WALES HUMILATE ENGLAND IN TITLE DECIDER

WALES   30  -  3   ENGLAND 

In what should have been a real spectacle and climax to the RBS 6 Nations championship with the title decider at the Cardiff Millennium Stadium, It turned into a complete and utter nightmare for the men in St George colours. As the Welsh Dragons completely outclassed a very poor English side on all sides of the game. Whether it was Scrums, runs, set plays or kicking Wales had all the answers as they massacred England by 30-3. Comments before the kick off abound were  "Are England really that good and the Italian performance was a one off?" Are they the real deal? ". All questions were set to be answered in an 80 minutes nightmare infront of a packed out emotional Millennium Stadium.

Pregame gave the players a taste of what was to come as "Bread of Heaven" was bellowed out by the Welsh fans as the players went through their warm up and the noise was deafening inside the stadium and more so with the roof closed and made the atmosphere even more louder as it reverberated. The game was by many would England try to defend the 6 point different they held over their rival or go for it.

 

So as the players headed off the noise was building and the anticipation to the clash was growing by the minute. Time grew nearer t game time and as England came out into the cauldron of Welsh fans and were greeted to a warm reception. But then Wales came out to one of the loudest roars in International rugby as the pyrotechnics and smoke welcomed the Welsh side onto the pitch.  The National Anthem was sung both with gusto and emotion by both sides, though the Welsh anthem "Land of my Fathers" was sung more loudly than ever before and with people in the crowd crying to, everyone was emotional.

New Zealander Steve Walsh was the Referee for this big clash, It became apparent that Wales were far more up for this game than England seemed to be as the defence was solid all game for Wales as England were struggling to make much if any head way in the Wales half. England had to weather a lot of continued pressure by the Welsh, Eventually England were penalised for Not rolling away and up stepped Leigh Halfpenny to boot it over for an early 3-0 lead the hosts.

 A penalty on Dan Cole for not rolling away resulted in Mike Philips taking a quick tap and running through a static English defence as Tom Croft managed to stop the run and Wales ploughed on. Biggar got the pass and when he tried to pass left the balls slipped out going backwards as Barritt jumped on the loose ball as England gained possession back. England then found a gap as the forward spread play to the left wing Tuiliangui passed to Mike Brown and tried to pass his way out of trouble with no White shirts in support of him and threw in Welsh hands and they kicked deep into England half.

England gave away yet another penalty inside their half as they were penalised at the breakdown, so ref Steve Walsh blew, giving Wales or Halfpenny at least a chance to extend the lead and pull back the points difference. Halfpenny kick from 45 metres went over and Wales led 6-0 after 18 minutes.

The visitors then won a penalty of their own as Sam Warburton was guilty of hands in the ruck and gave Owen Farrell the chance to cut the lead in half. His kick just went over with help of the post to knock it get over the crossbar.

Wales were so dominant in all aspect especially the scrum as they turned England and gained a penalty with Halfpenny yet again converting for a 9-3 lead and Wales had confidence oozing all over as England were in danger of being embarrassed as they were at sixes and sevens and giving away penalties in good areas.

Wales then conceded a penalty straight away and Farrell kicked to reduce lead but his kick went wide and so missed a glorious chance to bring the score lines closer.

England started to get a bit of a foothold in the game for the first time as they started to make some progress but were still being snuffed out by the men in red.

Both sides had spells mini passages of play and right on the stroke of Half time Biggar tried a drop goal attempt and just went the wrong side of the posts as Wales headed into the break up by 6 points 2 points shy of the winning margin on points difference.

Second half started with Wales getting a put in to the scrum and yet again dominated the English pack as the forwards collapsed and was being a massive problem and over concern for the Stuart Lancaster and his side. Phillips & Tipuric both made breaks for the welsh as they made yards and was eventually stopped by the white shirts. England found themselves on the end of another advantage for the Welsh as they were still giving away stupid penalties to the home side.  Leigh Halfpenny does what Leigh Halfpenny does best and that kick the points necessary for his side as they got out to a 12-3 lead and were now in Championship winning territory being 9 points up and 2 ahead.

