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Peel in action for Wales

Our downfall, as Welsh people, is that we don't believe in ourselves.

Dwayne Peel.
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Dwayne Peel was as surprised as anyone to find a live sheep in his French hotel room earlier this week - planted by a mischievous colleague - but not as shocked as those who saw the displays of the home nations' teams.

In the first round of matches Wales probably acquitted themselves best of the British sides but even they struggled for the best part of an hour against Canada. England were woeful, lacking accuracy and energy against the United States, ditto Ireland against Namibia, whilst the Scots just about managed to put the largely amateur Portuguese away.

Sorry Six Nations

At the moment hopes of a Six Nations' presence in the semi-finals are looking pretty remote but at least the spirit in the Welsh camp seems to be buoyant.

Peel was captain for the match against the Cannucks - whilst squad skipper Gareth Thomas was left on the bench - and for the first half it looked the Canadians were going to make a similar mess of the Welsh qualification prospects as 'Boyce', the sheep in question, did of the scrum-half's living quarters.

They eventually got out of the proverbial which left their captain for the day saying: "The biggest thing was to stay composed and to play to our game plan and that's exactly what we did. In that middle 20 of the second half I thought we played some fantastic stuff and we just stuck to our game plan and stayed composed.

"We lacked composure. There was a period of about 10 minutes where we managed to lose quite a lot of ball, in terms of knocking on and losing it in contact. It gave Canada an incentive to come after us."

With that hurdle out of the way there is a still a faint chance - depending on the results this weekend - that England could play Wales in a quarter-final in Marseilles. However, you wouldn't want to put too much money on it. If it does come to pass, Peel would relish the chance of revenge on a side who stuck 60 points on the Welsh in a warm-up game.

At a Puma photo-shoot in London, shortly before leaving for France, Peel said: "It would be fantastic for both sides and a massive game for British rugby. It could be either South Africa or England in the quarter-finals but we would not be overawed with that challenge - if we turn up we can beat anybody.

"This is the biggest stage on which you can perform and the expectation in Wales is huge."

If the expectation in Wales is huge then it is nothing compared to that in New Zealand, and the All Blacks' display in their first game against Italy will have done nothing to dampen their hopes of a first Webb Ellis Trophy for 20 years.

But Peel - who famously faced up to the Haka as the youngest member of the 2005 Lions Test side - is not totally convinced that Graham Henry's men are unbeatable.

"They are the favourites," he says. "They have played some fantastic rugby over the last couple of years but they are not invincible. They got beaten in the Tri-Nations and you can't say they are not going to get touched in the World Cup. But they've been the best side for the last two years.

"The southern hemisphere sides stole a march on us. The New Zealanders had eight or nine weeks when they were unavailable and they were doing fitness training.

"The lesson of the past is that it takes time for us to click but when we do we can be a fantastic side. We know we have the ability, but we need to be confident. Our downfall, as Welsh people, is that we don't believe in ourselves. We know we can be a very dangerous side in this World Cup. If you look around the squad, we have some fantastic players with real talent, and we have under-achieved in the last year."

Home advantage?

That under achievement has to come to a halt if Wales are going to upset the southern-hemisphere applecart in Cardiff on Saturday when they play the Wallabies. Wales playing Australia, in Cardiff, in a French World Cup - don't even go there, but it must be a huge advantage for the 'hosts'.

They drew with the 2003 runners-up last autumn when both sides scored 29 points in a thriller at the Millennium Stadium - and Wales would be delirious if they could go one better this time.

Peel is convinced that the game against Canada has left his team in good stead for the Australian challenge.

"I'd rather it went the way it did, rather than have a good first half and a poor second half going into Australia next week," he said. "That's not to say that we weren't very disappointed with our first half display and we'll definitely look at that in training. But to finish the game on a high like we did bodes well for a good week's training, going back to Cardiff and facing Australia."

With Peel on song and Wales hardened after last Sunday's tough outing, the Wallabies are unlikely to have things all their own way.

Alex Payne writes for Rugby Player Magazine.