A great advert for the game of rugby union (no scrums in the first half ) and an awesome display by the Wallabies. Although gutted again I take some comfort that we were only four points away from a team who would have beaten anyone with that performance. I believe we'll win the 6 Nations again next year and will emerge from Group A during the 2015 World Cup!

This optimism, I like it! I don't think we stand a chance in hell of getting out of that group, not with a good Australian side and an England side that will have grown up a bit by then.

Decent game - though I am reminded why (as a Wales fan) I don't go to watch them live much anymore. There is not a more irritating crowd in world rugby than the ones in the Millennium Stadium; very few understand the game and they disrespect even our own kickers (ie wolf whistling at Halfpenny), sat there quietly with my Australian dad and pint for most of it. When we went to watch England he had lovely banter with fans there about Aussies and that, the Wales fans were outright nasty to him. And mostly drunk. I probably won't go there again, dare I say it but Twickenham/Aviva have much better atmospheres and fans.

Gatland's comments after the game were ill-judged and makes him look like a bad loser.

Agree with others upthread re SW - Tipuric is the better player atm, no-one can argue that! Lydiate also isn't the player he was.

(also don't understand Gatland's stubbornness re Hook. I know he's on and off but when he's on he always tries something. He's a better option than both Biggar and Priestland atm).

We didn't deserve to win, correct result in the end. Still a worry to me that we constantly kick possession away when it never works in our favour. Why kick if (a) Israel Foleu is there and (b) you're not even going to try and chase it anyway? Summed up by Liam Williams doing all the hardwork to keep the ball in play and then instantly kicking it straight back to Australia. What's the point?

Haven't watched in on tv but my feelings in "real life" were that the Quade Cooper yellow was harsh and that the right decision was given re the "forward" pass. I was sat in the lower tier right on the line of it and thought it was marginal at best (though biased Wales fans around me didn't!). I was always under the impression that if the call cannot be 100% that you gave benefit of the doubt to the attacking team.

Edit: Ooo, and that Quade Cooper underarm pass for the Leali'ifano try. Sublime.

The other one where he got it under North's arm to the winger who then passed it to Genia (who spilled it) was even better.

Yes! What a player he is! I'm almost glad that Robbie Deans hated him so much and the Lions didn't have to play him

(speaking of that, how did Genia manage to drop it! Even I could have caught it and my girls rugby team used to call me "Knock-On [surname]" )

This is what is missing from England's games currently - a magician like Cooper (albeit an occasionally vulnerable one - meaning he puts the team in the proverbial sometimes). By contrast England are too stagnant and methodical. What a brilliant game - must be some kind of record having no scrums until the 46th minute?

Yes it can. Physics not your strong suit.

I think England are going to struggle to get out of the group. As host nation there is so much pressure on them and the Welsh and the Aussies would love to ruin any party for England.

I think England effectively have to play or finals just to get out of the group. I would go as far as to say whoever wins that group will make the World Cup final.

The welsh are just weird they are the sort of country who will lose every game in the pool except the England one, get knocked out of the group stage and because they beat England claim the World Cup was a success.

They have a victim mentality and they need to grow up, they are the best side in the northern hemisphere much as it pains me to say it but they are so stuck in their own sense of injustice they can't escape the nearly man tag.

If they are favorites for a game they are utterly woefull and act as if all they need to do is turn up. They seem to need to be constantly shocked into showing anywhere near their capability. They need to put their focus and attention into beating the best side in the world and lose their obsession with England.

Read the messages on reports from welsh fans it's Barnes fault or in some case they don't even mention their own teams failure to actually stop Genial having the easiest ball ever in an international. They just talk about how England only beat Austrailia due to poor refereeing.

I know I give the welsh stick but this is not about that this is about a true feeling that if the welsh want to be as great as they believe they can be they need to focus their hate and attention to the boks, blacks and wallabies and forget about the red rose.

If they could meet those three with the intensity and focus they play against the English they would win a World Cup.

And as for Gatland he needs to stop slopping the blame onto things he can't control like the ref and start looking at what he can control.

