BRISBANE, Australia, 7 November 2003 — England’s prized defense will have to be at its best to match up to the attacking force that Wales have assembled, the co-favorites defensive coach Phil Larder said yesterday.
The former Great Britain rugby league coach said that Welsh ability to constantly make line-breaks against the usually iron-tight All Blacks defense gave him plenty to ponder ahead of Sunday’s World Cup quarterfinal at Lang Park.
“The Welsh made 10 linebreaks against the All Blacks and I don’t remember a team doing that to them in the past two to three years,” said Larder, a key Clive Woodward hiring since he came on board as defense coach in 1998.
“I was tremendously impressed by the Welsh and we will have to be on our most alert state so as not to allow them the same freedom.”
Woodward also acknowledged that the potency and invention shown by the Welsh, many of whom weren’t considered first choice players, had made him reassess them.
“There are not many teams who score 37 points against the All Blacks. In fact I can’t think of any.
“In the cold light of day when I reviewed the match it was clearly not tries scored because of errors but because of creating them themselves and sometimes out of nothing.
“So we have been warned and our defense will have to be prepared for the expected similar onslaught,” said Woodward, who has suffered defeat at the hands of the Welsh just once when they prevailed 32-31 at Wembley in 1999 to deny him the Five Nations Grand Slam.
England skipper Martin Johnson preferred to see the glass as being half-full.
“Coming back from 28-10 down is a hell of an achievement.
“However if I were either of their defensive coaches (All Blacks and Welsh) I wouldn’t be too happy with the scoreline (53-37).”
Several of the Welsh players, though, accept that the England defense is even more formidable than the Kiwis and the English they believe are less likely to throw it around as much as the All Blacks did.
“We are not going to be able to grind down the English,” said Martyn Williams.
“Thus we are going to have to throw it around like we did against the All Blacks.
“The only question is where are we going to be able to breakthrough an English defense that I consider even stronger and more formidable than the All Blacks,” he said.
O’Driscoll Ready to Turn It On
In Melbourne, in a short international career, Ireland center Brian O’Driscoll has been likened to the incomparable Ulsterman Mike Gibson and told by France coach Bernard Laporte he wished he had been born in Paris.
Yet time and time again when the affable 24-year-old turns up to World Cup news conferences, he is asked one question: “Are you happy with your form?”
The subtext is clearly: “When are we going to see that explosive acceleration, blistering pace and game-winning line breaks?”
The line of questioning should not come as a total surprise. In 2000 the rugby world was made forcibly aware of O’Driscoll’s power, pace and prowess when he scored a hat trick of tries against France in Paris, ending a 28-year no-win record for the Irish in the French capital.
