Kumuls Tour 1991 Series

Select a game

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9

Match Report

by PAUL FITZPATRICK

WALES's aims at the Vetch Field last night were twofold: to win with style and to bring some cheer back to the Principality. Objectives were achieved.

In scoring 13 tries and eight goals they left far behind their previous best win of 417 against France in 1935 and established the widest margin of victory in international football. Jonathan Davies, with 24 points, set an individual Welsh record.

This was hugely appreciated by a crowd of 11,422 although they must have anticipated more from opponents who had provided sterner resistance in two recent Tests against the most powerful nation in the world, Australia.

But nothing should detract from Wales's performance. They desperately wanted to win well and they achieved that by playing football which in attack and defence and in its discipline could scarcely be faulted.

It was anticipated that the backs, given the opportunities, would present the tourists with plenty of problems. The queries concerned the pack but the doubts soon evaporated.

Jones and Young were a revelation - strong-running, determined props; Williams was an admirable impromptu hooker and Bishop a converted loose forward who got better the longer the game lasted. He had not played a serious game for a year and looks thicker around the waist. His lack of practice showed in the first half but in the second he was running at full steam.

Moriarty gave a good half of determined running before making way for Phillips at the interval and Ackerman looks as if he can make a success of his switch to the second row. It was all very encouraging.

The back division produced a stream of magical moments as they capitalised on the solid work of the forwards. Phil Ford scored three tries from full-back and played with such skill, unpredictability and relish that he deprived Davies of pounds250 for the Man of the Match award.

Davies scored two tries, the first after bewildering the Papua defence with a feint first left and then right, the second just before the end when his pace and eye for a chance again left his opponents wrong-footed.

There were also two tries for Anthony Sullivan, who showed speed and the ability to work within narrow confines. Other tries from Ellis, Hadley, Griffiths and Bateman illustrated how much the backs enjoyed themselves. Only two touchdowns, from Ackerman and Bishop, came from forwards.

The Papuans threw the ball about accurately and at speed at times but were unable to create any crucial gaps. When they did so they were unlucky, Itam being denied a score when the referee ruled that Naipao had passed the ball off the ground. It was a cruel night for them.

Source: WalesRL.co.uk