England made changes to try and find any weakness in the Welsh armour as Wales was having everything go their way. Decisions going in favour of Wales and England making mistakes was leading to their downfall, and things got worse for the English as a quick break by the Welsh on the England left, Had the English in trouble as they were outnumbered by red shirts as Jonathon Davies pass to Alex Cuthbert was taken and as he run off the tackle of Mike Brown the Millennium stadium erupted in joy for the home side as they were now had one hand on the Six Nations trophy and England heads were starting to drop as well. Halfpenny missed the conversion but he was having a great game for Wales and so could be let off this once.

Owen Farrell then missed another penalty for England and it seemed the occasion had caught up to the English players, As while the England players were like rabbits in the headlights with the atmosphere and the play their opponents were producing. Wales on the other hand were playing great rugby and had certainly used the occasion as motivation as they asked England questions and had no answers to the men from the valleys. Biggar then knocked over a drop goal to make it 20-3 and this was becoming a rout now against the English and was bordering on embarrassing for the Lancaster and his troops.

They lack all motivation and a leader on the pitch as they fell apart and Wales rubbed salt in the wounds even more making it more painful for the England faithful, As Warburton cut through the English defence and was brought down halfway in the England half, Fast passing outlet came as they sprayed the ball out to the right and found Halfpenny,  His pass found Tipuric with Cuthbert in support and as he dummy passed he made space before offloading to the supporting Alex Cuthbert and Wales and the fans were in dreamland as they scored another try and Cuthbert`s 2nd of the game and the champagne was already flowing as they dismantled England with fantastic team play and was giving them a royal beating.

England were downtrodden by the Welsh as they out muscled, out thought and out played the English and were far more clinical in all play. Defence wise they were magnificent and hardly gave England a sniff of a try. England were penalised again going in at the side and gave Dan Biggar the chance to kick the penalty and he duly obliged as his kick sailed over the bar and 3 more points added to the Wales score, Making it 30-3 and a demolition of the Pre tournament favourites.

England then had a mini spell where they finally reached near to the Wales try line and was pushing the Welsh defence hard for the first time all game, Only for Danny Care to try and dink a kick to corner but his kick went right out of play and summed up how England was in the game AWFUL!

England had the ball and were on the attack only for them knock on and feel just got worse for England as they lacked confidence and belief going forwards and didn`t look like a team that could score. The final 5 minutes Wales were pushing for more points and every attack looked menacing from the Welsh, Onwards they tried and all England could do was containing the Wales forwards.

Wales then kicked a ball into the England half and Captain Robshaw knocked on as he tried to grab it but knocked on and then kicked it down field in pure and utter frustration as the England Skipper and team mates on this day, it wasn`t be their day.

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So as Steve Walsh blew for the full time whistle, Wales who came into the Six Nations on the back of 9 successive losses having last beat the Barbarians back in June 2012, They were crown the 2013 Six Nations Champions and the joy and jubilation was there for all to see as the Valleys were alive with the sounds of Victory & made especially sweeter for a any Welsh fan that they beat their enemy to not only clinch the title but to stop pinch it right at the end when it seemed that all along that England were going to cruise to the title. But credit to Wales they dug in deep and battled hard and grounded out wins and went to another gear when they had to barring the Ireland game.

Worthy winners overall and a lot of Welsh players hope to have booked their place on the flight to Australia for the Lions tour in the summer with British & Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland certainly pleased that his side under the tutelage of his Assistant Rob Howley winning the Championship for his side.

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Phoenix send Sheffield packing to the DOGHOUSE!

MANCHESTER PHOENIX   3  -  2  SHEFFIELD STEELDOGS 

Well... after the Nightmare of going down 8-2 to the Bottom placed Telford Tigers Saturday evening. All thoughts switched to the Northern Derby or War of the Roses clash whatever you prefer. The White Rose of Yorkshire team Sheffield Steeldogs against the Red Rose County of Lancashire and Manchester Phoenix!  Sheffield shocked the Double league winning Guildford Flames in the Champions barn winning 2-1 down there and so as we headed into the derby clash Sheffield had their tails up and Phoenix seemed like a side in disarray from the Telford thrashing.

So as we got set for the game and with both sides missing two Import players each, Arguably Phoenix was missing the two most influential players, In Top Scorer Michal Psurny and Defenseman Ondrej Pozivil missing for the home side which left Manchester short benched more than Sheffield had. The officials were Referee Tom Pering (...more on him as we go...) Linesmen Leigh Hetherington and Kris Wells.

