The Butterfly Effect

England just completed a 3-0 series win in Australia.
Wales just lost 3-0 to New Zealand, putting in a good showing for 70 minutes of the first test and for 50 minutes of the second test before folding in the third.

The two teams seem worlds apart on the surface, but just 3 and a half months ago Wales were staging a comeback that made England fans hide behind the couch that was eventually ended by what looked like a marginal call from the touch judge to leave Wales 4 points short of another famous 28-25 win at Twickenham, 6 months after dumping England out of their own World Cup.

One call from a touch judge, but how different would it have been had play on been the call and Wales gone on to score a winning try?

For a start, no Grand Slam for England. Add one more year to the tally. No Championship either, as Wales win against Italy would see them pip England to that as well. Eddie Jones certainly wouldn't have got the same level of adulation.

But my question is, would the mental scars have opened back up, had England lost a game they should have put to bed? What would have happened when Australia went 10-0 up in that first test? When they were battering England's line in the second? Would England have held firm?

And Wales, how would the belief they would have taken from another away win at Twickenham and another Six Nations Championship? Would it have been enough to carry them through the last 10 minutes of that first test? Would it have been enough to get them to fight back in that second tests? And would that third test have been any different if the series had been poised at 1-1?

They say a butterfly flapping its wings can cause an earthquake on the other side of the world, but how influential was that one moment in the recent tours? Did that give England momentum? Would Wales have done better with that momentum? Or would it not have made a difference?

You only have to look at the England football team at the Euros to see what a team bereft of confidence and afraid of failure looks like.

Or, if Wales hadn't been soundly beaten by a glorified Saxons outfit just before the tours, maybe they would have had the confidence to go on and win a game and England's momentum have been fatally compromised. Still a butterfly, but a much closer one.

Irrelevant, Wales can beat European sides they just can't beat the southern hemisphere sides...

It simply has to be mental / psychological thing as on I've seen them play at a standard that SHOULD beat them

robbo277 wrote:One call from a touch judge, but how different would it have been had play on been the call and Wales gone on to score a winning try?

How different? Not very. If it had not been called as in touch the Welsh player was about to be put into the second row by Itoje.

What i don't understand about Wales and the summer tour is, why do Wales play a other game in the week.


England went to Australia and played 3 test matches.

Wales went to New Zealand and played 3 test matches, + an extra game in the week. "WHY "

Is it a finance thing? or is it part of Gataolnd's plane too expose all the Welsh players to New Zealand rugby.
Give every one a game.