Welsh side well equipped to make first ever final

It’s not often that we make any predictions worth shouting about on Not Sweet Chariot, often aimless very obvious punditry on the Rugby World Cup. However looking at the up coming Semi-Final between Wales & France I can honestly say we where ahead of the curve In Wales doing well in this years Rugby World Cup.

In our third ever blog sales assistant Mary of Bed, Bath & Table Dunedin called for Wales to go far. But she went on purely nostalgic terms, but we all knew she was ahead of her time clearly for seeing that the Welsh forward ‘southern hemisphere’ style was perfect for the World Cup. Well in the spirit of that well thought out nostalgic comment from Mary. I thought a look at the Welsh side was in order, to see if they defeat the odds on Saturday by beating the French and reach their first ever World Cup Final.

Warren Gatland has created a young side with a number of players to form the core of the side for years to come. The likes of Scott Williams, George North & Sam Warburton have been superb for the Dragon’s so far and all are no older than 22 and the whole nation is behind them come Saturday.

More of the same and Wales could be in the final.

Already many pundits have called Wales “The All Blacks of the North.” With their forward free flowing style much like All Blacks, compared to the slow defensive smothering tactics of the English & French sides. But aside from playing styles there are plenty of similarities between the nations of Wales & New Zealand. Both nations are small in population, but are passionate for the game.

One man in Wales who will be watching eagerly is Elgan Hughes, a passionate rugby fan; he was the first person to congratulate me when I mentioned I was heading to see the Rugby World Cup.  I caught up with him via e-mail to gauge his feelings on this Welsh revival; “It’s not a massive surprise to me really, the Welsh have always been known as strong ball carriers,but now we have a strong, physical side that can compete with the biggest sides in the world and win.”

 Elgan who has represented his home town of Llandovery semi professionally genuinely thinks that the final is beckoning for the Welsh. “I think you have to dream at this stage, no one gave us a prayer against the Irish and we won, and even though the French beat the English they have not been amazing, besides we deserve a final.”

But deserving and getting to a final are two very differing things. But the Welsh are well equipped to stir up a result. James Hook will start at fly-half replacing James Priestland, who has been unable to train all week after picking up a shoulder knock after the victory over Ireland. But Kiwi boss Warren Gatland is eager not to celebrate too soon, “Beating France on Saturday must be and will be our sole focus .The time to reflect and to celebrate will come if we win our next two matches, until that happens our focus on the task ahead must be absolute."

Untill then the tiny nation of 3 million will be behind Wales, hoping that the “New Zealand of the north” can potentially meet their southern hemisphere cousins come the 23^rd of October.