SIX NATIONS: The Irish Timeshas teamed up with Media Wales ( www.walesonline.co.uk) to provide the inside track from the Wales camp in the build-up to this Saturday's crucial Six Nations encounter at the Millennium Stadium, where the defending champions will attempt to stop Ireland winning their first Grand Slam in over 60 years.
Howley: Henson was right to rant
By Andy Howell
GAVIN HENSON has received high-profile support from inside the Wales camp after he questioned his team’s tactics during their fumbling RBS 6 Nations victory over Italy.
Wales attack coach Rob Howley claims Henson was “spot-on” in his assessment of events at Stadio Flaminio.
Ospreys centre Henson was enraged when Wales chose to take a long-range kick at goal deep into injury time of their 20-15 victory in Rome.
He could be seen voicing his displeasure to team-mate Ryan Jones as substitute Stephen Jones lined up the penalty.
Henson wanted the ball booted out as a prelude to referee Alan Lewis blowing the final whistle, therefore denying Italy any chance of launching a last-ditch attack.
He also claimed he was “frustrated” and “annoyed” with the way Wales played, and needed five minutes’ cooling down time in the changing room while his colleagues went back out to applaud thousands of travelling Welsh supporters.
Henson said: “I probably touched the ball three times, I think Jamie (Roberts) touched it once. God knows how many times the wings touched it.
“Maybe our tactics were wrong. In saying that, we did make a lot of mistakes. If we hadn’t made so many mistakes, maybe the tactics might have been right. It was just frustrating being out there.
“This team is all about honesty and voicing your opinion, so there were a couple of discussions that went on.
“I felt we should have attacked them more. Maybe it might have been a bit of an easier game for us if we had kept the ball a bit more, but that didn’t happen.”
Former Wales captain Howley admitted Henson had a point as the reigning Six Nations champions began preparations for Saturday’s title decider against Grand Slam-chasing Ireland in Cardiff.
“I think he was spot-on, in fairness to him,” said Howley.
“He is an intelligent footballer who understands the game. It is fair criticism in the fact we did kick too often.
“We were disappointed as coaches, not so much about our kicking strategy but the decision-making, accuracy and length.
“In fairness to Italy, we didn’t expect them to out-kick us. Rugby is not black and white. It is about decision-making, looking up and recognising that space.
“Coaches don’t know everything and in fairness to Gavin he was spot-on. We didn’t kick long enough and hopefully we will be rectifying that against Ireland next weekend.
“We’ve looked at the France game when we didn’t kick enough, and we’ve gone from one end of the spectrum to the other. That’s an area we will be working on this week.
“You want players to make decisions – coaches aren’t on the field.
“Decision-making is a huge part of the game, and our decision-making with our lack of kicking accuracy sometimes let us down.”
Ryan Jones, meanwhile, laughed off his verbal exchange with Henson.
The Wales skipper said: “Gav had an opinion, I had an opinion, I’m bigger than Gav so my opinion counts more than his!
“Look, we both expressed an opinion, that was it. It has been blown out of all proportion, really.
“There has been no fall-out over it, just two boys expressing different opinions. You speak your mind and you move on. There are no big dramas.
“It is not going to have any bearing on this week.”
The challenge for Wales is how they stop an Irish side chasing its first Grand Slam since 1948.
A win would secure the Triple Crown, but Wales need a minimum 13-point victory - something they have not achieved against Ireland since 1983 – to retain their Six Nations crown.
“It’s a huge game,” added Howley.
“There is a lot of pressure. They (Ireland) haven’t won the Grand Slam for so many years. We had that experience last year and we coped with that pressure.
“Can Ireland cope with the pressure of playing against the Grand Slam champions of last season and, secondly, the Millennium (Stadium) factor?
“We’ve got everything to play for – the Triple Crown – and I am sure the 13 points (margin) will be mentioned this week many times.
“We will go out to win the game and then we will see what happens.”
Howley also reported no injury concerns in the aftermath of Rome, with Jones and full-back Lee Byrne both fine following knocks sustained against Italy.
Irish must shoulder favourites tag - Ryan
By Simon Roberts
RYAN JONES has labelled Grand Slam-chasing Ireland as favourites for their Six Nations title clash with Wales and warned the battle to be crowned ‘Kings of Europe’ won’t be pretty.
The Wales skipper, who came on as a replacement towards the end of his side’s scrappy 20-15 victory over Italy in Rome, is expected to be back in the starting line-up for Saturday’s clash at the Millennium Stadium.
