England’s Tom Youngs during a press conference at Pennyhill Park, Bagshot.
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Those in-game blows came on top of the pre-World Cup losses of vital men like Jonathan Davies, Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb.
“There’s nothing bigger than a World Cup and we all know how this pool is”.
“These lads are so dedicated and so professional in everything that they do”. “That’s what our guys did and good on them”.
“What we watched in the last 10 minutes was a confused debate between people who have never been given responsibility to lead and drive the team”.
Along with a disbelieving Twickenham that reacted to a compelling match by generating one of the best atmospheres experienced at the home of English rugby, second row Geoff Parling questioned how victory became defeat.
Wales are braced for more injury misery as they prepare to assess the cost of a pulsating World Cup triumph against England at Twickenham.
They trailed 19-9, they were horribly outgunned during the first-half in scrums and lineouts, and then saw Scott Williams, Liam Williams and Hallam Amos all depart the action with serious-looking injuries.
“There was definitely contact between part of Tom Wood’s body and Liam’s head”, said Edwards. “It is something we are going to look at, with regards to citing”.
“As a group, we were in a similar position I think in 2012 where we all felt responsible because we didn’t make the decision work, and the mentality feels the same now”, said Lancaster.
George North moved in to the centres in the back line reshuffle on Saturday and could line-up in midfield in Cardiff. It came down to moments before that, 20, 30 minutes before that, when we were giving away penalties and letting them back into the game.
Scott Williams (knee) and Amos (shoulder) were still being assessed, and not ruled out of the tournament yet, defence coach Shaun Edwards said on Sunday.
“Teams in the past have lost a pool game and got to the final”.
“We do have quite a long turnaround after the Fiji game to Australia so the boys will get rested up next week”.
“We’re very very aware of the fact we didn’t go into this competition after the bitterness from 2011 just to beat England“.
Captain Chris Robshaw took responsibility for the decision afterwards and has been widely criticised but Woodward, who led England to the 2003 title in Australia, insisted the blame lies with the team management as a whole.
With his squad limping along, Gatland won’t be looking beyond Thursday.
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Tyler Morgan missed out on original World Cup selection, but was then drafted in as replacement for Cory Allen, who suffered a tournament-ending hamstring injury after scoring three tries against opening opponents Uruguay. A country is behind them. You get a line-out and you win the game, you’re a hero, you make the wrong call and you’re zero.
