club appears to be moving as part of M Duchatelet's cabal of clubs. They are seeking dialogue with the owner. Hopefully our fears are unfounded but we deserve some reassurances about the future. By contrast, it was good to see a planning application being revisited for upgrading the facilities at Sparrows Lane. That at least augers well for the future if acted upon. In the meantime it looks like we are going to dice with relegation until the very end of the season.

3 comments:

  1. Thoroughly enjoyed the rugby yesterday (didn't watch the Wales/Scotland game) England must be gutted about the late try that The Italians scored, especially with Ireland only managing a 2 point victory over France, the try knocked the stuffing out of us and without that I believe England would have scored more, that said, in a way I'm glad England were not crowned champions, they still have a lot to prove, being a young side and being crowned 6 Nations champions would have only heaped expectant pressure on them, their tour of NZ will be very interesting.

    I don't often agree with Lewis Moody but on one item that he conversed on yesterday I was in full agreement, they pondered on the upcoming Wales/ Scotland game and Moody said that he genuinely worried about the future of the Scottish side, he said that they really need to look at improving club rugby in Scotland, as at the moment, they only really have 2 sides from which they can pick players, he also said that he thought Wales would win comfortably.

    I've never been to the Millenium Stadium, everybody says that it's a cracking stadium, I think Twickenham is pretty special but I'm told that the Millenium knocks spots off of Twickers and also the new Wembley (not been there either).

    By all accounts, that New Cross lot were pretty poor yesterday and were there for the taking, think Yann could have been the difference yesterday and I just know he's going to score against us midweek.

    PH

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  2. PH - I was pleased for O'Driscol that he got to celebrate his last international with the trophy. You may have a point re pressure on England but I'm sure Stuart Lancaster would have taken it.

    I watched the England game in the Princess of Wales in Cardiff. Every time England scored there was a cheer from the England supporters watching and an immediate crescendo of booing from the Welsh and the Scots. It was all in good spirit, much along the lines of the banned BBC 6 Nations ad. Don't know if you've seen it but it's a good laugh.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2568628/As-long-beat-English-BBC-Six-Nations-advert-banned-unsupportive-England-rugby-team-goes-viral-leaked-online.html

    I don't get the "only two teams in Scotland" line. If they were both doing better it wouldn't be a problem. The fact is very few of our players are good enough to play at the top clubs. We were in for a hiding yesterday and the sending off didn't help.

    Perhaps Vern Cotter will work some magic?

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  3. I believe Yann's injured & won't play.
    AC

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