ESCAPE TO VICTORY
Outplayed by France, red card lets Gatland’s men grab win
IT WAS an act of grand larceny and Warren Gatland knew it. He didn’t even try to hide it. When the Wales coach went to console his opposite number, he spread his arms wide, as if joyously bewildered.
The gesture towards Jacques Brunel was telling. Gatland’s team had escaped to victory. Deep down, he will have known that they scarcely deserved to snatch this result, which propels them into a second World Cup semi-final in the space of eight years. At least he had the good grace to admit that the French had been unlucky.
Somehow, Wales played poorly — really poorly — and survived to tell the tale. They benefited from two gifts; one from the opposition and one from the officials.
First, France lock Sebastien Vahaamahina slung an elbow into the face of Aaron Wainwright and got himself sent off, just when his side were threatening to score another try and take a grip of this logic-defying quarter-final.
That incident came with half an hour remaining. The gift from the officials followed with just six minutes left. Gatland was sat powerless in the coaches’ box, watching his 12-year regime ebbing away in front of him when Wales were helped to get out of jail.
France had a scrum in front of their line and they were driven back powerfully by the Welsh pack. Tomos Williams ripped the ball from the grasp of Louis Picamoles and Justin Tipuric grabbed it barely a metre out. He hurled himself forward but was stopped short by Camille Lopez.
But Ross Moriarty — who had been sin-binned earlier, soon after coming on as a replacement — was alongside in support and he was able to pick up and lunge over to score.
Up in the stand, Gatland maintained a measured expression, but inside he must have been churning. Referee Jaco Peyper referred the try-scoring sequence to TMO Marius Jonker and replays seemed to suggest that the ball had looped marginally forward after it was dislodged by Williams.
Yet, having reviewed it carefully, the TMO and referee agreed to award the try.
Suddenly, the escape was on. Dan Biggar duly dispatched the routine conversion and Wales were ahead, by a single point.
They still had to hold on as France raged gallantly against the dying of the light but the Grand Slam champions demonstrated their resilience and resolve in those tense moments at the end.
They resisted gamely in the scrum, ran down the clock and eventually Biggar was able to dispatch the ball into the stand, to complete the improbable comeback.
For Gatland, the late try prevented his tenure in charge of Wales ending in grim fashion, after so many glorious peaks over the years. But when the relief subsides, he will be in no doubt about the equation this week. If his side are not transformed in the space of seven days, their title challenge will end next weekend.
Yesterday, France were better in virtually every aspect of the game other than the crucial matter of accumulating points. They were powerful and fluent and creative. Their scrum-half, Antoine Dupont, delivered a masterclass. Their centres, Gael Fickou and Virimi Vakatawa — the latter in particular — ran amok in midfield and spread mayhem in the Welsh defence.
If Wales want to fly under the radar, their performance was a perfect means of doing so.
They will be written off, which is just how Gatland will like it.
What he won’t like is the task of reviewing the last half hour, when his players toiled to overturn a deficit against 14 men.
The Welsh attack scarcely functioned at all. There was no authority when they sought to shift the ball wide. Their decisionmaking unravelled alarmingly.
But still, they found a way to win — and extend their crusade to the penultimate round of this tournament. In 2011, that was where it ended, with defeat to these opponents in Auckland.
They will surely need Jonathan Davies back if they are to avoid the same fate this time. The Lions centre was ruled out shortly before kick-off and his guile and nous were sorely missed.
Gatland knows that his side was fortunate, but a lucky win was preferable to his regime ending with a tame World Cup demise.