Cracking the Code..: Courage not enough for Wales.

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Cracking the Code..: Courage not enough for Wales.: 'Courageous', an adjective I hope isn't used to describe the Welsh performance, in this evening's all important Euro 2016 gr...

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The one where Wales lost to England.

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Pretty sure that I'm not the first punter to vacate Sydney's Star Casino, questioning what could of been, if that last spin had produced a favorable outcome. Certainly won't be the last. However, my disappointment had less to do with a dab handed croupier, more the fleet of foot of Elliot Daly, whose 78th minute try grabbed England a victory that either team would have been entitled to. Such was the contest. As I caught up on social media in the taxi (uber  had surge) home, it was the usual suspects getting grilled, Howley and of course Cuthbert, it was always going to be Cuthbert.  You do know that the Wales lot will blame me for this. To use a cricketing analogy, Cuthbert held down an end for nine overs before getting a walloping in his last. A loose carry surrendered possession at a critical stage before his decision to back his own wheels by offering Elliot Daily the outside proved to be a wrong'un as the Wasps gun turned on the heat to cross for the matc...
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Courage not enough for Wales.

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'Courageous', an adjective I hope isn't used to describe the Welsh performance, in this evening's all important Euro 2016 group match against Russia. If the nation finds itself celebrating the players' courage, we will probably be doing so in absence of the desired outcome, qualification. Three times last week, I watched courageous Welsh efforts in the sporting arena. Each time the courage yielded nothing more than defeat. It started on the Wednesday, and the Under 20's Rugby team. A performance built on abrasive defence, backed up by tactics that were far better suited to the wet conditions than those deployed by their New Zealand counterparts, lead to Wales edging it on the scoreboard with time all but done. The teams departed the field with the Baby Blacks victorious, courtesy of a last minute penalty from Jodie Barrett. On Thursday, and to Lens, where Wales temporarily found themselves in dreamland as they lead England at half time of the much anticipate...
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Danny Cipriani & The No Dickheads Policy

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In his book, ‘Legacy’, James Kerr explores the organisational values that underpinned the All Blacks’ transition from perennial chokers, to Rugby World Cup winners in 2011. Kerr observed that a mantra of ‘better men make better All Blacks’ ran to the core of All Black culture. The successful Sydney Swans AFL team of the mid noughties had a similar ethos, but worded it with a forthright Aussie simplicity, ‘no dickheads’. The All Blacks’ management liked it, swiped it (with permission) and embedded it into their own organisation. In his search to emulate the success of Graham Henry and Steve Hanson, Eddie Jones has himself made it clear that character is of equal prevalence to ability in his selection criteria. It is perhaps simplistic to sight Jones’ own take on ‘no dickheads’, as the sole justification for the repeat omission of Danny Cipriani from Eddie’s squads to this point. The control provided by the Ford/Farrell axis has been at the fore of England’s success, and J...
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