Oh to be Welsh at the moment. Not that I am, mind you, but I can imagine it’s quite a lot of fun, especially in fun-packed Cardiff and the valleys beyond. The brilliant qualification of the nation for the quarter finals of the rugby union world cup, especially at the expense of their greatly loved (not) English rivals. These days I try not to gloat at defeated opponents, not always with great success, it has to be said, but I do not begrudge my Welsh friends ill. It was not by pure luck that they humiliated England at Twickers, as the posh people call it, and they are as entitled to rub our English noses in it as much as they like.
And football, too. Dearie me, can it get any better? Not only do they possess the only world class footballer in the British Isles, Gareth Bale, their national team is now ranked eighth in the world in the FIFA rankings, two places above England, as well as being well ahead of Italy (17th), France (22nd) and Russia (26th). Amazingly, they are now just one place below Brazil. Never forget you’re Welsh.
I knew England’s rugby union world cup was over when they lost to Wales. They were undone by a better team, something that was proved beyond reasonable doubt when England were hammered by Australia. When Wales put up a far better fight against the men from down under the following week, we all knew the “pool” table (no, not that kind of pool table) never lied.
My knowledgeable rugby union pals tell me that Wales has a far superior team to England. Their individual players are better in almost every area and if a joint Wales/England team was selected tomorrow, very few English players would get in it. Wales, because of the size of the nation, does not have a great depth of high class players although by contrast England has great depth in mediocrity. I have no idea whether the Welsh can win the world cup, but every time you think they’ll blow up, they hang on in there.
The football team, meanwhile, is not expected to win Euro 2016. With Bale, they always have a chance in a tight game and, statistically anyway, only four European teams are currently ranked above them. If Spain, Germany and Belgium mess up, Wales might have more of a chance than we think.
I know that many Welsh fans want England to lose every time they play. I attended a game in Cardiff a few years ago when they defeated Italy, but all the fans wanted to hear was whether England were losing! Perhaps it was Wales were crap then and they had nothing to get excited about.
They’re bloody good now and what with their rugby union team, the Welsh must be having a very good time. Good luck to them, too.
