Sun 25 Nov 2012 | 05:50
Wales score bizarre try with thirteen man lineout against the All Blacks

36
Comments

Wales suffered their sixth defeat in succession on Saturday after they were convincingly beaten 33-10 by the All Blacks at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. They did score in the second half though, giving new meaning to the term team try.

A fifteen man maul drove over the line after Wales used an old Warren Gatland trick to push 13 men into the lineout to catch the opposition forwards off guard.

Ireland did it against Argentina way back in 1999 when Gatland was coach too.

On this occasion it worked after Rhys Priestland kicked for the corner, finally finding touch after a few attempts that went astray in the first half. The Welsh had aimed to attempt the lineout early in the game, hoping to shake things up with the All Blacks early on.

When it finally happened, the AB's didn't look incredibly interested in defending it, particularly at 33-0 up, but it was a great moment as center Scott Williams barged his way over the tryline.

"That's the way we wanted to take the game to the All Blacks. You've got to do that," said Gatland.

New Zealand coach Steve Hansen said post match that he thought the Welsh tactic of not opting to take kickable penalties early on was crazy.

"Maybe they didn't think we were going to score many points, or they weren't going to be down there again so they had to score off them," he said.

We'll have more from this game and others throughout the week

36 Comments

  • louis
    6:01 PM 29/11/2012

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQy6CvuOykw

    Here is the ancestor of what the welsh guys made!

  • memberbenefits
    5:00 PM 27/11/2012

    I think the cheer was more for that fact that he actually found touch. He missed a couple in the half

  • joeythelemur
    9:16 PM 26/11/2012

    Seriously? The WC try, there's no way the French #8 gets to Woodcock, regardless of what Read was doing. He's defending the front jumpers and Woodcock is practically crossing the line before #8 sees him.

    It's been over a year, time to get over it.

  • 8:58 PM 26/11/2012

    It wasn't the only way they could score a try against the All Blacks, it was however one may valid ways of scoring tries against them.

  • elvis15
    7:47 PM 26/11/2012

    Canada tried it against the Maori on Friday, but failed to catch the ball so it didn't come off quite as well as it did for Wales.

  • faye123
    7:25 PM 26/11/2012

    the thirteen man line out was BRILLIANT. Wales i dont think would have wanted to end the match on a no try basis. It was well earnt they played with so much improvement on the last couple of matches. Well at least they didn't lose that line out would have been a bit embarrassing haha :) but the scoreline to me didnt reflect the way the game went. it was the kiwi's picking out penalties when they got them. maybe to beat the southern hemisphere teams we need to be picking away at the score board at any chance.

  • pretzel
    6:29 PM 26/11/2012

    Wales were always the losing team in this match imo, however things could have been very different if Andrew Hore had been sent off (which he should have been), so I think the Kiwi's should count themselves lucky...

  • facepalm
    5:41 PM 26/11/2012

    Absolutely full proof.... haha

  • katman
    4:53 PM 26/11/2012

    The O'Driscol spear tackle was also in the opening passage of play - also completely cynical, clearly meant to injure and seemingly premeditated. Could it be that the red mist from the Haka needs to settle before they start the game?

  • matt
    4:50 PM 26/11/2012

    I believe if it is counted as playing weeks. There was something about Ashton not being able to play against Fiji because his of a one week ban he had been given two weeks before, but because he hadn't been released back to his club for the weekend before the Fiji game it did not count.

  • pretzel
    3:29 PM 26/11/2012

    Lol, that was crying from a nasty big player to just SMASH the ball carrier in the exposed back, or at least anyone of those exposed ribs of one of the other guys.

    We had an U20's or U21's International player who was our rugby coach at school and he used to say that: "Any time you see a maul and a player has some ribs exposed just smash them, it'll slow the maul down and make them less inclined to get involved!"

  • pretzel
    3:21 PM 26/11/2012

    Interesting point Katman, I read somewhere that the high end ban for this incident (striking) is something like 8 weeks. Any idea if that can be equated to 8 playing weeks, or whether they have to keep it as normal weeks?

    Anyone know the answer to that?

  • felipeg
    12:47 PM 26/11/2012

    Sad to see this once promising welsh team now stuck in...well I just don't know what.
    Still, this try shows a good spirit imo. Game was over but they still throw everything at it.

  • connachtman
    11:46 AM 26/11/2012

    jaysus..thats mental,,, obviously couldnt happen with today's law interpretations but still mental!

  • curates_egg
    10:41 AM 26/11/2012

    As others have said, its a Gatland special, used by Ireland a couple of times under his tenure. It really is scraping the barrel stuff: embarrassing. Surprised RD didn't know/reference this.

  • jeri
    9:15 AM 26/11/2012

    Loved that try :), as well as the commentary

    "They have 15 men in that line out, I imagine they're going for a catch and drive!"

