Austin Healey is a complete tool, always have thought that of him. Just seems to have St George's cross-tinted glasses on all the time. One of the few English pundits I believe is biased. His tweets just look ridiculous and embarrassing after that result. He also probably owes quite a lot of money to the Welsh public judging by that first tweet! Love Matt Dawson though, had some great words for both sides after the game.
Also, was impressed with Phil Vickery on Scrum V earlier. I wrote that guy off as a pundit/commentator after his co-commentating in the world cup, which I thought was pretty poor. But he seems to have his head screwed on in a more laid-back atmosphere, like speaking in the aftermath of a game.
He basically talked about how the English players were completely outclassed and will all learn a valuable lesson from the result. One good point he mentioned was that Andy Farrell's inclusion in the Lions setup should now be questioned. He said Shaun Edwards is the best coach he has ever worked with and should, without a doubt, be heading to Australia instead. He posed the question of whether Farrell's inclusion was "political". He has a good point to make here imo, with Edwards' defensive coaching obviously paying off again with Wales - the team having only conceded 3 tries this tournament, and not a single one conceded in the last 4 games. Anyhow, guess there's nothing that can be done now anyway.
Wales were outstanding on Saturday. I'd go so far as to say it's potentially the best, or rather, most complete performance I've ever seen from a Welsh side. Everything just clicked into place and every man played out of their skin. Although England didn't play up to standards I wouldn't be too disheartened if I were an England fan because I do think the team were perhaps over-awed or overwhelmed by an occasion too great for them to handle, and a Welsh team just too powerful and on-a-roll to deal with. I think after the Italy match there was always the possibility of this happening to England.
To England/ English fans - unlucky this time, but the players will learn so much from being destroyed like this in a grand slam decider. It may actually play to their advantage in the long term (towards the 2015 world cup). The coaches will learn too. Hopefully Lancaster has learnt that you can't just keep playing players of past form in the hope they will return to their best (the likes of Ashton, Farrell), or players who are just blatantly not playing well (Goode really stands out here). If I were the England set-up I would be looking to drop Marler, T Youngs, Haskell, B Youngs, Farrell, Barritt, Brown, Goode and Ashton. That's a pretty hefty list, but only because none of them have proved their worth in my opinion. Goode's been terrible and indecisive all tournament, Ashton awful in defence, Brown bad in defence and not enough of a threat, Barritt good in defence but offers little else, Farrell is 100 times less the player Burns is, Youngs is off form still, as to is Haskell. Marler was destroyed in the scrum.
To Wales - a fantastic turnaround in this tournament and a great way to end. Tipuric is an unbelievable force at the moment and long may his form continue. I was quite emotional in the anthem, as other fans have said, and maybe I am too soppy. But when I saw Halfpenny, Roberts and Adam Jones with tears in their eyes I sort of knew something special was about to happen. However, the team should not get too carried away with this result and need to keep their feet firmly on the ground. A lot of work still needs to be done before they attempt challenging the SH teams again. But pleased for the team and I am a proud Welsh fan
It's not every day your team gets to beat a grand slam-hunting England side by 27 points!
