Historically, Welsh sides are the owners of a poor reputation when it comes to touring. And when you thumb through the history books it’s hard to form much of an argument against the stereotype. Most of Wales’s great rugby exploits have tended to come on European soil. So with Wales due to embark on a three-match summer series with the World Champions in their own backyard, The East Terrace wanted…
Both rugby books from the editor of The East Terrace get second editions
James Stafford, the editor of The East Terrace, released two books on rugby in 2021. Stafford’s An Illustrated History of Welsh Rugby (art by Raluca Moldovan) was released in February 2021 by Polaris Publishing to critical acclaim. After selling out in late 2021, it was revised, updated and rereleased before the 2022 Six Nations. The second book from Stafford, ‘How Wales Beat the Mighty All Blacks‘ (from Y Lolfa) is…
UPDATED: WRU management speak: A written history of the ‘learnings’ of Westgate Street
The Welsh Rugby Union has a long and proud history of management speak. When the game in Wales needs leadership, clarity and action, we usually get waves of wondrous Westgate Street waffle. From Roger Lewis to Steve Phillips, the WRU has a conveyor belt of great management mumblers to rival the great outside-half factory of yesteryear. Yet, the WRU is never called out on this by the press in Wales….
The East Terrace 2022 Six Nations Awards
Welcome to the only Six Nations Awards that matter: The East Terrace Six Nations Awards. Unlike the official tournament organisers, we would never bother asking the common people who watch the thing to vote on who wins what (what do they know?). Interviewee of the tournament RUNNER UP: Wayne Pivac (Wales) “I don’t know that it struggled.” Wales’s Wayne Pivac responds to a question about the struggles of the Welsh…
Dear rugby broadcasters, please, just show us the line-outs
We’ve written before on The East Terrace about the poor choices broadcasters often make during live rugby coverage. A desire for ‘innovative’ and ‘engaging’ angles, or ‘drama’ in the coaching box, continually infuriates people who just want to watch the live action from a decent perspective. The recent Wales v France game was a classic modern Cardiff broadcast with style taking precedence over substance (and the style not even being…
Welsh coaches v Italy in the Six Nations (2000-2021)
Concluding our look at the history of Welsh coaches in the Five and Six Nations, this week we look at Wales’s results against Italy in the Championship. With Italy only joining the tournament for its expansion in 2000, this week’s article is a far more simple affair. A quick reminder before we start, this series only looks at Six Nations games and does not consider any games with Italy outside…
Welsh coaches v France in the Five and Six Nations (1968-2021)
Continuing our look at the history of Welsh coaches in the Five and Six Nations, today we analyse Wales’s results against France since David Nash was appointed as the first Welsh coach in 1968. A quick reminder before we start, this series only looks at Five and Six Nations games and does not consider World Cup clashes or non-Championship clashes with France. Full record of Welsh coaches against France in…
Welsh coaches v England in the Five and Six Nations (1968-2021)
Continuing our look at the history of Welsh coaches in the Five and Six Nations, today we analyse the results against England since David Nash was appointed as the first Welsh coach in 1968. Full record of Welsh coaches against England in Five and Six Nations (1968 to 2021) Our previous columns showed that Wales have a 47.17% win rate against Ireland in this period and a 64.81% success rate…
The rugby celebration that angered the RFU and the media: John Scott’s ‘Caesar’ moment
Few major team sports have undergone the transformation rugby has in the past half century. From conditioning and size levels, to on field violence and changes to the tackle law, today’s professional version of rugby union is arguably more of a cousin to the amateur game than the exact same sport. One aspect of rugby that is unrecognisable to anything from before the mid 1980s is the art of celebration….
Welsh coaches v Scotland in the Five and Six Nations (1968-2021)
Last week we took a look at how every Welsh coach has performed in the Five and Six Nations since the first coach was appointed ahead of the 1968 championship. We followed that with a look at the record for coaches against Ireland in the same period. With Scotland next up for a bruised Wales in Cardiff, we’ve crunched the numbers for the coaching record against the men in blue….