He is now a parody of a bad loser.

It's a powerful fishing hook you're dangling their Sensoria but I will bite.

The post sounds to me like you're still hurting from the loss in Cardiff earlier this year.

Why do you think we are only interested in beating England.That was the attitude back in the 1990's and early 2000's when we were beyond awful against anyone and England were very good.

I honestly feel the situation is reversed now as England would rather lose to anyone but Wales in the 6nations.

We lose these games against the South because they are simply better rugby teams.Able to apply skills and gameplans to a higher level than anyone up in the N/H. England get the odd win against the tri nations countries as they have the pack to play a greater set piece based game against NZ,Oz or the Boks.That will always play dividends eventually against any rugby side in a game

It was poor decision making rather than going to pieces which aided an already fine Australia performance last week. Our lineout was awful and some serious focus allowed Oz to avoid scrums for the whole of the first half.

This isn't a fishing exercise this is my take on it. It is unpalatable but I stand by everything I said.

Do you think Wales play well when they are expected to win?

Do you think that blaming Barnes addresses the woeful decision making in that game?

Take away Norths fortuitous first try and add the missed opportunities of Australia and Wales were looking at a 40-50 point loss. Yes they showed guts to come back into it but they didn't show much guts in the 60mins of the game they were second best. and second best by a long margin.

Why did Wales perform so badly against Fiji a team that got destroyed by the babas? because they were clear favourites.

Why did they play so well against England in the 6 nations? yet play crap for all of last years autumn?

Also I didn't see Wales dominate any of the scrums they did have yesterday so to suggest that would have made a difference is also a misnomer.

The biggest problem facing the Welsh is the Welsh themselves and it always has been.

You are right about one thing losing to Wales is in my mind now the worst thing ever. They are arrogant beyond their achievements, don't get me wrong a team needs a swagger and a belief to be good but one moment more than any showed you Wales more than any.

Mike Philips gets the ball and runs into Cooper knocking him on his arse. He is so busy sticking his tongue out at cooper the fact he himself is going backwards 5 meters in a proper tackle doesn't matter to him.

Australia will win the group in the World cup the second place will be a battle between Wales and England on talent Wales should win it but as we have seen talent doesn't count for much when it is directionless.

There was just as much expectation of Wales beating England last March, in Wales at least as vice versa.

When did we last play Fiji? It was Tonga we faced from the South Sea Islands this Autumn

Scrums, well we were down to our 3rd or 4th choice tighthead on Saturday.There was probably a hint of tiredness amongst our front row after going so long without packing down.The fat boys had to put in a rugby league style first half with a lot more running about than they're probably used to

The paragraph about losing to us is comedy gold. It describes how a lot of the rugby supporting world view England.With a brief abberation around 2003 when their vast playing numbers and financial backing finally helped them become the best in the world.Punching our weight at International Rugby is something to be proud of.Vastly underachieving despite a huge playing base to pick from isn't much to shout about.

last three world cups 2 finals and 1 qtr. 1 world cup. I don't mind underachieving like that.

As I expected you are not reading what I am saying you are just taking it as an attack. If you can give me your view on why Wales always fail to beat any team of substance other than by blaming the ref I would love to hear it.

Agree with the bit in bold but I don't think England will struggle - they have a lot of good young players who will have more experience by then and they're not a team who go to pieces playing at home (unlike my fair nation!). They cope well with pressure and have a captain who will keep them focused if it does get too much (if Robshaw is even captain by then! He should be!).


Don't disagree, see my comments on the crowd in my original post. We have all the potential in the world and on our day have world class players (not always consistent though, North and Halfpenny aside). The thing that I dislike about Wales at the moment is that it's never our "fault" when we lose, it's always someone else. We're like (dare I say it) the England football team in that sense - it wasn't a red card! (it was) It was a forward pass! (it wasn't) etc. Gatland's comments after the game don't help.


Completely agree. I know I attempted banter with you earlier about it but we cannot shake the notion that everything will be okay if we just beat the English! I doubt England feel the same way about us. I'm not a massive England rugby fan but I find their fans (whenever I've been to Twickenham) more balanced and with bigger goals than us - if that makes sense!