Wales need to win by 13 points to win the but a victory would see Ireland seal a first Grand Slam for 61 years.
But the 30-times capped Jones (right), in his second season as captain of his country, believes the weight or expectation will be on Irish shoulders.
“They are coming here with the favourites tag,” said Jones, who could well reclaim his favoured No 8 position following a string of disappointing displays from Andy Powell.
“There is a pressure and a burden to bear but they have experience at club and international level, players who have been around a long, long time.
“I don’t think it will be an issue for them. The Munster boys are used to playing Heineken Cup rugby and they will approach this game in the same way they have approached the last four.
“It’s just something they have to overcome, we both want to win and who gets it right on the day is the real challenge.”
Both Wales and Ireland are the only sides in with a shout of silverware on the final weekend.
Ireland are chasing the Grand Slam, Triple Crown and the Six Nations title.
Wales can not win a second successive Grand Slam but still can lift a Triple Crown and the title.
But both sides haven’t really played to their full potential and have shown the ability to grind out wins while they aren’t playing well.
And Jones warned: “It won’t be pretty. There is too much at stake, it’s going to be extremely physical and the kicking game is going to be massive.
“Ronan O’Gara does it week-in, week-out for Munster. The way defences are it’s very rare that teams are scoring 50 or 60-metre tries.
“You have to play rugby in the right areas and win the territorial battle. That’s what it will come down this weekend.”
Jones dismissed any notion that the 13-point deficit Wales have to beat Ireland by to win the title will be in the minds of his players.
“You have to get on top and if you are winning the game then we will address the points situation,” he said. “The points difference will take care of itself.
“You don’t know how the game is going to go, but we have to make sure we are in a position to potentially win the game. Hopefully somebody will pull something special out of the bag.”
“We will worry about the points at 60 and 70 minutes into the game.”
Byrne puts the boot into Welsh critics
By Jon Doel
LEE BYRNE has hit out at critics of Wales’ kicking game and insisted their tactic of putting boot to ball helped win the Grand Slam last year.
The star full-back was bristling after a series of pundits and fans questioned the uninspiring tactics of Warren Gatland’s side in Rome.
The game descended into a turgid spectacle as the two teams exchanged seemingly aimless kicks for much of the 80 minutes.
Wales failed to establish any pattern in their play as they lost the battle of the boot and left spectators frustrated at the lack of attacking intent on show.
But Byrne, clearly stung by the wave of criticism, insisted the tactics were nothing new under Gatland.
“This has been blown out of proportion,” he blasted. “Nobody complained last year when we won the Grand Slam and we probably kicked more than this year.
“A lot has been said in the media by certain former internationals that it is boring and we should be doing this and that. If they want to come in, give me a hand and talk tactics then I’ll be more than happy for them to do so.”
The statistics from Saturday’s dismal affair certainly make for fairly grim reading.
Wales took the kicking option 43 times at the Stadio Flaminio – more than twice as many as in Paris a fortnight before.
And the Italians trumped even that figure, launching the ball skywards on an astonishing 53 occasions.
In-field kicking has been a vital part of the battle for territory since the introduction of the new Experimental Law Variations, but poor execution has led to a series of dull encounters in this year’s tournament.
On the brighter side of Saturday’s offering, Wales once again ground out a victory in spite of their shortcomings – something they failed to do at the same venue in 2003 and 2007.
And Byrne insisted the Welsh camp were satisfied with their work, despite the concerns of others.
“I think people around Wales, especially the media, are probably disappointed but as a team, we are happy,” he said.
“We didn’t click that well, but we still got a result in Italy against a good side. It’s a sign of how far we have come that two years ago we would have been happy just to get the win – but we are disappointed we didn’t play that well.
“We knew what to expect from them. We knew we needed to get a few early tries, but that didn’t happen. But we have still come away with a win that we are grateful for.”
The Ospreys full-back is likely to face an aerial onslaught once again when Ronan O’Gara and his Irish team-mates visit the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
But Byrne, still seen by most as the front-runner for the British Lions number 15 jersey, is confident the magic of the Millennium Stadium will see Wales claim the 13-point victory needed to snatch the title and burst Ireland’s Grand Slam bubble.
“This side is all about Championships and that is what we want to do on the weekend – win the Triple Crown and the Championship.
“We were in this position last year and it is big pressure. I’m sure Ireland won’t like coming over to play in the Millennium.
“It’s a fortress for us and we are proud to have it as our home. Hopefully we will see another win on the weekend.”
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