Welsh Team To Face South Africa (Assuming all are fit and well).

First topic message reminder :

Three weeks out, however things are begining to crystallise for September 11th. This is my team to face the Boks.

15 Halfpenny

14 North
13 Roberts
12 Hook
11 Williams

10 Jones
9 Phillips

1. James
2 Bennett
3 Jones

4. Wyn Jones
5 Davies

6 Lydiate
7 Warburton
8 Jones

Bench:
Mitchell, Burns, Faletau, Powell, Knoyle, Davies, Williams.

Reasoning:

1. Gethin- forget it at moment.
2. Bennett - best of bad bunch, but good in both England tests.
3. Faletau - need Ryan in the big one, Toby's time will come.
4. Jones/Hook - help me out here. I just think Roberts and Davies aint working. We need Hooks flair but the question is whether Jones is going to be up for this first game. All thoughts welcome.
5. Byrne, no form to merit being in the squad nevermind the team.


What do people think?

Yeah, the only reason Scott gibbs might be his mother's best looking son, is if she only had one.

Tonga showed tonight that Samoa and Fiji are not to be underestimated. Wales and SA have the ability to dominate possession and that´s exactly what they must do. Give these boys some ball and get their confidence up and they are a real handful. And Samoa in particular are a better side than Tonga currently.

biltongbek wrote:Yeah, the only reason Scott gibbs might be his mother's best looking son, is if she only had one.

Its natures way of ensuring sons survive, she blinds mothers at their birth

Scott Gibbs is mint.

Mint what? flavoured?

I'm not sure why Hook is 15 as IMO Priestland has better positioning there, is better under the high ball and is better in defence, plus Hook has little attacking impact from 15 as he is too far from the play.

Also I'd be very annoyed if I was hook, you're moved from pillar to post to cover gaps and never given time to settle in one positions, and then you're finally given time in the 10 shirt, play very well and put yourself forward as the best 10 in the squad, and then straightaway as soon as there's an injury somewhere else he's shifted back to FB.

I'm not his biggest fan but give him some consistency in 1 position for petes sake!

Smirnoffpriest wrote:I'd be very annoyed if I was hook, you're moved from pillar to post to cover gaps and never given time to settle in one positions, and then you're finally given time in the 10 shirt, play very well and put yourself forward as the best 10 in the squad, and then straightaway as soon as there's an injury somewhere else he's shifted back to FB.

He hasn't done that. He was shocking against France at the end of the Six Nations. He took his try well against England - but there's nothing to stop him stepping in at first receiver in that situation again.

I was talking about in the last 3 games Luckless - In the past I have been one of the most critical about him. But I feel in the WC Warm Up games he showed more maturity, and played very well. I didn't mean to say he IS the best 10 in the squad but only meant that he has certainly put himself up there as being first choice.

Personally my main problem I think is that they should stop saying Hook needs to be on the pitch no matter where it is, and instead should look at his best position, stick him there and stop messing him around, if there's someone in that position who's better than him then put him on the bench and use him as an impact sub.

Instead they move him around and never let him settle or develop his game in 1 position.

Also I'm using the Warm Up games only to base the above on as they are the most recent games and a lot of players/combinations in the squad haven't played many more games than the last 3. So i feel it's unfair to look back too much further for other players (unless they've been injured, or excluded from these games)

I agree with you that he's been messed around too much and I agree that the philosophy of getting your best players on the pitch regardless of position isn't a great one; but in this instance it's a case of needs must.

Also, if we only look at the warm-up games, did Hook really do anything incredible other than score a try from close range and kick a long-range penalty at the death?

I thought that while you can't say he (or most of the other players) were fantastic, Hook had very good games, did nothing wrong but did a lot right and created things.

Hook, Hook, Hook, Hook, Hook, Hook, Hook, what's all the fuss about? A talented individual who needs to be found a place in the side. Not a natural 10 (remember his last competitive start against France) he will do Ok at 15 providing he concentrates for the full 80mins. He was behind Biggar at the Ospreys and is still behind Jones and now Preistland for Wales. Hopefully he will get the oportunity to build up his game at 10 in France next season but until then lets not get too excited about it.

I am more concerned about Charteris and Faletau!

the reason i'm concerned about hook is because hes a poor 15, and against SA he's going to be tested severely, he's a 12 or a 10 and needs time in one position to develop and settle.

Also I feel you should choose your best players in each position not make allowances and throw a very good player into an unfamiliar position just because you can't find room for him. Hook isn't our best option at 15, you could argue he's our best option at 10, but he isn't our best option at 12. Therefore either play him 10 or put him on the bench to come on as an impact sub

Smirnoff

Its unfair to say he is a poor 15 as you are only as good (or bad) as your last game, and his last game at 15 was pretty good.

Developement Time
The guy has played over 50 tests most of them as a 10 or centre...... how much time do you think he needs to be able to put two consistent games together?

FB
Who would you put there?
To be fair to the guy he played pretty well at FB against England, was solid in the tackle area (amazing how his healed shoulder brings confidence to tackle), and his positioning was sound. You could have played 1/2p but with his limited game time its too risky to start him. So with Byrne off form there is no one really available apart from Hook. Priestland is a better 15 but he is also a better 10.

Centre
Sorry anyone should see that Roberts has played 1 1/2 fantasticwarm-up games with Priestland and Davies either side of him, put Hook at O/C and Roberts will go into his shell again.

10
Sorry play your best available overall option ............. got to be Priestland

In an ideal situation you would have had a fit Jones at 10 and an on form Byrne at 15, with Priestland and Hook benched but unfortunately you haven't and you have to go with the best option available.

I think you will find Gatland will play Priestland against Samoa, Hook against Namibia if you need to rack up the points, with Jones as a sub, and the reverse for the final game against Fiji

It came out twice

TF will grow up in front of our very eyes and he will either have a stormer or be subbed at half time.

Gats mismanagement of injuries will cost us....we take 3 players with injuries, all in key positions. I expect RJ would have been first choice for 8 for this game...calf pulls don't take over a month to get better

I disagree about hook i think his weakest position is fb and 1 decent half game doesnt say otherwise, priestland is far better in all facets of fb play, but u can only say he is just better at 10. Hook has playd the majority of his games at 10 or centre but many of these have been whdo he has been moved from 10 to 12 to 13 to 15 or has been benchd 2 games playd 1. I agree gats has mismanaged injuries

My biggest concern is the injury to R Jones as the competition goes on, we only have 3 second rows Ryan can cover second row and he is (was) our best option for 8. Who would we replace him with, a second row or back row forward, I would go with I Evans (not J Thomas) to cover the second row, he and Charteris would be interesting combination. I think Charteris is selected to counter the loss of R Jones line out option at Bradley's expense.

I am not concerned at the 10, 15 selection as Hook was ripping a lot of ball from 15 and he has the option of switching during the game. My concern is 8 for Wales, he could do with bluetac on his hands and not fumble at the back of the scrums. I hope he plays well but I am nervous he is the weak link and the game could be over with the mistakes made against England!