Rees on mission to hold the line (From Western Telegraph)

Rees on mission to hold the line

11:20am Friday 12th March 2010 in

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MATTHEW Rees has been charged with improving the Welsh line-out after making an early return to international duty – though coach Warren Gatland doesn’t expect him to last the full game.

Rees has played just one half of rugby for the Scarlets since recovering from the groin injury which kept him out since the autumn series in November.

But Gatland has still been persuaded to rush him back in, partly because of his experience (he wins his 35th cap and was also a key member of the Lions pack in South Africa last summer) and partly because the line-outs have been Wales’ Achilles heel during the Six Nations.

The stats are revealing and show that Wales are right down with Italy in terms of line-outs won. Wales have won 28 and lost 11 of their own line-outs in their three championship games so far compared with Ireland’s figures of won 23 and losing just two while they have also won 14 on the opposition throw compared with Wales’ one.

Scotland have won 32 on their own throw and lost just two, England have won 35 and lost five while France have won 25 and lost six. Only Italy are anywhere near as bad as Wales with 38 wins and 13 losses.

Gatland, while praising Huw Bennett for his work in other areas against France last time out, admits that he did have his problems at the line-out. And Gareth Williams was similarly culpable in the England and Scotland matches.

“When we looked at the stats we were really happy with Huw Bennett’s work-rate, he hit a lot of rucks, made tackles and worked really hard around the field, but unfortunately there were a couple of overthrows and a not straight,” he said.

“It’s a pretty critical area and is an aspect of his game that he needs to tidy up a bit because he probably isn’t as accurate as he was a couple of seasons ago when the difference was Huw was more accurate than Matthew.

“But Matthew has worked really hard on that area and the roles have slightly changed at this stage though we do have two big, physical hookers there.

“Matthew starting at hooker will bring some accuracy and experience as well as confidence to the line-out, especially in the first half.

“We don’t expect him to get through 80 minutes. The option was to put him on the bench, but we felt it would be better for him to start and see how long he could go. When he tires out we can bring Huw on.”

But Gatland acknowledges the supremacy of the Irish line-out. “It’s hugely important to them,” he admitted. “They are the team in the Six Nations who are probably very comfortable kicking the ball out of play.

“In the three games previously they they’ve won 30-40% of opposition line-outs, they compete heavily in defence at line-out time or they work on disrupting your ball. They are more than comfortable to use that as a weapon and are quite comfortable to kick the ball out.”