Shaun Edwards believes his side would have won RWC 2011 if not reduced to 14 men
The defence coach of Wales, Shaun Edwards, has claimed on Thursday, November 10, that his side would have been new champions if they were not reduced to 14-men in the semi-final clash against runners-up France. Wales’ skipper was red carded by referee Alain
Rolland during the 19th minute of the match and Wales played the rest of the game with 14 players that resulted in a close margined defeat of 8-7 at the hands of the French side.
Wales’ skipper, Warburton, was penalised by the referee for his dangerous tackle against French player Vincent Clerc. The head coach of Wales, Warren Gatland, had already slammed the referee for his poor judgement and told the reporters right after the match
that it looked like Alain Rolland had already made up his mind of showing red card to Warburton.
The Welsh side had not given up the struggle and fought hard until the end of game and gave a tough time to their rivals without their captain.
Earlier, Wales had a good tournament as a team as they first qualified for quarter-finals along with Springboks from group D. They thumped Ireland in the first quarter-final by a handsome margin of 22-10.
The defence coach also claimed that if his side had gone through to the final of global show they would have been the ultimate champions. He argued that Wales had real depth in their backlines which could disrupt the rampant All Blacks on October 23.
Shaun Edwards also stated that, “When I'm old and grey sitting in my rocking chair, I will look back and say yes we did well, but it was a missed opportunity not to come home with a gold medal. I just think had we got into the final, given the size of our
team, we could have matched them.”
Talking about the options which could guide them, he said that, “I just believed with having three backs over 105 kilograms, had we come up against the likes of Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu and potentially Sonny Bill, we would brought it right to them... it would
have been a great match-up.”
Wales claimed fourth position in the recently concluded Rugby World Cup 2011.
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