Today England we be taking on Wales in the biggest match of the RWC so far. Every since the groups were draw three years ago their has been an eye on this game as this is a huge match for these two nations at this stage of the competitions. Especially with the added spice of the rivalry between these two nations.
Normally when two teams of this magnitude met in the group stages of the RWC the consequences are that the losing team will still make the Quarters finals by being group runner up. However in this game that is not the case, the loser of this game is going to be in last chance saloon and that last chance is going to be against the Australians. With them being two time World Champions, once in England and once in Wales they are going to be tough to beat for anyone.
Ok so personally (and yes I know how bias I am) I think it is much more important for Wales to win than England. Let me explain why by looking at England first. We all know that the pressure is on England to win for a few reasons. They are at home, they will have 80,000 fans in the stadium and the whole country expecting, not just for this game but for the tournament as they are expected to go very deep into the tournament. So with that it means we really need to win the group to have any an easier route to the final which will help after such a hard group and that starts by beating Wales. England have already put away the Fijians and are at home throughout the competition while also having a winning record again the Australians at Twickenham including winning the last 3 out of 4 games at the home of rugby. So the worries for England if we lose aren’t that big.
So onto Wales and they are in trouble if they don’t win for numbers of reasons. They are not at home and Twickenham is tough place to go especially when the crowd are behind England. My main worry though it the record them have and the injuries they have while having to face two very good teams still. So after this game Wales will be facing the Fijians and even though they have a good record against them the Fijians have show that they have something to offer in this World Cup with their forwards pushing England and Australia off the ball a few times as well as collecting numerous turnovers. Wales will only have 5 days to recover which means any knocks that players can pick in this game will give them minimal time for them to recover and train in between the games. It is not a given that Wales can get past Fiji especially as a bonus point could be very important for them.
The big one is the Ozzies. After the Fiji game Wales will have 9 days till this game and that is a long to wait for a must win game and this means they could over think it. The Welsh have a dreadful record against the 3 big Southern Hemisphere teams. They have played 98 matches against them and only won 15. 10 of those are against Australia however they have only won 2 and draw one in the last 25 matches and have not won any in the last 10 with even 6 of them being at home. They have faced them 5 times in World Cups and have not won since the 87 World Cup 3rd place playoff. Wow that’s a lot of stats and all of them are massively in favour of the Australians.
With regards to their injuries they are not in good shape. Some teams are better in depth than others and every team can handle some injuries but I do think that Wales are struggling with both. There fully strengthen first team is very strong but I do feel they lack depth and now that they have picked up some key first teams injuries and then some of the squad players have also picked up injuries this means that the new first team has weak areas which could be targeted by all three other teams and that is all dependent on them not picking up any more injuries.
It is a must win game for both teams but it could be more detrimental to Wales if they loss than to England. I would like to see Wales in the Quarters. (Ok I said it I and I won’t say it again). Even thought I love Australia I will always support a home nation first. But today is all about England beating Wales. I don’t really care how as long as that job is achieved. Come on England.
SweetEngland 