Well, don't get me started The Welsh crowd is the most biased in the world and I say that as someone who has been lucky enough to watch rugby all over the world. Saturday may be my last visit to the Milennium as (as much as I enjoyed the game) people just don't understand the game anymore. It's easier to bleat on about what the Western Mail told you happened instead.


Essentially you're preaching to the choir, which pains me to say as a Welsh fan! I get what you're saying completely and it's a mentality that we need to shake quickly. Won't happen f the coach continues to be such a poor loser though...

(I haven't even mentioned our constant wasting of possession. Another time!)

I'm not sure too many of your fellow England supporters would be proud to mention a getting to a World Cup quarter.

The reason we don't beat the S/H is because they are better than us on the day.Scotland and Ireland have a greater record against the Boks and Oz in recent times but that hasn't won them many 6nations titles.

Like the rest of the European teams, we suffer from a lack of real intensity in our week in,week out club competitions.We're also still a small country that has a disproportionate amount of rugby clubs compared to the rest of the UK.Quantity doesn't always produce quality though.That's of an even greater concern with our coaches.Why more of them don't look to get experience overseas is a mystery to me.

Martyn Wiliams made an excellent point on Scrum V on BBC Wales last night.We have caught up with the Southern Hemisphere in terms of gym work but neglect performing the basics to the greatest intensity we can.Outside six European matches and the odd decent Pro 12 encounter, Welsh sides don't replicate the standard of International rugby enough.

England should beat Wales in the World Cup, it's a long way off and who knows who will come through but looking how England will play in that game (tight), our pack is so young it is only going to get better... the thought of how good Corbs and Cole will be then is a scary prospect, hopefully Youngs will have either learnt the throw under pressure or Hartley will have grown up. Given Launchberry was pretty much the standout lock of the 6N and Lawes is getting younger our tight five will be impressive and I wouldn't be surprised if England play akin to how they did in 1991.

In contrast, looking at Wales, Adam Jones is impressive but is struggling as each season goes on, the welsh tight 5 now look to be at or just past their peak, and for me in 2 years the gap will be significant. I admit I don't see him play often but of the 5 games I've seen him in recently SW seems to have 1 good game every 5... I think Lydiate's injury has robbed the rugby world of a truly world class player and for me Tipuric should be starting.

I think both teams probably know where they are, it's the fans that struggle to see it... it does appear 80% of the Welsh fans think if they beat England every year they are happy... I also agree that England would probably be happier to lose to France than to Wales, but over the course of a number of years the stats and form doesn't lie, England are 3rd and if they met Wales on a neutral ground (which they won't do until 2019) then I'd pick England to win.

From RTÉ Ireland


The HC as we know it is over .. a sad day for European Rugby as a whole.

Glasgow have not played well in the first-half, but they are being robbed by Clancy. A penalty count of something like 7-0 is inexplicable.

Quite surprised to see BBC Wales taking a look at the current regional issues from the non WRU cheerleading side for a change

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4rYYko2Zi0

Connacht win away at Toulouse

Some great results for all the Irish teams this weekend.

Leinster completely schooled Northampton, it was great performance by them. I wonder if they can somehow get BOD to play one more season.

Has anyone else heard about the idea of the GB Rugby League v Australia Rugby Union?

What next England RL v England RU?

Didn't they used to do that kind of thing in the early 90s?

Bath v Wigan was the first one but the Ozzy v GB looks to be played under Sale v St Helens format

It makes sense for the Wallabies mind. they must be getting sick of England kicking their butts and it might earn them a few viewers in Oz

Delighted for Halfpenny, Gatland and the Lions for their placings on SPOTY

Toby Flood has been dropped by England's Rugby team for playing club Rugby "overseas" in France.

Will Argentina, Brazil and Chile drop Messi, Neymar and Sanchez for playing in Spain; and will Uruguay drop Suarez for playing in England?

Flood should have gone by Eurotunnel rather than "overseas".