Fantastic Defence Seals Great Win
 After all of the usual doom and gloom that followed the defeat at Wuss, this was a remarkable performance. It was the same old story that we’ve seen so often in rugby: a team will nearly always beat a collection of individuals, no matter how talented they are, and there lies the problem for DR’s many critics.
If what some would have us believe is true, there’s dissent in the dressing room, some players are out of favour, and the head coach has the management skills of Atiila the Hun. So, where did a performance of such total and absolute commitment come from? Make no mistake, despite what the commentators said, Glaws did a number of the brittle Ospreys.
I ended up watching this one on the Beeb, and it was a bizarre spectacle. Their coverage of rugby is the ignorant preaching to the unconverted, and it is the best advert for Sky that you’ll ever see, Brian Moore possibly excepted. The BBC’s view of what  makes rugby exciting fits in closely with that Aussie eejit O’Neill who is one of the main advocates of the ELVs – for them it’s all about running and scoring tries, to the almost total exclusion of anything else.
At one point in the Cardiff v Saints game, the commentator remarked that the game was opening up and it was wonderful. Really, when the defences fall apart that’s better than seeing a well-drilled team drive back wave after wave of attacks? And that’s the point: what Glaws did wasn’t ever going to be beautiful to those kind of commentators, but I thought it was wonderful, and a tribute to the team and the coaches. The team that won was the team that wanted it more.
There was the usual knockabout stuff in the run-up to the game about DR’s selection strategy, and I think most of us will believe that he got it just about right.  Ryan Lamb did well, and got better as the game went on and he settled into things – whatever faults he has as a 10, lack of ‘bottle’ isn’t one of them and he took the hits, bounced back, and kept his nerve for key kicks. For me he has learned from Spencer in recent weeks and it’s about controlling a tight game where, had his natural flair been released, we might just have lost: he did what he had to do and good luck to him. His half-back partner was dire – if there’s a top-flight scrum-half with a slower and worse pass then I hope I don’t ever see it (and to think we used to criticise Peter Richards!).
One hugely significant thing was that we achieved this win despite being without Tinds for 50 minutes and Sinbad for the whole of the second half. The way that their replacements slotted into the defensive system was a joy to behold, and a word for Barkley who tackled well when he came on – including an absolutely vital try-saving tackle on Holah.
We struggled at the set piece at times.  The line-out was under huge pressure, and the experiment of starting Dickinson seemed to backfire – he was replaced after 30 minutes despite not looking as though he was injured. However, in defence, the entire pack was magnificent, and it was a huge relief to see a contribution from Qera after his disastrous effort at Wuss.
After such a fantastic team effort it’s tough to pick out particular players, but for me Morgan and Balshaw stood out: the former just keeps on getting better, and Balshaw’s vision and organisational skills were a key part of the defensive effort.
A word about the officials: despite the nonsense of an all-Welsh line-up, Nigel Owens was pretty good – although his assistants might as well have been Stevie Wonder and that bloke from Peters and Lee – and he was certainly fair. The problem is that the Magners League refs just see the game differently, and if the Ospreys had played their game in the GP they’d have had a huge penalty count and players in the bin. What  passes for decoy lines in the Magners would be clear crossing in the GP and it’s clear to anyone with half a brain that the officials should have been picked, not just from a neutral country, but from a neutral league – still, it could have been worse as we might have had the muppet who ref’d Saints’ game!
Well done to the players and the coaches for grinding out a hugely significant win and setting us up for a trip to Twickenham, where more of the same might just be needed – we owe Cardiff and let’s hope that payday comes in three weeks time.
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