Why Wales blew the last RWC and can win this one.

First topic message reminder :

It all has to do with belief or a lack of it in the leader we had. Gareth Jenkings was the worst coach we have had since Waldron and there was a lack of belief in what he was doing by the players. At that WC we had a great crop of players - the best we have probably ever had at a WC including the Northern Hemispheres greatest ever try scorer at his peak. In the build up there were a lot of rumblings in the camp but nobody would put their head above the parapet because of what had happened with Ruddoch.

Now we have Gatland and the players do believe in him. He has sorted out our forwards and made them capable of competing with every other team - which is a first since the 70's. This was the key thing that needed to happen and he has done it. I know that our backs have not fired and our attack approach has been too predictable but now that will start to change. You cannot fix everything at once and fixing the forwards is the most important thing to do.

All we need now is some momentum and then we will be very hard to beat. If we start to attack well and then we get out of our group and we will really believe that we can win it and the truth is that we can. We have lacked belief for a long time and when we get it we will be be able to beat anybody - with a bit of luck and good karma of-course.

Also, in terms of belief MR Henson could play a pivotal role. Imagine if he starts firing in these warm up and group games. Then the other players will look at him and see somebody who has faced down the odds and the pre-conceptions and has come through a winner - somebody who believes in themselves and challenges their fears...and that sh*t is contagious.

A team needs to believe in its management and each other to win a big tournament - if either are broken it wont work.

deadfred wrote:that sh*t is contagious.

Word.

Well, I suppose you can't dismiss as a philosophical possibility that we'll win it, but I don't think many of us will be staking our houses on it. Whether we'll be remotely competitive depends to a fair extent on injury and form for a whole bunch of players, Matthew Rees and Leigh Halfpenny being top of the list along with Lee Byrne. We just don't have enough strength in depth in many positions.

I have an awful feeling our lineout isn't going to function and we are going to be tactically two steps behind everyone else. Again.

Looking back over the 56 years I've supported Wales, they've played some magnificent games at home and away in the 5/6 Nations.
But it's hard to recall a Welsh side that was really good when playing down under. The first time they toured there, in 1969, they went as 5 Nations champions and came home shattered and well-beaten by the All Blacks.
They haven't fared much better on other excursions to the other side of the globe.
It's true they finished 3rd in the first world cup in 1987, yet they were comprehensively walloped by New Zealand in the semis and played a very uninterested Australia for 3rd/4th place. They were nowhere near lifting the cup.
I know too that people will point to the Welsh contribution to the winning '71 and '74 Lions, yet they were mainly brilliant backs and most - though admittedly not all - of the grunt in the teams came from the other three countries. Like every fan back home, I was thrilled by some of the rugby played by those Lions, but it wasn't just the Welsh players
After all these years of supporting them, I'd love Wales to win the rugby world cup in New Zealand. Will it happen? No.

this person is a real fan!

wales will make the quaters. if they can get through aus or ire then wales will have had their best rwc since the first. if wales make the semi they will play eng.

the final will be against NZ. no one will beat NZ.