FRONT ROW LEGEND
THE first thing I’ll say is we’ll take the win, thank you very much, but for all the talk about not knowing which French side was going to turn up, nobody expected that from Wales in the first half on Friday night.
There was a saying I heard many times as a young rugby player and that’s you make your own luck in rugby as well as in life.
In that opening 40 minutes we didn’t give Lady Luck any sort of chance to play a part.
What ball we did win, we gave it away through bad handling, bad decision-making, poor execution and ill-discipline.
It allowed France to build up a lead that should have been unassailable. In fact, the home side could have been out of sight had their goal-kicking been up to international standards.
But after the break France started making the mistakes that we did in the first, gift-wrapping George North two tries.
Thankfully, we were able to somehow emerge with a crucial win and can now look forward to Rome with confidence.
Wales will be better for the remainder of the tournament because I can’t see how they can be that bad again.
Warren Gatland has indicated he might reshuffle for the Italian game, but I would be careful about making too many changes.
In the back three, a lot depends how Liam Williams is after his knock to the head in the second half.
I thought he looked threatening throughout and should have scored that try. He has been criticised for not passing, but the only thing he did wrong was not ground the ball – 19 times out of 20 he doesn’t make that mistake.
Josh Adams was another who lifted himself above the ordinary and didn’t seem to catch the same error bug as his team-mates.
As for George North, he took his chances well, but he wasn’t my man of the match, nowhere near and he will be disappointed with his defence for Yoann Huget’s try.
I’d make a change in midfield next weekend. I’m not quite sure about Hadleigh Parkes.
He doesn’t seem the player he was when he first burst onto the international stage.
I would go with Owen Watkin against Italy and if he goes well, possibly for the rest of the tournament.
As for half-back that remains a concern for Gatland. Gareth Anscombe had a poor game. I thought he took his opportunities well in the autumn, but it didn’t go his way against France, although the others around him didn’t do too much to help.
In the build-up to the game, Gatland said he had been selected to boost his confidence. I thought it was the wrong thing to say, a big part of confidence is believing you are number one choice.
Inside him, his Cardiff Blues team-mate Tomos Williams wasn’t able to get the ball whizzing away, France targeted the rucks and it was all a bit messy.
If Wales were playing a Grand Slam game next weekend, it would be a tough choice, but I would have to go with Dan Biggar in the No.10 jersey.
Up front, the scrums appeared to go OK until the one towards the end when Samson Lee was under pressure.
Although France picked a huge pack I didn’t expect them to come hard at Wales at the scrum – the main reason being they picked Uini Atonio, who in my eye is a overweight back-rower. He carries well against tired legs, but he’s not a destructive scrummager.
The Welsh front row can be pretty satisfied with their efforts and I would stick with all three.
Adam Beard was a big success story during the autumn, but he was quiet against France and maybe we’ll see either Cory Hill or Jake Ball alongside Alun Wyn Jones in Rome.
As for the back-row, I thought they were outstanding. Justin Tipuric maintained his usual lofty standards; Ross Moriarty was excellent considering how little rugby he has played of late, while Josh Navidi put in a big shift, grafting throughout.
In the absence of Taulupe Faletau and Ellis Jenkins, they should be Gatland’s first choice for the rest of the campaign.
How much Gatland changes remains to be seen.
Sometimes, you have got to shake things up a little bit to get your point across, but in World Cup year, it’s not the time for experimenting.
Wales are up and running in this tournament. And I am sure they won’t play as badly again. this week IN ASSOCIATION WITH