No need to panic - Shane (From Campaign Series)

No need to panic - Shane

10:23am Tuesday 9th February 2010

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WALES may have lost their opening Six Nations game against England ruling out either a Triple Crown or Grand Slam, but there’s no need to panic, insists Shane Williams.

The Wales wing wizard, IRB player of the year two seasons ago and with 48 tries to his name in 69 appearances, says it’s still all to play for in the title race and they are capable of winning their four remaining matches in the championship.

He also promises a much better performance in their next game against Scotland at the Millennium Stad-ium on Saturday after their disappointing 30-17 defeat at Twickenham.

“We know we can play better than that and we know we could have taken the result at the end, we’re a far better side than we showed on Saturday so there’s no need to panic,” he said.

“It’s still all to play for, the Six Nations is so tight anyone can win it. We’re not out of it and if I know the guys they will go right to the end.

“We have got off to a poor start, but I’m sure we can pick ourselves up and win the remainder of our games.”

Scotland also made a poor start to their campaign, beaten 18-9 by France at Murrayfield on Sunday and failing to score a try.

But Williams warns it won’t be easy against the Scots. “They will be a tough challenge, they’re a very dogged side who never give up,” he said.

“They’ve got a very good pack, their leading players are playing well for Glasgow and Edinburgh and with backs like the Evans brothers and Sean Lamont, who played very well against France, we are going to have to be better.

“But as a Welsh side we try to get the ball around the park as much as possible. We tried in the first half against England but we made too many mistakes and didn’t keep hold of the ball, when we did in the second half we soon got the ball out to our quick men.”

Williams says the players have rushed to the defence of lock Alun Wyn Jones, who was yellow carded for tripping Dylan Harley and England scored 17 points while he was off the field.

“We’re disappointed with what happened, but we’ve all been there and we feel for Alun Wyn. I don’t think we should point the finger at him too much, we can’t put all the blame on him,” he said.

“I know what it’s like to make mistakes, but the game just didn’t go our way, on another occasion it could have been someone else and the opposition would have scored no points.”

Wales kicking coach Neil Jenkins says they have got to put the England result behind them and focus on the rest of the championship.

“We’ve watched the England game four or five times as coaches, and we were close to winning,” he said.

“We came back to 20-17 after being 20-3 down, then had an opportunity when the referee could have gone upstairs with the Tom James-Jonny Wilkinson incident, but we started pushing the game and gave an interception try away.

“The Triple Crown and Grand Slam have gone, but the championship is still alive.”

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