1ST Period

Not too much in the way of hockey to speak off really as it was like a typical derby game or Playoff type game with both sides going at it hard, But Phoenix losing composure and Sheffield playing their normal chippy, chippy straying over the line play they use in games. But as frustrating and annoying as the tactic is, it has certainly worked for Andre Payette men over the last few years. Play was very scrappy as it was all very messy indeed between the 2 sides but incident packed.

First scrum of the game came when Steeldogs was in the Phoenix zone and a shot was saved by Jaszczyk and he frozen play for a whistle, Till Steeldogs player Greg Wood a good 4 seconds after play was froze mindlessly skated into the net minder on purpose and so players all got into a heated moment as tempers were flaring up between the 2 bitter rivals. Shockingly Ref Pering didn`t call anything and so play restarted to the bemusement of Phoenix players and fans alike.

Then moments another shot was caught by the young net minder as he gloved it for a whistle and Wood skated hard and sprayed Ice all over the net minder and more pushing and shoving but yet again no calls were made. Phoenix had a couple of attempts as Andy McKinney went close as his effort struck the post and Liam Chong was unable to get the puck for a rebound as Sheffield cleared their lines.



James Archer went close but can`t reach the puck after Tom Duggan backhands puck towards him.

The first penalties of the game came as the puck was along the boards in the corner and as Richie Bentham was hit hard from behind from Greg Wood the Referee decided to call something finally, And Bentham took exception and he went to get to Wood as both sides piled in by the plexi glass and with Big Schnabel being held by 3 Steeldogs players as Ben Morgan had a glove in Bentham face and then in Schnabel as he was "Staple gunned" to the boards.

After all the penalties were dished out the resulting calls were for Sheffield: Greg Wood was given 2 minutes for CROSS CHECKS and Ben Morgan was given ROUGHING & on the Manchester side was Richard Bentham & Rob Schnabel all getting 2 minutes each at 4-26. Luke Boothroyd was then called for HOOKING at 4-46. The resulting power play wasn`t that great by Steeldogs as they made no headway as shots were fired over the nets and missing by a distance. Phoenix had a couple more chances but their shots as well were going wide.

Then we had another coming together in front of the nets as play was whistled a Phoenix stopped by net minder Sheffield player pushed him on top but the Manchester player stayed upright, Both sets of players came in Steve Duncombe was trying to irritate any Phoenix player into a penalty, Schnabel then entered the fray and gave a face wash to Duncombe and Schnabel called him out as Duncombe was doing everything behind the players back. So when the same was done to him big Rob Challenged him as he was British and Schnabel an Import it helped Sheffield taking another import to the penalty box and so they both dropped the gloves.

Schnabel kept drawing him in but Duncombe was shying away and not backing up what he was doing, so when they did grapple Duncombe tried desperately to grab him down to the ice and avoid being punched and Schnabel was trying to throw and keep him from going to the ice quickly. But the Phoenix player just pushed him down and lay on him and both went to their penalty boxes, both getting the standard 2+2 for ROUGHING at 10-27. Wasn`t really much of one to be honest.

Sheffield had a spell of good pressure where they were in the Phoenix zone but most of the shots were blocked by a stern defence or they went wide of the nets as they couldn`t capitalise on any offensive play they posed. Player coach Tony Hand then picked up a 10 Minute MISCONDUCT penalty for shouting at the ref over the constant running the goalie over by Wood for the 4th time, that penalty was timed at 18-15.

Sheffield thwarted much of the hockey with constant needless roughing and dirty play to be honest, But as annoying as it was it worked especially as they took the lead through a Edgars Berbris goal as he backhanded his shot over the shoulder of Jaszczyk in the Phoenix nets and gave them a 1-0 lead at 19-02, Assist going to Lee Haywood.

2ND PERIOD  

Phoenix came out and looked a different side from first not responding to the constant cheap shots that was being dished out by the Visiting team. Phoenix tied the game early in the period as a breakout by Phoenix from Joachim Flaten played it to the left wing to Andy McKinney and had Liam Chong up in support and passed it on to the tape and his slap shot beat Dalibor Sedlar in Steeldogs goals for a 1-1 game at 21-27. 

