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Nick Tompkins: Wales centre understands fans' frustration over modern rugby

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Published in Rugby
Sunday, 29 November 2020 14:02

Wales centre Nick Tompkins says understand rugby fans' frustration over an abundance of kicking and lack of attacking play in the current game.

The Autumn Nations Cup tournament has proved a damp squib in terms of entertainment value.

England ground out a 24-13 victory over Wales at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday in a game dominated by kicking.

"I would say that I totally understand where they [fans] are coming from," said Tompkins.

"Myself, I want to attack and get ball in hand and pass and play, but at the end of the day we are playing Test rugby to win.

"We do that however we can do it, and sometimes maybe the rules shift and this happens. It ebbs and flows. We have to adapt.

"I understand exactly where that argument comes from because I have felt it sometimes myself.

"We have to keep looking at these rules and making decisions to make sure everything is fluid, and we should be able to change things.

"Just as much as we bring them in, we should be able to take them out.

"I believe the rules that have come in around the breakdown have made it a lot harder to attack.

"How the rules are and how quick referees are to give penalties away for holding on, you want to kick the ball away a bit more and put a team under pressure.

"You could argue that, or just say we have to get better at what we do in terms of retaining possession. It's a combination of a couple of things.

"It is frustrating from a backs' point of view, but you have to adapt and move."

Wales' latest defeat was a seventh in nine Tests under head coach Wayne Pivac, although it proved their best performance since running England close at Twickenham eight months ago.

They wind up the Nations Cup campaign with a home play-off against Italy next Saturday, and Tompkins added: "We've got to take the positives out of the performance and can keep getting better, like we are.

"It sometimes feels we shoot ourselves in the foot and our mistakes are our undoing, but if we look at the positives, we are in these games.

"It's going to come. If we keep chipping away, the rock will crack. We just have to keep pounding at it."

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