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Dai-less Cardiff secure Welsh Shield with victory over Ospreys

By PA
Dai Young /Press Association

Cardiff put their off-field troubles firmly behind them as they produced a superb performance to destroy Ospreys 38-21 in the United Rugby Championship and win the Welsh Shield and with it European Champions Cup rugby for next season.

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On Thursday their director of rugby Dai Young was suspended after allegations were made against him but it was his son Thomas and Welsh international scrum-half Tomos Williams, who shone brightest in a terrific team effort at the Principality Stadium.

Young scored two tries, Max Llewellyn, Mason Grady and Rhys Carre the others with Rhys Priestland converting all five and adding a penalty.

Sam Parry, Dewi Lake and Gareth Thomas scored tries for Ospreys, all of which Gareth Anscombe converted.

Rhys Webb led out Ospreys on his 200th appearance for the region but it was Cardiff who made the better start.

They declined two kickable penalties in favour of more attacking options but it proved the wrong option as mistakes prevented them from capitalising.

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However, they continued to dominate the opening quarter in terms of territory and possession and came closest to scoring when Grady lost possession as he attempted to force his way over.

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As a result, a penalty-ridden and largely featureless first quarter finished scoreless with Ospreys conceding nine penalties in the first 25 minutes and eventually that ill-discipline took its toll when Young crashed over from close-range.

Priestland converted before Cardiff soon scored an excellent second try when Williams quickly took a tap penalty to race 40 metres before sending Llewellyn over.

Worse was to follow for lethargic Ospreys when Young burst away from a maul to kick ahead for Grady to collect and squeeze the ball down for the touchdown.

A brilliant half for Cardiff was nearly sealed when Jarrod Evans, Williams and Llewellyn produced some mesmerising handling to see Young cross but TMO replays ruled out the try for a marginal forward pass.

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However, the capital region still led 24-0 at the interval after Priestland kicked a penalty to complete a half in which Ospreys failed to strike a single blow.

Five minutes after the restart, they did open their account when Parry finished off a line-out drive but Williams intercepted to send Young on a 45-metre run to the line for his second try.

Thomas scored a second for Ospreys in a more competitive second half and Lake added another after Cardiff’s replacement James Botham had picked up a yellow card.

But Cardiff deservedly had the final say when Carre powered over with three minutes to go.

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Tom 57 minutes ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

That 2019 performance was literally the peak in attacking rugby under Eddie. If you thought that was underwhelming, the rest of it was garbage.


I totally get what you're saying and England don't need or have any God given right to the best coaches in the world... But I actually think the coaches we do have are quite poor and for the richest union in the world, that's not good enough. 


England are competitive for sure but with the talent pool up here and the funds available, we should be in the top 3. At the very least we should be winning six nations titles on a semi-regular basis. If Ireland can, England definitely should.


England's attack coach (Richard Wigglesworth) is Borthwick's mate from his playing days at Saracens, who he brought to Leicester with him when he became coach. Wigglesworth was a 9 who had no running or passing game, but was the best box kicker in the business. He has no credentials to be an attack coach and I've seen nothing to prove otherwise. Aside from Marcus Smith’s individual brilliance, our collective attack has looked very uninspiring.

 

England's defence coach (Joe El-Abd) is Borthwick's housemate from uni, who has never been employed as a defence coach before. He's doing the job part time while he's still the head coach of a team in the second division of French rugby who have an awful defensive record. England's defence has gone from being brutally efficient under Felix Jones to as leaky as a colander almost overnight.


If Borthwick brings in a new attack and defence coach then I'll absolutely get behind him but his current coaches seem to be the product of nepotism. He's brought in people he's comfortable with because he lacks confidence as an international head coach and they aren't good enough for international rugby.


England are competitive because they do some things really well, mostly they front up physically, make a lot of big hits, have a solid kicking game, a good lineout, good maul, Marcus Smith and some solid forwards. A lot of what we do well I would ascribe to Borthwick personally. I don't think he's a bad coach, I think he lacks imagination and is overly risk averse. He needs coaches who will bring a point of difference.


I guess my point is, yes England are competitive, but we’re not aiming for competitive and I honestly don't believe this coaching setup has what it takes to make us any better than competitive.


On the plus side it looks like we have an amazing crop of young players coming through. Some of them who won the u20 world cup played for England A against Australia A on the weekend and looked incredible... Check out the highlights on youtube.

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