    Lol

  • katman
    9:02 AM 26/11/2012

    He'll be gone for a long time. After the Thomson incident, with the IRB appealing his lenient sentence, they won't want to be seen favouring the All Blacks again. I reckon at least 6 games, which would equate to a good few months. But who knows - stranger things have happened.

  • 6:47 AM 26/11/2012

    Agreed. The swinging arm looked deliberate enough for a citation. And it may not be deliberate, but it also looks like Hore drops his knee on Davies as he enters the ruck. I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of this on RD shortly...

  • kenfraine
    4:35 AM 26/11/2012

    Virginia Tech, Univ of MD, and then Gonzaga College HS ran this same play. It was first thought up by Steve Guiffre, then head coach at VT, back in the late 90's and then brought to his next two coaching assignments.

  • 3:09 AM 26/11/2012

    I personally thought this was so funny when watching it. Down that bad to the world champions? Why not throw the kitchen sink at them, see what happens.

    Can you imagine if they lost the line-out though? they effectively left the All Black back-line undefended so a turnover would have gone to the wing in a heartbeat and down the length of the field for a demoralizing try. Instead you get a hilarious, fun, crowd-pleasing display. Listen to the crowd when they pull it off.

    Just goes to show: go big or go home

  • pretzel
    3:06 AM 26/11/2012

    Bloody hell, I just saw the Hore-Davies incident, that was a bit of an over the top reaction no? A shove would be enough, but a stiff arm to the chops was MASSIVELY OTT, a true example of why the game needs that 4th official to step in, or at least be able to be asked!

  • pretzel
    2:51 AM 26/11/2012

    Well...I don't actually see anything wrong with this... people saying "if this is the only way to score against the AB's then blah blah"... well what if it was? What if every team that faces the AB's does this every line out, there is going to be some seriously difficult defending going on there...

    I didn't see the game but did hear about some dubious NZ playing... I don't know if it was exaggerated, but I hear the Andrew Hore incident was a nasty one...

  • gar1990
    1:11 AM 26/11/2012

    link to the same video, but at the correct time (10:24)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYSQG74Tue0&feature=player_detailpage#t=624s

  • gar1990
    1:07 AM 26/11/2012

    Ireland's attempt at the line out in the 1999 world cup against Argentina, skip to around the 10:24min mark

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYSQG74Tue0

    shame Preistland missed touch six minutes in, would have been a great way to start the game...

  • ando
    12:57 AM 26/11/2012

    Were they taking the piss? What a joke if that's the only way you can score a try vs. the All Blacks... Kind of telling about the state of Welsh rugby right now.

  • stroudos
    12:36 AM 26/11/2012

    Nice one. Only problem is they cheered exactly the same way in the second minute when Wales kicked to touch. They just love to see the "rugby playing" option taken, even when everyone in the stadium must have known they should have smashed three points and kept themselves on the front foot.

  • stroudos
    12:11 AM 26/11/2012

    This is not a bandwagon I want to jump on, but there were a few odd decisions weren't there? More importantly an attitude issue - Joubert was practically begging Cory Jane to forgive him for having the temerity to yellow-card him. And (I know there's nothing unusual about this) I lost track of the number of times he called "away black seven!" but never looked like penalising.

  • 11:46 PM 25/11/2012

    Brilliant I'm going to use this for my hs team.

    Same move as in the rwc final, u mean arranging for the cowardly craig Joubert to ref the game and not call obvious penalties against them?

  • foxtrot
    11:42 PM 25/11/2012

    Scotland also used it against SA last week.

  • joeythelemur
    11:41 PM 25/11/2012

    Pretty sure it was Woodcock. Good time to use it, I agree.

  • 11:40 PM 25/11/2012

    oh fair enough, if it's the winning try I guess you can say it was the winning move...sorry.
    I doubt it was a dig though, have to agree with Facepalm on that one

  • facepalm
    11:37 PM 25/11/2012

    Pretty sure he was referring to the split lineout with Franks going down the middle. Very effective, surprised we don't see it more often. I doubt, however, that it was a 'dig' at Wales. It's just a good set piece move which they decided to use and use to good effect.

  • 11:29 PM 25/11/2012

    *the

  • 11:29 PM 25/11/2012

    Benny, in my opinion, never were 2 games further from each other and in my experience you don't win a game based on a move but a strategy.
    I saw the All Blacks deservedly win their world cup clinging on for dear life to a 1pt lead in a final that saw them overcome numerous vital injuries and a great French performance.
    But out of curiosity, what was move???

  • welshosprey
    11:04 PM 25/11/2012

    Probably the only good thing wales did but it looked great

  • technomouse
    10:01 PM 25/11/2012

    Love the Welsh crowd cheering when Priestland kicks it out haha, classic.