Then came a complete joke decision by the 2 officials, namely Lineswoman Leigh Hetherington & Referee Tom Pering. The incident came at 21-46 when after play was frozen, Players were heading to the bench when Lee Haywood of the Sheffield Steeldogs skated slowly in front of him on purpose then was side by to which he Butt Ended McKinney in the body and tried to trip him up, McKinney reacted by trying to trip him back up as he lifted the Steeldogs leg up and he nearly fell as he didn`t expect it to be given back.

Heywood cried wolf to the female lineswoman and Rob Schnabel just looked on chuckling at him being made to look a bit stupid. She then had a word with the referee, so those watching expected both men to get 2 minutes each for delay of game. However shock around the Ice Dome as booing went around the rink as McKinney was sent to the changing rooms as he was adjudged to have "Kicked" the Sheffield player and so the Manchester player was given 5+Match and hopefully the decision will be reviewed as it was a scandalous call.

The rest of the period was spent with the hockey side trying to outdo the constant stop start interruptive style Sheffield brought, as Manchester was pushing for the go ahead goal in the game. A lot of chances were made and it was Sheffield who struck the post and luckily Manchester cleared away to the Steeldogs zone. We also had the Suspended player coach for Sheffield one Andre Payette sat in with the Phoenix fans as he was serving the final game of his 4 match ban for Spearing a player a couple weeks back. 

Though apparently a player coach isn`t allowed to be sat in the stands when suspended and was barking no pun intended orders to his players. Phoenix did take the lead as a few minutes of pressure by the returning Player coach from his 10 minutes resulted in Manchester camped inside the Sheffield zone and was giving them headaches as they struggled to get the puck. Hand danced his way round into a gap passed to Flaten who set up Bentham whose fist shot was saved by Sedlar in nets but he got his own rebound for a 2-1 lead 30-59.  Better was to come as couple minutes later Bari McKenzie scored from a tight angle almost level with Sedlar and his shot somehow found a way in for 3-1 and Steeldogs looked a bit lost goal was timed at 32-00.


There wasn`t much time to celebrate as that man for the Steeldog Greg Wood put home from a rebound as Jaszczyk lost sight of the puck and as it came to Wood, He couldn`t force in his initial effort but he did second time and made it 3-2 at 35-49. 

And there was more chippiness by the young Upstarts from over the Pennines as Duggan was clearly caught along the neck by a Sheffield player, punches and slashes going missed by the Referee. Which was angering the crowd as these penalties weren`t so hidden from the ref as more done in front of the referee but nothing was getting called and you felt the game was straining to be get out of control as these were more blatant calls than I’ve seen in hockey. 

Greg Wood then tried to check someone and came off second best and stayed down but the referee carried on but had a look on his face that was "I can`t stop this now" So Phoenix attacked and just missed the target. Wood looked round and dashed off to the bench as the puck was sliding along the boards. Then in the last couple of minutes we had a when is a "ICING not a ICING?" riddle as Sheffield cleared it down the ice and players were skating around the Steeldogs zone for a face-off the Referee and Linesman called it no icing! Which drew shouts from the stands and when Phoenix did exactly the same they were called for icing themselves. Very inconsistence all game the officiating was.

End of the period came to a big cheer from the Home fans as they rose to their feet for their players as they headed to the locker rooms and one of the most loudest boos I’ve heard in ages directed towards the officials and could be heard clearly outside. 

3RD & FINAL PERIOD

Manchester had to decide whether they would attack an go in search of a goal to and attack all period or play smart and hit Sheffield on the break, As Phoenix were slightly tiring a bit being men down and defending the one goal lead. Phoenix came out pushing hard for this 2 goal cushion and when Bari McKenzie was twisting and turning and making a fool out a Sheffield player near the nets, It was no surprise he was pleased with that and tried to shoved on top of the Sheffield nets and carried on pushing and shoving him nearly send the net toppling. Clear penalty and was FINALLY called by Perring which drew one of the Biggest cheers of the night and was against you know who Greg Wood for somehow "HOOKING" when there was hook to be seen at all, penalty timed 42-56. 

