{"id":5316,"date":"2015-03-03T12:19:58","date_gmt":"2015-03-03T12:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/?p=5316"},"modified":"2015-03-03T12:19:58","modified_gmt":"2015-03-03T12:19:58","slug":"dragons-flying-again-can-wales-still-claim-glory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/03\/03\/dragons-flying-again-can-wales-still-claim-glory\/","title":{"rendered":"Dragons flying again: can Wales still claim glory?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5><em>The Cardiffian&#8217;s Caleb Spencer analyses a rejuvenated Wales following a positive Six Nations weekend<\/em><\/h5>\n<p>The reason many Welsh fans felt so hurt by the loss was not just because of the moral imperative to beat \u201cthe old enemy,\u201d it was because England were average and the win was there for the taking.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3891\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3891\" style=\"width: 370px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/IMG_0765.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-3891\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/IMG_0765.jpg\" alt=\"6 Nations, Training, Rugby, Wales\" width=\"370\" height=\"278\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3891\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3891\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/IMG_0765.jpg\" alt=\"6 Nations, Training, Rugby, Wales\" width=\"370\" height=\"278\" \/><\/noscript><\/a> With two weeks to prepare, Wales will hope not to lose any momentum going into the Ireland clash<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nBut the Rhys Webb\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad-Dan Biggar, and Connor Murray-Johnny Sexton partnerships at the weekend showed the importance of a solid and settled 9-10 relationship in the Six Nations. And for this relationship to flourish, the forwards must play their part, and in Paris on Saturday night, the Welsh pack put on their most complete performance in years. It was a joy to watch.<br \/>\nComplemented by Jamie Roberts and George North, the Welsh eight were given good momentum at the breakdown, which in turn led to cleaner ball for Webb and Biggar. Although not a resounding defeat of a suspect French squad, fans will be pleased with the level of effort put in by the men in red.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3808\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3808\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/IMG_0739.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"  wp-image-3808\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/IMG_0739.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_0739\" width=\"310\" height=\"232\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3808\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"  wp-image-3808\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/IMG_0739.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_0739\" width=\"310\" height=\"232\" \/><\/noscript><\/a> Leigh Halfpenny was as reliable as ever against France<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nThe mark of a great team, that can compete with the southern hemisphere sides \u2013 as France will know \u2013 is a mobile and skilled packed. So, the site of Dan Lydiate\u2019s audacious offload to send Biggar through on 60 minutes and the continued brilliance of Jake Ball and Alun Wyn Jone in the second row, will give Gatland belief<br \/>\nCombined Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies&#8217; commanding display in midfield, and Leigh Halfpenny&#8217;s unerring accuracy from places kicks, Wales have a right to go into the clash against Ireland with renewed optimism. That defeat to England seems an age away.<br \/>\nThe Welsh team know Ireland will be the toughest test yet, and the almost unbearable question for Welsh fans will be: can we keep this up? This will be the contest of the championship so far, and in the cauldron of the Millennium Stadium, anything can happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Cardiffian&#8217;s Caleb Spencer analyses a rejuvenated Wales following a positive Six Nations weekend The reason many Welsh fans felt so hurt by the loss was not just because of the moral imperative to beat \u201cthe old enemy,\u201d it was because England were average and the win was there for the taking. But the Rhys Webb\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad-Dan Biggar, and Connor Murray-Johnny Sexton partnerships at the weekend showed the importance of a solid and settled 9-10 relationship in the Six Nations. And [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":4115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,4],"tags":[759,1291,180,2662,2663,2664,2015,2353,154,1799,328,339,332,1029,293,765],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rugby","category-sport","tag-alun-wyn-jones","tag-cardiff-2","tag-france","tag-french-rugby","tag-jamie-roberts","tag-leigh-halfpnney","tag-millennium-stadium","tag-paris","tag-rugby-2","tag-sam-warburton","tag-six-nations","tag-wales","tag-wales-rugby","tag-warren-gatland","tag-welsh","tag-welsh-rugby-union"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dragons flying again: can Wales still claim glory? - The Cardiffian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/03\/03\/dragons-flying-again-can-wales-still-claim-glory\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dragons flying again: can Wales still claim glory? - The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Cardiffian&#8217;s Caleb Spencer analyses a rejuvenated Wales following a positive Six Nations weekend The reason many Welsh fans felt so hurt by the loss was not just because of the moral imperative to beat \u201cthe old enemy,\u201d it was because England were average and the win was there for the taking. 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