Shane Williams: Stick with Scott to lead the siege on Murrayfield

Wales‘ performance against England was their best for two years – but I just couldn’t understand some of the substitutions Rob Howley made in the second half.
When you’re involved in a Wales camp which faces England, you know everything is going to be dissected to the smallest level and if you lose, the country will go into meltdown. That’s happened again, but it’s not all doom and gloom. There are a lot of positives to take into Scotland.
However the decisions to take off Ross Moriarty and Rhys Webb were a huge surprise. I just couldn’t get my head around them.
In international rugby, the players are constantly monitored during a game so the sports scientists can see how tired they are, how much ground they’ve covered and lots more. Sometimes substitutions are made on that scientific basis, and that can have its advantages.
The medical data from the performance team can tell you a player is out on his feet and has nothing left to give. In that case, you take him off and bring fresh legs on. But the thing with Ross against England was that he didn’t look at all tired. He was having an absolute stormer – his best game for Wales – and he looked so disappointed when he left the field. It told me that he thought he could have kept going and his post-match interview underlined that.
It was the same with Rhys, right, who I thought was excellent too. Rob has taken a fair bit of flak for those substitutions and I can understand why. Sometimes it’s not all about the medical data and sticking to any initial replacement ideas you may have had before kick-off. You need to be flexible and consider how the players are going. I’m sure Rob will reflect on that and learn from it moving forwards.
Those mistakes with the substitutions are unlikely to be made again, but I was really pleased to see some of the rugby Wales played against England. They have improved as the weeks have gone on in this Six Nations after being poor in the opening 40 minutes against Italy. OK, they lost the game with England and at the end of the day international rugby is about winning. But there were a lot of good things they could take from the game. Hopefully they can use those for the trip to Scotland because I think that’s going to be a tricky assignment.
A lot of people have asked me once again why Wales failed to close out the game against England. There isn’t one easy answer, but I can say for certain that’s it’s not down to fitness. I think it’s a combination of other factors, maybe a bit of mental toughness but also the confidence which comes with a winning run. England have that right now and it showed in Cardiff. That said, I don’t think there are huge issues for Wales to overcome. They just need to box a little bit cleverer at times.
Against England Wales looked more comfortable with ball in hand than they have for years. They went direct when they needed to, but played with width and tempo when given the chance. I was hugely encouraged by that and they looked very dangerous at times. That was the main positive to take out of the game for me and there’s no doubt the attack is going in the right direction.
One man who has really helped that is Scott Williams. I thought he was superb against England. Firstly, he was very good defensively which is so important as a 12. But he’s been picked in the side as a ball player and distributor, and he will only get better the more he plays in the side. Playing regularly with Jonathan Davies with both the Scarlets and Wales will also help the midfield combination.
I’m sure Scott will get a long run in the team at inside centre because he’s got great hands, great feet and can do it all really. His was a great match-up with Owen Farrell and it was difficult to choose between the two. For me Owen is a shoo-in for the Lions, and Scott’s performance against him would have caught the eye of Warren Gatland. That’s how good he is and I expect him to continue that form in the rest of the tournament.
Wales now travel to Murrayfield and I think their chances have been helped by the injury to Greig Laidlaw. He’s a massive loss to Scotland and I’m disappointed to see him out with an ankle problem. He’s a great leader, kicks his goals and had been playing with a lot of confidence. His absence is a boost for Wales in a game which has two or three mouthwatering head-to-head clashes.
At full-back, Stuart Hogg is the form 15 in the Northern Hemisphere. Up against Leigh Halfpenny I’m sure he’ll have another excellent game, but I wouldn’t write off Leigh. Not many people seem to be mentioning him but he was excellent against England and there’s still no better goal kicker around. The second row is a place I stayed away from in my career, but in Richie and Jonny Gray Scotland have two superb locks. Up against Alun-Wyn Jones I’m sure there’ll be plenty of fireworks. I’ve also been impressed with Scotland’s back row, in particular guys like Hamish Watson and Josh Strauss, and Josh will be a big loss after he was ruled out with a kidney injury. Wales have plenty of talent in that area of the field, but they’ll have their hands full this weekend.
Wales know all three of their remaining games are must-win, but I still think they are in with a shout of the Six Nations title. Scotland away will be a tough game, but the introduction of bonus points has already made for an exciting championship and it’s still wide open. England are favourites, but they still have to go to Ireland – anything could happen in that game. Plus Joe Schmidt‘s side are yet to visit Wales.
Things are far from done and dusted and while Wales have things to work on, if they can kick on from their performance against England over the next few weeks they are certainly not out of contention for the title.