words hamish stuart pictures paul seiser
Wales World cup winning teams management have done, coach Paul John and
are pretty few and far between manager Dai Jenkins and their team.
and they have always been in
the rather less athletic categories “They got a squad together, had a degree
– golf, bowls, darts and snooker. of continuity of selection over two
tournaments, got a great victory over New
Still quite an achievement in each and every Zealand in Wellington which gave them
case, but the Wales Sevens team have confidence going into the World Cup and
added rugby to the list of Wales teams that also the respect of other nations.
have conquered the sporting world and it
really was a remarkable triumph. “They crept narrowly into the last eight, one
point difference got them there, but then
For if you want to see a Welsh World Cup they felt any of the eight could win it and
winner this weekend, then go to Cross they had a lot of confidence and belief. They
Keys, Glamorgan Wanderers or Exeter, then backed that up on the pitch.
rather than Cardiff Arms Park or the
Liberty Stadium. “They have achieved against the odds and
deserve the credit.”
But you cannot take away from Tal Selley,
whose career has now taken him to all four captain Lee beach summed up the attitude pumas had won the pool encounter between
regions trying to find a regular position, of the players. “We were on the coach on the two teams confortably.
the fact he was Player of the Tournament the way back from Heathrow telling each
in a World Cup winning team. It’s pretty other we were world champions and we “We looked back at the pool game we had
special. just laughed, it does not seem right but it is lost against Argentina and we went off our
fantastic,” he said. game. We stuck to our game plan and they
And while he can enjoy trying to make a could not live with us in the final,” said
mark in the Dragons dressing room with “Our target was to win our group, but Neath’s Beach.
an extra spring in his step and self-belief, we always do it the hard way so we went
Rhys Webb can join Ryan Jones, Lee Byrne, through on points and then we had New “The clock was up and they had one last
Gavin Henson and Co at Ospreys training Zealand in the quarter-finals. penalty. We were tired but it just needed
as the third or fourth choice scrum half . . . one extra push. Luckily they went for a chip,
and World Cup winner. “We just went out and did it, from the first I kicked it out to touch and that was it.
couple of minutes we got a feeling when we
s
evens
The list goes on, but as the WRU’s head looked at the New Zealand players and we “After lifting the Cup we were coming back
of rugby performance and development just knew we were going to win. down the steps and all the English players
Joe Lydon admits, “It is a remarkable were there saying ‘well done.’ In the past it
achievement, but even more remarkable “we felt a little bit bullet-proof after that has always been the other way round.
because they did it in spite of the system but could not let our guard down. Our
r
ugby
rather than because of it. defence stepped up and we gelled even “it is a massive bonus for us as a squad and
more.” as a nation.”
“however at the same time it is
SW
understandable because i have seen in After Samoa in the semis, it was a re-match the welsh sevens squad are involved in
14
a short period of time the work the against Argentina in the final, after the a continual tug-of-war for players with an
uncertain place in the pecking order.
sportingwales
issue6twothousand&nine
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