In fairness, Wellens being slow is hardly the greatest secret in the world.

Lets' hope Bluey has cottoned on to it.

The Cudjoe and Wild kick chases were especially embarrassing though. Cudjoe is lightning, but wasn't even in shot when the ball was kicked, Wellens must have had 15 yards start at least, even allowing for the fact that he had to turn, it really should have been enough. The fact that Wild (a forward, albeit a quick forward) was sooooooo much quicker at the end didn't enhance his reputation much. He's been (and to an extent still is) a very good player, but that degree of sloth has to be a little limiting for a full back.

Did I hear someone use his recent broken hand as an excuse?

I don't think so,it was roby IIRC!!

What was Wellens out with recently? I know Roby had a broken hand, but I thought he'd done something similar.

He was being measured up for some new concrete boots

Exactly. Eastmond's half breaks from around the ruck would've been a lot more effective, had Pryce been in support. OTOH, Eastmond did little to play Pryce into the game, so maybe it'd be fairer to say that the HB combination didn't work effectively, rather than lay 100% of the blame at Pryce's door. I'd agree that, with experience, Eastmond will be some player though.

Has he always looked so laboured in his running though?

When he runs nowadays he looks like someone in an 'It's A Knockout*' game with a bungee cord round his waist.




*please note that mention of 'It's A Knockout' should not be seen as an excuse to print any picture of said programme, unless you've got a gag to go with it.

I'm hoping that * wasn't aimed at me sir



As for Wellens, yesterday was just the final confirmation. We all remember Ali's try in the 2005 play-offs and he's been getting slower ever since. Last year's World Cup "performance" was another landmark, where every kick was fielded in times measured by ice ages. He may well have seemed even slower yesterday, but that's just natural progress.