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Six Nations 2013: Llewellyn wants Wales blitz defence dropped

Last updated on .From the section Welsh Rugbycomments64

Shaun Edwards

Former captain Gareth Llewellyn says Wales should abandon assistant coach Shaun Edwards' blitz defence tactics.

Llewellyn says highlighted deficiencies.

The 92-times capped Wales lock told Scrum V: "I've never been a believer of the blitz philosophy... and the teams that we aspire to be - Australia and New Zealand - don't blitz."

He also urged Wales to offer more attacking variety against France in Paris on Saturday.

Wales scored three tries in a stirring second-half fight back after falling 30-3 behind.

Llewellyn added: "It's something a lot of people have talked about for a few years now. We've got a very talented group of players.

Scrum V pundits assess Wales v Ireland

"I actually feel sorry for guys like Jamie Roberts. There's a lot more to Jamie's game than we're seeing.

"But we're just asking him to play a particular way. It's very direct and it's going to take its toll on him eventually.

"And Ireland are not the biggest side in the world and we struggled to effect it against Ireland to a certain extent.

"England, France are going to be bigger nations and I'm not sure it's going to be effective against them.

"We need to bring a bit more variety to our game.

"We've talked about how fit we looked and our work-rate and what we did in the second half.

"Well, two years ago we were telling everyone we were the fittest side on the planet.

"So if [interim Wales] coach Rob Howley wants to start that well, we need to back ourselves from the first whistle, not when we're desperate.

"Let's set a pace in the game and look after the ball."

Llewellyn says the blitz defensive formation favoured by Edwards cost Wales a win against Australia at the Millennium Stadium in November as the Wallabies scored a late winning try.

"[Scrum V pundit] Gwyn Jones brought up a stat saying that we conceded 30 points in 44 minutes - [but] we conceded 30 points in 12 minutes of Irish possession.

"We lost to Australia in the autumn because we blitzed at the wrong time and if we hadn't have blitzed in the last minute of the game they wouldn't have got outside us, we wouldn't have lost the match.

"And the teams that we aspire to be - Australia and New Zealand - don't blitz.

"I just think we've got to be careful that the big highlights that we get with the blitz defence, particularly Jonathan Davies spotting in and making a big collision, that overshadow, sometimes, the deficiencies of it."

WALES SQUAD:

Forwards: Scott Andrews (Blues), Craig Mitchell (Exeter Chiefs), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Paul James (Bath), Gethin Jenkins (Toulon), Ryan Bevington (Ospreys), Richard Hibbard (Ospreys), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Matthew Rees (Scarlets), Ryan Jones (Ospreys), Lou Reed (Blues), Ian Evans (Ospreys), James King (Ospreys), Andrew Coombs (Dragons), Olly Kohn (Harlequins), Josh Turnbull (Scarlets), Josh Navidi (Blues), Aaron Shingler (Scarlets), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Blues), Toby Faletau (Dragons), Andries Pretorius (Blues)

Backs: Tavis Knoyle (Scarlets), Mike Phillips (Bayonne), Lloyd Williams (Blues), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), James Hook (Perpignan), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Jamie Roberts (Blues), Scott Williams (Scarlets), Alex Cuthbert (Blues), George North (Scarlets), Eli Walker (Ospreys), Leigh Halfpenny (Blues), Liam Williams (Scarlets), Lee Byrne (Clermont).

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64 comments

  • Comment posted by Ianto, at 16:38 4 Feb 2013

    Gareth Llewellyn tricked his way into the 2nd row by his height statistic. In reality, he was only 5'6" but had a 2 foot head. I'm sure this is relevant to this discussion. My last comment was serious!

  • Comment posted by Eman Yalpsid, at 21:39 4 Feb 2013

    Nonsense. I'm embarrassed being Welsh about our need to have a scapegoat. First Preistland, now Warburton and Edwards.

    Granted some decisions need to be made but the style, system and players need tweaking not a dramatic overhaul. Without the individual errors Wales would have won the game

    A little more subtlety allied with self belief and we can still win the 6N. Lets get behind the boys

  • Comment posted by Ianto, at 20:38 4 Feb 2013

    Having a blitz defence was not the cause of the defeat. It worked fine in the 2nd half, just as it it had done in the World Cup and Grand Slams. The Irish points came from Wales being careless. Charge down kick, getting ball turned over, silly penalties, Cuthbert not watching his man, etc.

  • Comment posted by User0277043462, at 22:40 4 Feb 2013

    It's not working because you're not good enough! We are all fed up hearing about world class welsh players - where are they and what are they doing ? You are desperately missing the one clear cut world class player you have - when lydiate is back things will turn for you. He is the key man and a lock in test lion. Others will pick up their game when he returns too.

  • Comment posted by Come on Wales, at 21:40 4 Feb 2013

    The defensive style debate is one thing ... Making it personal about Edwards is another
    Edwards is a class professional. End of.

