Wales aims to complete turnaround with grand slam

LONDON: Wales can complete its remarkable rugby metamorphosis by beating France on Saturday to win a Six Nations grand slam six months after trudging home from the World Cup in despair.

September's decisive group stage defeat by Fiji ended coach Gareth Jenkins' spell in charge, but the gloom has been replaced as his replacement Warren Gatland and assistants Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley effected an almost instant transformation.

Wales will win the championship as long as it avoids a 20-point defeat at the Millennium Stadium, or a 19-point loss with France scoring more tries, but nobody is thinking about damage limitation at this stage.

"To win on points difference would be something of a hollow victory," Gatland said this week.

"We have already achieved something in this campaign that can't be taken away from us but we have an opportunity now to push on and do something a little bit special in front of our home crowd and to put some more smiles on Welsh faces."

The smiles are also among the players, and Gatland's impact is encapsulated by the performances of Gavin Henson.

A key member of the 2005 grand slam team, Henson somehow slipped from one of the game's great centers to a miserable, uninterested observer who failed to make the World Cup squad.

Gatland has got him back to his best, gliding through defenses, launching huge touch-finders and making big tackles.

The coach has recalled James Hook to the flyhalf position ahead of Stephen Jones for Saturday's decider in another attacking indication.

Turn to experience

However, France arrives on the back of five straight wins over the Welsh in Cardiff and with coach Marc Lievremont reining in some of his more adventurous selections.

Halfbacks Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and David Skrela, back-rowers Thierry Dusautoir and Julien Bonnaire and center Damien Traille all return to a formidable-looking lineup.

Victory by the required margin would make France the first team to win three successive titles outright but whatever happens in Cardiff, Lievremont has already shown the holder has huge strength in depth and can still play the sort of rugby that former coach Bernard Laporte was so wary of.

England and Ireland do battle at Twickenham in what will probably be a third-place play-off, although the winner could just snatch second if France loses.

For England to be contemplating a fifth successive finish outside the top two so soon after reaching the World Cup final is a huge disappointment and coach Brian Ashton has struggled to impose a recognisable style during a topsy-turvy campaign.

Under pressure

England was dire in defeat by Scotland last week and a fifth successive loss to Ireland would leave Ashton on thin ice ahead of a daunting June tour to New Zealand.

Ashton dropped Jonny Wilkinson to bring in the flyhalf talent of 20-year-old Danny Cipriani but said the rest of the players deserved the chance to put things right.

Ireland also made one change, though injury-enforced, after its 16-12 loss to Wales as Geordan Murphy comes in for Brian O'Driscoll in a reshuffled back line.

Its coach Eddie O'Sullivan is also under pressure as he has backed up a poor World Cup with an uninspired Six Nations and with O'Driscoll out with a torn hamstring, his team could struggle to secure a third successive Twickenham success.

Scotland ended a run of three defeats with victory over England and it will be desperate not to slip backwards when it faces Italy in Rome.

Italy, which has lost all four games, needs to win by five points or more to overhaul its rivals and avoid the wooden spoon.

Agencies

(China Daily 03/14/2008 page23)