EIGHT TRY WALES SECURE VICTORY AGAINST URUGUAY

By Helen ‘Helzbach’ Davies

Following months of build-up and a rather disappointing series of warm-up games that saw two of Wales’ most influential players ruled out of the tournament with injury, the time had finally come for Wales to kick off their campaign against Uruguay.

With the story of the weekend being that Japan had beaten former champions South Africa in a pulsating game of pride and passion, it was hoped that Wales, ranked fifth in the world, was able to live up to their ‘cricket score’ prediction pre-match.

The Millennium Stadium was a sea of red as the teams ran out for this Pool A game, nick-named ‘the pool of death’, however the visitors were soon able to silence the crowd as they took an early lead with a well struck penalty to give them a 3 point to 0 advantage.

The discipline of the Welsh team offered Berchesi a chance to further increase their lead with a long range penalty attempt shortly after, but on this occasion he didn’t have the legs.

It was obvious that the Uruguay team had every intention of playing rugby and for the opening minutes of the game, kept ball in hand, playing the game in the Welsh 22. They were rewarded for their efforts with a third penalty attempt within 8 minutes of play. Outside Half Berchesi made it two from three to increase his team’s lead to 6 points to 0.

Following a sluggish start, Wales finally began to play through the phases and demonstrated their intent by opting for the line-out from a penalty award, rather than taking the easy three points.

A powerful rolling mall from the men in red made it difficult for the Uruguayan team to defend and resulted in returning Scarlet Prop Samson Lee scoring the game’s first game. Former Scarlet Rhys Priestland added the conversion to give the home team a 7 point to 6 lead.

An intelligent kick over the top from Priestland saw Cory Allen use his momentum to place the ball over the whitewash for Wales’ second try. Priestland made no mistake with the easy conversion to increase the Welsh advantage to 14 points to 6.

A third well-struck penalty from Berchesi narrowed the gap slightly to 14 points to 9 as his boot continued to keep his team in the game.

Cory Allen scored his second and Wales’ third try following a good line-out win for the whole team and a well-timed pass from Priestland, who also added the conversion to increase the Welsh lead to 12 points – 21 points to 9.

Disappointingly, Full Back Liam Williams required medical attention as Wales hoped to secure the bonus point try before the end of the first half. Unfortunately, his much-anticipated return was short lived as he limped off just before the end of the half, hopefully as a precaution, particularly with Leigh Halfpenny out of the tournament.

Beautiful handling saw Cory Allen score his hat-trick right on the stroke of half time to secure the all-important bonus point. Priestland maintained his 100% kicking record to give the Welsh team an encouraging 28 points to 9 lead.

Wales continued with their dominance into the second half with Justin Tipuric crossing the white wash; however the TMO confirmed that the Ospreys Flanker had lost control of the ball over the line.

The home team were able to add to their try tally minutes later with Gareth Davies shrugging off the Uruguayan tackles before off-loading to Hal Amos for the fifth Welsh try. Again Priestland added the extras to give the Welsh a convincing 35 points to 9 advantage.

Scarlets’ Scrum Half Gareth Davies’ dummy pass from the back of the maul at close range saw him cross for the sixth try of the afternoon. On this occasion, Priestland was unable to add the conversion; however the game entered the last quarter with Wales in lead by 40 points to 9.

A great break from Scott Williams offered the home team a chance to quickly add a seventh, but the hands of Alex Cuthbert let them down, denying what would almost certainly have been a certain try.

Davies’ storming run down the touchline almost added another Welsh try, however they were called back, initially it was thought for a forward pass, but strangely it was a previous knock-on from Uruguay that was the reason for the whistle, though the referee it seemed decided to ignore the advantage rule that would have allowed the scoring of the try.

Good forward pressure following a Priestland kick for the corner saw Tipuric get his name on score sheet as Wales further increased their lead. Priestland was able to add the conversion on this occasion as the men in red saw the scoreboard read 47 points to 9.

Continuing his work rate around the pitch, Tipuric’s steal saw Wales on the attack once more, but again the butter fingers of Cuthbert left his side down as the final few minutes of the game became rather scrappy.

Wales finally hit the 50 point mark in the dying seconds of the game as Scrum Half Gareth Davies added his second try. Priestland continued with his impressive kicking display to give a final score of 54 points to 9 in this curtain-raiser before the big one next week…….England in Twickenham! At present, this victory puts Wales at the top of the pool…..hopefully this is still the case after playing two from two!