  • Comment posted by Taffholmes, at 20:32 4 Feb 2013

    Shaun has been very loyal to the Wales team and I for one am very proud that he's still with us. Wrong scapegoat. There are wider problems here: backline has too much brawn and is 1 dimensional, there's clear favouritism to some old faces in the team who have lost form, we lack a backs coach with vision. PJ/KO/AJ/IE/RJ/JT/SW/TF/LW/JH/GN/SW/JD/LH/LB. 8 changes to starting XV won't happen though

  • Comment posted by magicDarkshadow, at 17:49 5 Feb 2013

    Just a comment on the blitz defence. The effectiveness of the blitz depends on the form/ability of the players in the side. Wasps' blitz defence was very effective for six years. Then came a change in personnel and the bad form of established players. Hence they fell from being champions (after finishing 2nd in the regular season) in 2008 to 7th in 2009. Wales players have to step it up.

  • Comment posted by JoioByw, at 17:12 4 Feb 2013

    Edwards has been worked out by other teams for a while now,just look at his last season at Wasps and how well London Irish have done... Between that&the job for the boys with Howley,McBryde&M Jones and picking players on reputation (possibly because they are WRU faces on all publicity????) instead of form, what hope do we have?! PLEASE let's see the best 15 players available picked for Saturday!

  • Comment posted by User0232671013, at 21:40 4 Feb 2013

    Rugby football,eh ? Bloody hell. Good players make a system work. Narrowly losing to Southern Hemisphere leviathans doesn't make you a bad side. Being under strength agin Ireland's golden generation who usually win in Cardiff doesn't make for an easy win. Yes, Edwards didn do great with London Irish but one day a week is not enough to get a system right with a club team. He is a good coach

  • Comment posted by Speedybloke, at 19:16 4 Feb 2013

    As an Englishman I thought the game was entertaining and well completed by a Welsh team who were not full of confidence. No one would have guessed Wales could come out and pt in such a good performance. Both green and red take something out of it. Next weeks game for Wales in Paris looks like it could be a cracker. Good luck for the rest of what looks like could be another good weekend of rugby.

  • Comment posted by User0283230595, at 19:28 4 Feb 2013

    ..you only consider a blitz defence when you are the dominant force on the field on the day..that is..it's a moveable feast..as a pre-match tactic it's bit like ordering poached eggs for breakfast..and getting there wanting scrambled..you really just don't know..how many blitz tackles were missed this weekend?.three I saw..

  • Comment posted by User0594744359, at 14:53 4 Feb 2013

    Blitz or not to blitz............that cannot be the question.
    Our boys again looked half cooked, just as they did in the AI's, then we all put it down to Spala, but that's not the case now, so we're left with team preparation and selection.
    Howley got it right and wrong, Cooms was a good call as was Ian Evans, but Gethin should not have even been on the bench and leaving out TIPURIC was bad.

  • Comment posted by U15603338, at 00:34 5 Feb 2013

    43.Rugby God
    Rygby GOD, surely?

  • Comment posted by Come on Wales, at 20:38 4 Feb 2013

    @32 almost completely agree ... With all.
    Only difference would be to have Hibbard at 2

    I do feel though it would be harsh on Coombes who had a good game, and Kohn I think deserves a start.

  • Comment posted by User0594609768, at 16:35 4 Feb 2013

    I quite like Edwards, but when i see Howley and McBride, for some reason all i think of is "Jobs for the boys" and know they have been given real responsibility thir inadequacies are exposed..

  • Comment posted by User0491377403, at 06:50 5 Feb 2013

    like others on here i didnt feel our defensive strategy was the major culprit for that abysmal first half. the main culprit was ireland totally dominating the breakdown. every time we got near them they turned us over or forced a penalty. under the pressure we were under in te first half its not surprisinf we conceded. second half better but not enough variety-could have scored more against 14.

  • Comment posted by Roarz, at 15:23 4 Feb 2013

    Its funny, because exactly 12 months ago everyone in ireland was saying that the drift defence was out-dated and that we had to change, now we blitz and wales want to go back to drifting. You have to blitz to deal with runners like tuilagi and north, otherwise you end up like fergus mcfadden and sitting on your backside watching a try being scored.

  • Comment posted by User0614156255, at 21:16 5 Feb 2013

    wish you welsh would stop wining about how bad you lot were,, maybe Ireland were just brilliant ... no one seems to give them any credit,,
    let look at the facts. The first try was made by the brilliance of the finest player ever to play the game with a pass of such vison it had Clive Woodword speechless , the second was from a charged down Kick,, opportunist and nothing to do with your blitz

  • Comment posted by Ianto, at 16:03 4 Feb 2013

    Blitz wasn't the problem and served Wales well in World Cup and Grand Slams. It would be a fundamental change to try a different approach in a week's time - bound to end in disaster! We conceded the points through dreadful communication (Cuthbert, Davies and Halfpenny all went for the same man and left Zebo unopposed), a charged down kick under no pressure, silly penalties and conceding turnovers.

  • Comment posted by Steffan Llysdinam, at 19:35 5 Feb 2013

    The defence is frail because of Cuthbert's inexperience/incomptetence(call it what you will). He ball watches far too often and hasn't the experience to guess well when to blitz.Last year they took him off at half time.Would like to see Byrne at FB and HP on the wing. Would bring experience to the backs. Cuthbert is a bulldozer with no one driving most of the time. Sidestep? Swerve? Handoff?

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