Dewi Lake has taken the brunt of the criticism for Wales’ lineout problems(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd)
It was a miserable day in London for Wales last Saturday.
In every facet of the match, they were outplayed by England. The statistics were damning in that sense.
It’s hard to pick an area of the game where Wales weren’t conclusively beaten – but the lineout was certainly a part of the game where Wales were denied any sort of platform.
After conceding a penalty from their first lineout, with a piggyback penalty then setting the tone for England’s dominance, Wales would lose three out of the next four in the first-half.
By the time they actually won a lineout cleanly, the scoreline was 22-0 in favour of the hosts. The match, 31 minutes in, was over as a contest.
Dewi Lake, as hooker and captain, has already endured a fair bit of stick in the days since that defeat at Allianz Stadium.
In fairness, the Ospreys man – who has been burdened with a lot this season – didn’t have his best day. His form has perhaps dropped off a little at club level too.
Things like forgetting the tap part of a tap-and-go penalty will frustrate the 26-year-old. But the majority of the blame for Wales’ lineout issues laying at his door is just unfair.
Of course, in Welsh rugby, twas ever thus.
Like the 10 jersey seems to be the lightning rod for the issues of the backline, the number two jersey is the go-to when it comes to lineout woes.
One of Lake’s colleagues in the squad – Ryan Elias – has suffered an insane amount of criticism over the years on behalf of the lineout as a whole.
Liam Belcher, perhaps only on account of his lack of caps to date, hasn’t received the same level of bile online. But that could well change should a few lineouts go awry.
Instead, rather than Lake, Elias or Belcher, the problems at lineout time run deeper. The official statistics say Wales lost four lineouts on the weekend – but that disregards the one lineout that resulted in a penalty for obstruction, as well as another that was disrupted by Chessum but ultimately went forward.
Instead, Wales went to that area of the game on six different occasions in the game and didn’t get the platform they wanted. Arguably more, if you consider times they perhaps compromised ideal ball for just any ball.
So why is Wales’ lineout floundering as much as it is?
Let’s start with Wales’ first lost lineout of the afternoon.
Wales shorten up the numbers, with just Alex Mann, Dafydd Jenkins, Adam Beard and Archie Griffin in there. Scrum-half Tomos Williams stands at the front.
In the past, Wales have used these shortened four-man lineouts as a relatively safe lineout call. Use the speed to beat the opposition jumper and get the ball away.
It’s not necessarily an amazing platform to play off – for example, Wayne Pivac used to use it in Wales’ 22 as a means of setting up an exit under the least amount of pressure – but it can work well enough.
However, it’s all just a little too laboured and slow – with England able to read fairly easily that Jenkins is the jumper.
Mann drops out just moments before the throw, meaning England are able to make it a race and compete with Alex Coles.
It was a similar story with Belcher’s first lineout in the second-half. Again, Wales shorten it – but, things are probably just a little too convoluted.
Rather than just walking in and getting off the ground with few complications, there’s enough movement for England to get a read.
Even without Maro Itoje starting, England tended to bite on the first trigger. Wales didn’t seem to learn that lesson too quickly.
The throws themselves aren’t awful. They’re where they need to be. But Chessum and Coles are able to get in front of them and compete.
Only a couple of throws were clearly off the money. The first is an overthrow by Lake.
The second is a slight underthrow by Belcher.
It’s an area of many moving parts, with Wales just not fluid enough in that area.
Ultimately, you can probably have ball-winning or ball-playing lineouts. England have the ability to be ball-playing with their options.
They can go to the middle or back, dictating how they get into starter plays.
Wales are probably a ball-winning lineout at the moment. They’re simply not winning enough to put the cart before the horse.
England largely gave Wales front ball – but they didn’t always take it, choosing more complicated options instead.
The first lineout Wales won, they went to the front. Aaron Wainwright was solid enough in his footwork to get on the front foot against England’s hinge.
It’s not ideal ball to play off in terms of moving it wider, but it allowed them to kick off with some sort of go-forward – with Beard winning the ball.
Wales seem to be in a difficult position right now – behind the curve in a number of areas. As such, they’re probably taking more chances than they’d like in a number of different facets.
Perhaps, looking at the lineout, that’s one area where Wales just need to play the odds a little more.
