Wales have been described as a team “nowhere near their peak” by former England No.10 turned pundit Stuart Barnes.
Assessing the fall-out from Wales’ stunning 21-13 victory over England last weekend, the Sky Sports analyst has claimed Wales have more to deliver in World Cup year.
Warren Gatland’s team face remaining Six Nations matches away to Scotland and at home to Ireland. If they win both, they will stretch their record run to 14 matches and secure a third Grand Slam during the New Zealander’s coaching era.
But Barnes says they can deliver more and insisted: “Wales impress me as a team who seem nowhere near their peak.
“They have not been much to behold for the first two rounds of their tournament but improved when they had to Saturday. There is a sense that there is much, much more to come from Wales.
“The Six Nations and a Grand Slam would be the perfect send-off to Japan but it is Japan itself and the World Cup where Wales are planning to peak.
“If England analyse this defeat with an open mind, they’ll see the need for more fluid thinking. On an afternoon of intense physical clashes, it was as much mental superiority as anything that won Wales the day.”
Barnes believes Wales proved superior in a number of areas last weekend. One of those was in the performance of the relative captains – Lions colleagues Alun Wyn Jones and Owen Farrell.
“In the leadership stakes Wales also won hands down. Alun Wyn Jones has ensured that Wales have lost absolutely nothing in terms of leadership with the retirement of Sam Warburton.
“The 123-cap lock is always there, bending down for a polite word in the referee’s ear. A little pat, a nod of recognition.
“Farrell is a harsher, elemental ‘follow me’ sort of leader. Inspiring on a good day but invisible as the conduit between the team and the referee on Saturday. The issue of leadership has not yet disappeared.”
But it was not just on the field where Barnes says Wales showed their greater know-how. In the critical tactical battle between Gatland and Eddie Jones, the England chief was found lacking – especially in the area of substitutions.
He says: “The greater concern for England wasn’t the form of key men on Saturday so much as an inflexibility; a failure to adapt to circumstances that changed as Wales – rather rudely – decided not to allow England to play it their way. It was a tactical miasma for England, a deserved win for Wales.
“Dan Biggar came off the bench and altered the way Wales functioned. He kicked clearances vast distances and his cross-field kick for the Josh Adams try (didn’t he play superbly?) killed the game dead. His was a meaningful impact.
“In contrast Eddie Jones – who talks up his finishers’ strategy as much as any coach – left both Dan Robson and George Ford on the bench.
“Farrell could have shifted to the centre to aid the passing game, he could have been substituted, while Robson could have added an element of running that wasn’t coming from the kick obsessed Tiger scrum-half.
“Wales won it both on the field and in the stands where Warren Gatland trumped his adversary at every turn.”