Phoenix was given an extra man advantage and a 5-on-3 Power play, which is the worst thing for Manchester as they have conceded more goal Shorthanded than they have scored on the Power play. So Gibson was called for TRIPPING up Tony Hand in mid ice and Hand just slid from one side of the ice to the other and Gibson proceeded to make gestures of Diving and Holding up an imaginary card for what he deemed a dive! Penalty coming at the 43-57 mark. Most refs would give 10 Misconduct for that as we`ve seen a lot worst given for 10 at the Ice Dome this season.

So the ensuing Power play took place and 1 shot on the entire 2 man advantage on what has to be said yet again a lacklustre power play by Phoenix. Both Steeldogs were let out of the box and play resumed, and then we had the rare rare sight of Captain Luke Boothroyd or "cool head Luke" and Andrew Hirst of visitors grabbing hold of each other. Behind play and fans expecting fireworks after a heavy hit by Hirst on Ben Wood moments after Wood had put a hard hit on him. Both players were given 2 minutes each for HOLDING at 47-07 (and the interview about it on the podcast is bit funny too). 

Phoenix were caught in more penalty trouble as Steve Duncombe was skating at an angle with Richard Bentham who looked like he wanted to take someone of the Steeldogs on in the entire game, both were side by side Duncombe lost control and went down looked back and Perring called the penalty on him to which he was massively frustrated which as was a lot of fans as the call was the softest all game. So he headed to the box for TRIPPING at 49-57.  

The Power play for Sheffield was quite good they moved the puck about and were pulling the defence out of position; Just the final pass or shot was eluding them at the final hurdle. Then both sides had chances Phoenix had 2 great chances as one shot went across the face of crease and goal line missing the goalies legs by inches & then one pinged off the foot of the post by James Archer. The game was played liked a early Playoff game and both sides upped the checking a bit and Schnabel found him on the end of a penalty for INTEFERENCE at 51-30 as Sheffield looked surprised too at it.

Phoenix looked to be holding on for the last 10 minutes it seems as Sheffield came at them with everything, The power play was good again by them and when ex Phoenix defenseman Ben Morgan skated towards goal with a mostly easy chance he ballooned it into the netting high above the plexi and they knew that could have been the last effort. Sheffield 2 players that seemed to just play hockey was Edgars Berbris and new Import Lubomir Korhon as he was the most noticeable player wearing white gloves. 

The 2 imports gave Phoenix a bit of a run around especially Korhon, as he used a lot of stick skills and speed as he twisted and turned the phoenix inside out during the game. He found Bebris and his effort went just wide of the post, the play switched down the far end as they tried to start another attack but Tom Duggan batted the puck out of the air while on a 1 on 3 waited for Archer to skate freely in and Sedlar produced one of the most stunning cart wheeling saves I’ve seen. 

Everyone in the rink applauded him even the linesman as everyone expected a goal as he went down early to save it. Fantastic save and worth the admission for that glove saves alone. Time was ticking by and then Phoenix were struggling Tony Hand tried to clear the puck only for it fly in the netting and so he was given a 2 minute penalty for DELAY OF GAME at 57:33. 

Home fans were biting their nails as they urged their side to stop their bitter rivals tying the game up and shots came whistling past the net and Jaszczyk saved and covered up. In the final minute and a bit Duncombe was literally dragged off the ice by team mates as he was injured somehow in a play and the net minder Sedlar was trying to dash to the bench and bring the extra attacker on 2x he tried and the 3rd time they replaced him. 

Phoenix net was like the Alamo as defenders blocked, sticks were all over and slashing the puck behind the net and trying to hold the puck against the boards it was a frantic finish. And for Phoenix the horn sounding was the best sound they`d heard as the phoenix players celebrated one Sheffield player was so frustrated he smashed his stick against the glass so hard as they were clearly annoyed by losing to their local rivals.  

STATS:

PENALTY MINS:

Manchester Phoenix: 32 PIM   Sheffield Steeldogs: 14 PIMS


SHOTS ON GOAL:

Andrew Jaszczyk:  24   Dalibor Sedlar: 39



MAN OF THE MATCH:

Manchester Phoenix: #31 Andrew Jaszczyk     Sheffield Steeldogs: #35 Dalibor Sedlar

LINKS:    

http://manchesterphoenix.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/putting-boots-in.html  MANC PHOENIX PODCAST

SCHNABEL v DUNCOMBE :

FINAL 13 seconds:

VICTORY LAP :