by Dylan James
WALES put in a stunning defensive effort against Ireland on Sunday, as they ground out a hard-earned victory, however, defence coach Gethin Jenkins believes there is room for improvement.
Jenkins replaced Sam Warburton as breakdown/defence coach in October 2020, and the legendary loose-head prop is pleased with Wales’ efforts to keep out Ireland in the opening round. On the other hand, Jenkins actually sees Wales’ mammoth 240 tackles as a negative.
“I don’t see making 200 tackles as a positive, for me that is a negative. If we’re making 200 tackles, that means there is stuff not going right in other areas as well.”
“That is good that we’ve got the work rate and the intent, but ideally we’d be a lot less than that and that’s probably something that I’ll be looking to drive this week.”
The former British and Irish Lion retired in 2018 and moved onto coaching with Cardiff RFC and Cardiff Blues, before more recently assuming the role of defence coach for Wales under 20s.
Jenkins was appointed prior to the less-than-popular Autumn Nations Cup, where Wales struggled with their defence, particularly after Byron Hayward left the defence coach role just days before the tournament began.
Jenkins believes that Wales have improved hugely since that period, especially in the opening round of the Guinness Six Nations, however he is keen to perfect their defence capabilities.
“I few people have said to me, the defence was better! But for me, it was an improvement on where we’ve been. I wouldn’t say it was great, but I think there’s still a lot of areas we can work on.”
“Considering some of the bumps we had, and the forwards haven’t played a lot of rugby in the past six weeks, I think we started well early on, and a bit of fatigue set in. We lost our way a little bit with some of our collisions, and some of our discipline.”
“I want us to go to another level again.”To ascend to that next level, you need next level advice, and next level experience. For Gethin Jenkins that comes in the form of none other than Shaun Edwards, formerly Wales defence coach, now with France.
“The majority would probably come from Shaun (Edwards).””I’ve got a great analyst with me as well, in Mark Kinnaird who worked with Shaun and studies the game so well that I lean on him quite a bit.”
Wales face a difficult trip to Murrayfield on Saturday, as they face up against a Scottish side who withhold the bragging rights, after they trumped Pivac’s side in Llanelli last year.
Last weekend’s opening round blew the tournament wide open after the Scots defeated England at Twickenham and Wales slipped past Ireland, so both sides will be confident they have a chance at the competition if they win on the weekend.
Time will tell if Gethin’s defensive knowledge will prevail again.
