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rlcm57 uploaded a new video
(1 month ago)
Coachtalk - Andy Kelly Ireland and Iestyn Harris----
Wales Put Paid to Ireland in European Cup Final
By Gary Roberts RLCM-------
The Pontypridd Rugby ...
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Coachtalk - Andy Kelly Ireland and Iestyn Harris----
Wales Put Paid to Ireland in European Cup Final
By Gary Roberts RLCM-------
The Pontypridd Rugby Club, Sardis Road, Pontypridd, South Wales, hosted the semi final of the European Cup between two fierce rivals, Wales and Ireland. -------The Welsh team is coached by Super League legend, Iestyn Harris, who recently announced his retirement as a player following his appointment to the coaching staff of Celtic Crusaders and as Wales head coach. -------The Ireland team is coached by Andy Kelly who had the team for the 2008 World Cup.
-------The European Cup is a competition run in tandem with the Four Nations competition with the winner of the 2009 European Cup being granted automatic inclusion in the 2010 Four Nations with Australia, New Zealand and England. So the prize is attractive.
-------Wales finished the game comfortable winners 4212. After being down 12 nil, they powered home and scored 42 unanswered points.
-------Andy Kelly, the Irish coach, paid the Welsh term the ultimate compliment when he said, We were outplayed and out enthused by a much more enthusiastic side and we paid the penalty.
-------Although this game was not the standard of its big brother, the Four Nations Tournament, it proved to be an interesting game to analyse.
-------The standard was more comparable to a QRL Cup or NSWRL Cup game and there were good and bad sections. Early in the first half, Wales were in control of the game simply by controlling the Irish go forward. This they did by winning the tackle, creating a slow PTB thus forcing the opposition into playing cross field attacking situations. -------Due to some dropped ball and giving away penalties, Wales gave the Irish some valuable ball. This gave them some positive field position resulting in a couple of back to back sets which allowed them to score two converted tries to lead 12 nil at the 21st set of the game.
-------However, between the 31st Set and the 40th Set, Wales scored two converted tries to equal the score at 12 all at the halftime break.
-------Ireland's second stanza will quickly be forgotten by all involved as they struggled to get out of their own half under their own ability. This was caused by Wales complete domination of the ruck. The Irish taking the ball sideways only compounded their problem. -------The Irish coach, Kelly, said, "Going sideways was testament to the way Wales were playing in defence."
-------Wales coach, Harris, said when questioned about the speed of the Welsh ruck attack, We wanted to lift the tempo of the game and we wanted to play with some skill and we did that.
-------Wales will play Scotland in the Final of the European Cup next weekend at the Brewery Field, Bridgend. The effort put in by this club to reach the Final is truly remarkable as many of the players have not come from a junior rugby league environment.
-------Wales could improve further by playing several plays in the one channel, concentrating on attacking the edge defenders before spreading the ball to the other two channels.
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rlcm57 uploaded a new video
(1 month ago)
Australia 46 England 16 - Four Nations Final - Elland Road Leeds RLCM Report - RLCM - Australia beat England 46-16 on Saturday night to win the Gi...
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Australia 46 England 16 - Four Nations Final - Elland Road Leeds RLCM Report - RLCM - Australia beat England 46-16 on Saturday night to win the Gillette Four Nations title at Elland Road Stadium in Leeds.
Looking only at the score, one would think that Australia won the game easily - not so. The penalties to England during the first half gave them positive field position and kept the match interesting and close.
For about 60 minutes of the game this was a hard fought Test match with the score 22 to 16 in Australias favour.
From that point on, Australia ran in 24 unanswered points from the 18 Sets [Eng 7 sets, Aust 11 sets] that remained to once again become the leading nation in the game.
To their credit, England did lift their game and showed that with more experience at this level they are possibly not all that far away from matching it with the more experienced big match Australian players.
England will learn from this series and realize the effort that is needed to become a force in the world competition.
The two young lads at half and five-eight will learn and be better players after the experience but as coach, Tony Smith, said after the game, More halves of similar ilk are needed in the game in England to keep putting pressure on the existing players.
The big and strong Great Britain forwards showed they had aggression and ball playing skills but at times lacked the big game nous in attack and ruck defence.
The England defence appeared good but they were unable contain Australia in their half of the field whereas Australia was able to control the speed of Englands ruck and limit their forward movement.
During the first half, Australia was able to bring the ball back to or over the 50m mark for their kick on 10 of the 11 occasions after receiving the ball in their red zone.
So, in saying the England defence was good, it might be more correct to say the England defence was good on plays one and two of the Set.
However, Australia were able work over the markers and Englands D was broken down as the Set continued thus not allowing England any extended ruck domination.
England did look good in attack when they were in the Australian half of the field, but the majority of time they only got down there with the help of a penalty. They were unable to structure positive Sets of their own.
The Australian defence controlled their coming out Sets and had them struggling to get to their 50m after receiving the ball in their red zone.
It was a good game for the 31,042 fans to witness. The scores were close for 60 minutes and gave England hope. It was a thrilling game to watch up to that point.
But it also showed that England still has a way to go and needs a continuation of big match games to experience and learn from the pressure and structure of play that is needed to be competitive at the top level of the international game.
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