Rugby Union: Now sharpen up our cutting edge

ENGLAND are changing rugby's world order and Wales must try to cling to their coat-tails.

The evidence of this autumn is that the era of dominance by the Southern Hemisphere is over.

New Zealand, Australia and South Africa were all beaten by England, the Wallabies also lost to Ireland, and Scotland turned over the Springboks.

France also beat the Boks and drew with the All Blacks and of all the games played by the home countries last month only one was lost - by Wales against New Zealand.

Of course, all this does not mean England are going to win the World Cup and their fans have to be careful not to go overboard. Australia in hot weather and on hard grounds next October will be very different.

Hats off, nevertheless, to Clive Woodward for masterminding three fantastic victories. Even more impressive is what he has planned for next year.

He knows England are still vulnerable away from home. Look at the Grand Slams they have blown in the last four years.

So Clive has packed the away fixtures in the build-up to the World Cup and England will visit New Zealand, Australia, France and Wales. If they can win those their self-belief will soar.

It sticks in English craws that they haven't won a Grand Slam under Woodward, which will make this season's tournament very interesting.

Wales also need a successful campaign so something will have to give on that second weekend when England come to the Millennium Stadium.

Wales have made progress and the autumn performances were generally encouraging. But another Six Nations like last season and all the good work will go down the drain.

England have proved they no longer have any hang-ups about playing the Southern Hemisphere and Ireland have also made that leap of faith. In fact, I would say Ireland are on the point of making the group of leading nations into a top six - England, France, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Ireland.

Wales are struggling to keep pace with the Irish but at least there was pride, determination and organisation against the All Blacks last weekend.

What Wales need to do now is learn to create more as an attacking force. England and France are dangerous running sides, while the All Blacks are developing this very impressive way of breaking down defences through all these dummy runners.

Australia are bound to have something up their sleeve by the time of the World Cup, so the challenge for Wales is to improve their attacking game. Iestyn Harris sparked a few openings when he came on, but when you look at the likes of Rhys Williams, Jamie Robinson and Mark Jones we should be stretching defences more than we are.

Rhys, Jamie and Mark are talented runners with plenty of gas, but as a team Wales are too predictable. We have to find a way of releasing those players into areas where they can do maximum damage.

England do it very well with Ben Cohen, who pops up all over the place and creates havoc, while Austin Healey does the same when he comes off the bench.

The pair of them are used as sharp weapons to cut the opposition - not simply thrown the ball in areas where they have no space, which means their talent is blunted.

Wales have produced some individual success stories this autumn, such as Martyn Williams, Ben Evans and Robert Sidoli. The next stage is to get the whole side to become a sharper attacking unit.

There's one other area when England are way out in front. While they have enjoyed a fantastic few weeks at Twickenham their club game has continued without a blip.

In Wales the club game closed down for a month, a financial disaster for those trying to keep themselves afloat - and bad news for any supporter trying to maintain interest in the domestic programme.

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