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Home / Sport

Damp flatness to Wales despite win - Barry John

Wynne Gray
By Wynne Gray
NZ Herald·
28 Feb, 2016 09:04 PM2 mins to read

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Wales coach Warren Gatland. Photo / AP

Wales coach Warren Gatland. Photo / AP

Wales are winning but former great Barry John laments there are cracks in the setup and a damp flatness about their rugby.

He can't find much spark or pinpoint any subtlety about their backs and while Wales showed plenty of character that would not deliver consistent success or the keys to victory in their next Six Nations clash with England.

Standards were diminishing across that series and were much inferior to those seen from the All Blacks, Wallabies and Pumas in the last World Cup.

Wales have drawn with Ireland and beaten Scotland and France with praise coming for their defence but not much else.

"Nobody can be happy with the way the Welsh team is playing at the moment," John told Wales Online after their latest struggle to a 19-10 win over France.

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"I have, like most of the Welsh supporters, been left scratching my head after the drab and colourless win against as poor a French team as I can remember."

Similar sentiments were aimed at new USA coach John Mitchell and his side after they were beaten 24-23 by Brazil in a tournament in Sao Paulo. The Eagles drew their first game with an Argentina XV, edged Canada and walloped Chile before losing to Brazil.

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08 Mar 06:48 PM
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