wales history Revival (2004–present)

Revival (2004–present)

Coached by Mike Ruddock, Wales won their first Six Nations Grand Slam in 2005. They opened with an 11–9 win over England at the Millennium Stadium, thanks to a late long range penalty from Gavin Henson. After a 38-8 win over Italy, Wales faced France, and were losing 15–6 at half-time. Wales fought back in the second half to win 24–18, and the game was arguably one of the most exciting of that year's tournament. Wales beat Scotland away (46–22) and then, in front of a capacity crowd at the Millennium Stadium, played their final game against Ireland. Wales' 32–20 victory gave them their first championship title since 1994 and their first Grand Slam since 1978. The 41–3 loss to the All Blacks at the Millennium Stadium later that year was their biggest loss on Welsh soil.This was followed by a single-point win over Fiji, then a loss to South Africa, and lastly a win over Australia.

On 14 February 2006, midway through the Six Nations, Mike Ruddock resigned as the head coach of Wales, for family reasons.^]Scott Johnson took over as caretaker coach for the remaining games, and Wales eventually finished fifth in the 2006 Championship before Gareth Jenkins was appointed as head coach on 27 April. On 10 May 2007, Wales and Australia decided to celebrate 100 years of Test rugby between the two countries with the establishment of the James Bevan Trophy. It is named after the Australian-born Welsh-raised man who was Welsh team's first captain; Australia won the series 2–0.

At the 2007 World Cup, Wales failed to reach the quarter-finals after being knocked out in the pool stages. This time, Fiji defeated Wales in their final pool match after they had already lost to Australia. Subsequently, Gareth Jenkins lost his job. On 8 October that year, the WRU and South African Rugby Union established the Prince William Trophy to commemorate 100 years of rugby between Wales and South Africa.

Warren Gatland, a New Zealander and former All Black, was appointed as Wales' new head coach on 9 November 2007. He had previously been the head coach of Waikato, leading them to success in the 2006 Air New Zealand Cup. Gatland took up the position on 1 December. His first match as coach was Wales' first match in the 2008 Six Nations Championship, against England at Twickenham on 2 February 2008. England, finalists in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, were favourites and led by 13 points at half-time, before Wales fought back to record a 26–19 win, their first at Twickenham since 1988. Wales' next two matches were at home to Scotland and Italy, which Wales won 30–15 and 47–8 respectively. Wales went on to clinch the Triple Crown beating Ireland 12–16 in Dublin and in the final game of the championship,

Wales sealed their second Six Nations Grand Slam in four championships by beating France 29–12 at the Millennium Stadium. Wales conceded only two tries in the entire tournament, halving the previous record of four tries conceded by England in both 2002 and 2003.

In the Autumn Internationals of that year, they were defeated by both New Zealand and South Africa, but claimed wins over Canada, and perhaps more importantly, Australia. Wales' 21 - 18 victory made them the only Northern Hemisphere nation to defeat a Tri-Nations country in 2008, and sent them up to fifth in the world rankings and later fourth. Wales however failed to retain their Six Nations Championship in 2009 after losing 17-15 to Ireland on the last day. This defeat in fact left them 4th on points difference behind England and France who also won 3 games. The other defeat for Wales came in the first Friday Six Nations match against France whilst Wales defeated England, Scotland and Italy.

Strip

Wales play in red jerseys (embroidered with the Prince of Wales's feathers), white shorts, and green socks. Their change strip (also known as alternative strip) is golden yellow. The strip is currently made by Under Armour.^[64] The shirt sponsor is Cardiff brewery SA Brain. Due to a ban on advertising alcohol, when the team plays in France, the "Brains" logo has been replaced by "Brawn" (in 2005), "Brawn Again" (in 2007)^[66] and "Try Essai" (in 2009) in a type style essentially identical to the Brains logo. For the Rugby World Cup, however, the jersey is only allowed the national union's emblem, the Rugby World Cup logo, and the logo of the jersey's manufacturer on it.

The Prince of Wales' feathers were chosen in the 19th century by the WRU over another Welsh symbol, the leek to demonstrate the principality's loyalty to Britain. In 1991, to enable the device to be patented, the original generic motif was replaced with a more stylised version. The original motto beneath the feathers was Ich dien (German for "I serve") but was replaced with WRU in the new version.

Wales wore black jerseys as part of celebrations for the WRU's 125th anniversary in 2005. The jersey was worn against Fiji and then Australia that year; the Australia match was the first time Wales had not played in their red jersey against one of their traditional rivals.

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