Welsh coaches v Ireland in the Five and Six Nations (1968-2021)
Earlier this week we took a look at how every Welsh coach has performed in the Five and Six Nations since the first coach was appointed ahead of the 1968 championship. With Ireland up first for Wales in the 2022 Six Nations, we thought we’d take a quick look at how these same coaches did against the Emerald Isle. For those reading on your mobile, you may want to turn…
A statistical history of Welsh coaches in the Five and Six Nations
With the 2022 Six Nations upon us, we thought it would be the ideal time to look at the history of Welsh coaches in the Five/Six Nations. Wales first appointed a coach for the 1968 campaign, with former Welsh number eight David Nash taking the reins. We aren’t going to get into the tangled webs and weeds of the influence of coaching in the different eras or the circumstances each…
Welsh rugby and pitch invaders: A look back to 1921 and an infamous ‘riot’
The 2021 autumn series was marred by two idiots invading the field of play in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium. The first took place before kick off in the Wales v New Zealand clash as a social media narcissist (who hadn’t even bothered to get the right kit and had an ‘oh so funny and original’ number on his back) joined the All Blacks to sing the national anthem. Andy Goode and…
The East Terrace’s Autumn Moment Award 2021
The 2021 Autumn Nation Series had plenty of memorable moments. Ireland’s win over New Zealand was full of them and France’s triumph over the All Blacks was simply dripping in them. We had Chile sneaking a late win over Russia and superb coming of age moments for players like Marcus Smith of England in a dramatic win over the world champions Yet, there can only be one East Terrace Autumn…
(UPDATED) Shades of Red: A brief history of Wales playing only fourteen men
UPDATED: This article builds on an original article from 15/02/2021 In 755 Welsh Test matches since 1881, 16 players have been dismissed when facing Wales. Six of these sending offs happened in 2021. The first six dismissals of a Welsh opponent occurred between 1888 and 2006 (it was not possible to be dismissed between 1881 and 1887), showing how much stricter the officiating of the game has become in recent…
Welsh rugby and changing autumn colours: do Wales always play badly in their change kit?
It’s not really autumn in Wales unless the national rugby team splutters to a narrow win/draw/loss to a supposed ‘Tier Two’ nation in Cardiff. Sunday’s ugly win over a Fiji side that had a red card after 25 minutes (and picked up a further two yellows) was, well, a fairly typical autumn rugby day for Wales. It wasn’t unnoticed by supporters that Wales scraped home not in their famous scarlet,…
Alun Wyn Jones, Wales and the Pie Chart of Durability
Last Saturday Alun Wyn Jones won his 149th Welsh cap. The number took him past New Zealand’s Richie McCaw to make him the most capped player for one team in the history of international rugby. Jones has also won a dozen caps in total for the British and Irish Lions, meaning his total international appearances come to 161. Cruelly, a shoulder injury has ended his autumn campaign. It also most…
Survivors of Wales v Samoa 1991 share memories of grief 30 years on
Thirty years to the day since Western Samoa (now Manu Samoa) conquered Wales in Cardiff, surviving spectators of that fateful day have come together on social media to support each other. Led by East Terrace editor, James Stafford, stories are being shared under the hashtag #WalvSam1991 to mark the 16-13 loss to Samoa that helped knock Wales out of the 1991 World Cup. 30 years ago today childhood sporting innocence…
East Terrace editor James Stafford to release book on 1905 Wales v New Zealand game
On October 22nd, 2021, East Terrace editor, James Stafford, releases ‘How Wales Beat the Mighty All Blacks‘. Illustrated by Carys Feehan and published in hardback by Y Lolfa (edited by Carolyn Hodges), the book tells the story of rugby immortal Gwyn Nicholls and his comeback to face the legendary 1905 All Blacks. While aimed at children, the book will appeal to rugby loves of all ages, with Feehan’s gorgeous artwork…
Illustrating Welsh rugby history – A discussion with the Welsh National Library and the People’s Collection Wales
In late February this year, East Terrace editor James Stafford and illustrator Raluca Moldovan released ‘An Illustrated History of Welsh Rugby: Fun, Facts and Stories from 140 Years of International Rugby’. As part of the book’s launch, Stafford featured in a webinar hosted by the National Library of Wales (Llyfrgell Genedlaethol), which you can watch here: Stafford was joined by Lloyd Roderick (Aberystwyth University) and Gruffydd Jones (People’s Collection Wales)…