On the demise of Gatland

Gatland has one match to turn things around - that's the word out of the Welsh camp after a dismal display compounded some extraordinary selections for the English match. Howley will follow him regardless at the end of the season.

Leading the exodus from the Welsh camp this week will be Gareth Cooper, Andy Powell and Tom James. Welcome to the team Richie Rees, Jonathon Thomas and Lee Halfpenny.

Cruelly shorn of two thirds of the Worlds best front row (it's Ok, I laid in a stock of new understrides) just days before the game, and hampered by a halfback who is the slowest passer in the world of either hand, as well as a number six who really puts the blind, into blindside, it was always going to be a struggle.

Abject as England were, and believe me if MJ takes anything other than huge concerns away from this game then he is sadly deluded, the loss of 25% of the Jones boys for 5 minutes either side of half time was just a step too far.

Quite what possessed Alun-Wyn, or Alun EnglandWyn as he was apparently called by one team mate after the game, we can only wonder. Pulling out an M16 and spraying the man with bullets would have marginally subtler. His hitherto unblemished record will be as stained as a schoolboys sheet by this transgression.

Only Hook, through his sheer class, and Adam Jones, who is clearly still on the pies, stood out for Wales. Shane Williams had more chance of being caught in possession of heroin than the ball, and Lee Byrne's diffidence to get involved presumably stemmed from his concerns over whether he was the 17th or 18th welshman on the field.

For the Sais, Borthwick managed to keep his nose from getting cut, Care did enough to keep the far more able Youngs out of the squad, but the rest looked like the journeymen they are.

Perhaps the most interesting performance of the entire match came for Prince William, the second in line to the throne of England, who seemed rapturously, and unashamedly delighted whenever Wales scored. Surely he doesn't really think the Welsh recognise the title Prince of Wales?

So on we go, as the Hollies would say, and the road to the end of the championship may well indeed be a long and winding one.

Wales will be concerned, and rightly on this performance, about a resurgent and positive Scotland, whilst England have only a few days in which to enjoy their false dawn before being cast down into the depths of despair.