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2024 Guinness Six Nations
2014 6 Nations: England vs Wales (Round 4)
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<blockquote data-quote="Peat" data-source="post: 628766" data-attributes="member: 42330"><p>I'm not saying that the Lions tour is the only reason or even the main reason.</p><p></p><p>But I think the general existence of a Lions hangover is close to incontrovertible.</p><p>I also think that its close to incontrovertible that the Welsh players are, anything else apart, simply not in the best of form. George North doesn't blow a 2 on 1 in favour of a poorly executed kick because of tactics or whatever. He does it because he performed unusually poorly at a key instance. Even if the tactics influenced the decision they didn't influence the execution. You can ignore a couple of such instances but there were so many poorly executed skills that I don't see any other conclusion.</p><p></p><p>I believe the two are linked. It seems incredibly likely. Of course I may be wrong, and it would be somewhat besides the point, as the main point is that the Welsh players are a considerable margin below their best and that the reason for this is not solely tactical. Tactics are not responsible for players getting basic skills wrong.</p><p></p><p>If the Welsh players start performing those basic skills right, could Gatlandball work again? I don't see how anyone can categorically say No. It's done over most of the 6N teams in recent years. Yeah, there's other factors involved - other teams have improved, critical Welsh players getting old, weaknesses in key positions, etc.etc. Its quite possible, maybe probable that these factors are more important in the current malaise. But the potential is still there and writing off Gatlandball completely ignores the complicating factors.</p><p></p><p>I'm no fan of Gatlandball. I've made no secret of this. I believe long term it is to the Welsh detriment. But I will still be nervous about facing it next year, because it can be very effective, and there is far more potential for it to work than is currently being shown.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Peat, post: 628766, member: 42330"] I'm not saying that the Lions tour is the only reason or even the main reason. But I think the general existence of a Lions hangover is close to incontrovertible. I also think that its close to incontrovertible that the Welsh players are, anything else apart, simply not in the best of form. George North doesn't blow a 2 on 1 in favour of a poorly executed kick because of tactics or whatever. He does it because he performed unusually poorly at a key instance. Even if the tactics influenced the decision they didn't influence the execution. You can ignore a couple of such instances but there were so many poorly executed skills that I don't see any other conclusion. I believe the two are linked. It seems incredibly likely. Of course I may be wrong, and it would be somewhat besides the point, as the main point is that the Welsh players are a considerable margin below their best and that the reason for this is not solely tactical. Tactics are not responsible for players getting basic skills wrong. If the Welsh players start performing those basic skills right, could Gatlandball work again? I don't see how anyone can categorically say No. It's done over most of the 6N teams in recent years. Yeah, there's other factors involved - other teams have improved, critical Welsh players getting old, weaknesses in key positions, etc.etc. Its quite possible, maybe probable that these factors are more important in the current malaise. But the potential is still there and writing off Gatlandball completely ignores the complicating factors. I'm no fan of Gatlandball. I've made no secret of this. I believe long term it is to the Welsh detriment. But I will still be nervous about facing it next year, because it can be very effective, and there is far more potential for it to work than is currently being shown. [/QUOTE]
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2024 Guinness Six Nations
2014 6 Nations: England vs Wales (Round 4)
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