Namibia v Wales Who Stood out ?

First topic message reminder :

Who stood out in Wales's biggest ever World Cup Win ?

George North turned the game on it's head when he came off the bench. Namibia couldn't handle his power and pace. He is a very special player. Gatland suggested on 5Live he might run George North alongside Jamie Roberts in centres at some point saying 'not many people would want to tackle that'. Interesting....

Scott Williams was superb. I can’t believe he didn’t get man of the match. I upset a few people on here when I said Williams could start ahead of JD2 and 3 tries on his first start for Wales tells it's own story. Food for thought for Mr Gatland regarding Scott Williams ?

I Criticised Foxy on these pages as some of you will know but fair play to him he was very good today even though he was overshadowed by Scott. He made some good breaks and his offloading was much better today than in previous games. Showed what he can do with a great break and pass to Byrne who put North in to score his 2nd try.

Powell was impressive coming off the bench and Leigh Halfpenny shone although he didn't get on the scoreboard he played a part in 2 of the tries. Again the Namibians could not handle the pace of Halfpenny.

Who disappointed?

Aled Brew was a little disappointing. Yes he scored a try but he tried too hard and ended up making a lot of errors.Brew has good raw power but silly mistakes seem to let him down when it matters. Had to be replaced by North who was outstanding.

Tavis Knoyle assised in a try but at times he looked lost. Lloyd Williams was much better than Knoyle when he came on.

Lloyd Burns i'm still unsure about. Good in the scrum but felt he could have done better to stop Kohl's try. He gave up the chase early. I felt Ken Owens offered more in the loose and looked livelier.

What does everybody else think?

AlynDavies wrote:

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:Difficult to draw conclusions against essentially a club standard side that had played 4 times in 17 days with little incentive.

Listen to Mr Gatland.

Well not really, Gethin, Wellies, Ryan, Bryne got to play their first games for months and all while on the front foot, itwould of done their confidence the world of good!

That may be the case but will any of them play in a first xv? I doubt it.

I think the crucial issue here is complacency..i was pretty disgusted by the way Wales took their foot of the gas and if it is true howley let them have it then it worries me even more.

I have always questioned Welsh leadership on the pitch. Our clinical edge starts with senior players letting the youngsters know that it is not a showpiece for their talents, that is a by product but using their swede comes first. The game was won in 20 minutes but i wanted to see the hammer come down again and again not the team go to sleep and ship more pens. We need to concentrate and be accurate, reduce our error rate and suffocate teams. The youth in that side, wonderful to watch and great for the future, need to do what they did in the second half without a bollicking. It is hard to provide evidence for what i am alleging i jut get the feeling that we are complacent at times, lack a leadership group of senior players and need to cement players in the key positions, 2,7 , 8, 9 and 10

After the break we let them have it, 40 plus points in the last 15 minutes. I wanted to see that intensity form the get go, a clinical merciless cull.

Gatts your being too hard...
We had to wear them down and take advantage when they were out on their feet at the end.
South Africa were only 38-0 ahead going into the last 20, yet they won 87-0.
Wales were in the same area, and we won 81-7!

12 tries be happy with that, and give Namibia some credit, who wants to see any team lose by 100 points?

AlynDavies wrote:Gatts your being too hard...
We had to wear them down and take advantage when they were out on their feet at the end.
South Africa were only 38-0 ahead going into the last 20, yet they won 87-0.
Wales were in the same area, and we won 81-7!

12 tries be happy with that, and give Namibia some credit, who wants to see any team lose by 100 points?

And you are being too soft Alan.

I for one wanted to see 100 points. A complete drubbing. That does not discredit namibia who for me win hands down in the spirit of rugby stakes.

But this isn't about namibia and i really can't bear these comparisons with SA; Wales always score their points in the last 3rd so whilst impressive I expected it and i think that the try fest does not detract form the fact that for the 2nd quarter we were woeful.

If we are to compete with Ireland we need to play the way we did v the boks, only take our chances when they arise and not give away advanatge with pens and unforced errors

I thought Powell stood out. He stood out of rucks, mauls and stood out on the wing a couple of times. He really stood out IMO

RubyGuby wrote:I thought Powell stood out. He stood out of rucks, mauls and stood out on the wing a couple of times. He really stood out IMO

His driving of the medic buggy was stand out

Honestly we were woeful in tyhe 2nd quarter, Gatland(and gatts) said it right, after three quick tries they started playing silly rugby lost their shape and deservedly got a rocket at half time. 2nd Half, was much better although there were still some sevens silliness going on at times. Against fiji we cannot get suckered into doing that again. We actually need to do exactly what the samoans did, play territory and sqeeze their setpiece, take the penalties that will come and wait for the fijians to crack.

having watched the game 3 times ( sad. b. ) i think wellies will play against fiji. on my last post i said he was second to rp but i'm not so sure now.
considering how little he has played, yes and the opposition, i am changing my mind and i would pick wellies over priestland for the fiji game.

Gavstar, you surprise me. I thought Wellies was laboured and so predictable that he got intercepted by a Nam forward who is an amateur. RP was quicker in mind and body and made no mistakes. What did you see from either that made you change your mind?

Would be illogical to drop RP now, for what....a stunning perf by SJ ....well he was solid but RP brings so much more and he will start with SJ as back up

Gatts - did you not see charters v SA and Samoa !? How could you possibly drop him?
Awj and Davis looked good v NAMIBIA !! Time and time again we've seen Davis be ineffective against the bigger nations and now you want to start him in place of one of our hardest working players?

Heard it on the grapevine, looks like steven Jones will start against Fiji, wonder if someone is winding me up? phone call from nz was an expensive
wind up, guy says its true, honest !

gavstar:

What game were you watching, the only players who did not stand out against aa poor side were:

Tavis Knoyle, slow looped and short service that was all over the place, Williams must take his bench spot.

Aled Brew, he worked really hard was every where but he makes too many mistakes and he knows it.

Steve Jones, he can't look good against a rubbish side, slow, short kicks to touch, his first down field kick was poor (as usual), incapable of making a break and to cap it all throws a pass to concede a try. If any body else played like you would be the first to complain. As soon as Preistland came on the game speeded up, I agree the opposition were shot when Preistland came on and Knoyle did not provide great service to the outside half.

All the other players showed up really well as I would expect with such opposition.

S Jones has to be on the bench as we currently have no alternative.

i dont mind being wrong, as long as wales get the right result. the pressure is getting to priestland.

Id be suprised if wellies starts against Fiji, I didnt think it was a good game fro him at all. He looked as others have said very laboured and the interception would have blotted his copybook somewhat. Honestly Priestland is our first choice and deserves his spot.

I think we have to play Byrne again. Halfpenny's reputation as a full back is based on a single second half performance and more specifically for his ability to duck under a tackle and run at pace, which led to Shane's try. It's easy to exaggerate his full back ability based on such little evidence. He has gained some kudos from outperforming Hook.
I would rather see Byrne tried at full back against Fiji. The first requirement of a full back is the ability to defend. Byrne beats Hook, Priestland and Halfpenny hands down on this.
OK if he plays poorly give Halfpenny the second half again. But a Byrne North Halfpenny back three is better option IMHO than anything involving Brew.

I believe we have to stick with RP at 10. He has to be our first choice.

Think that you will find that Halfpenny played 15 for Wales under 20's quite well.

For me only Brew and Byrnes dissapointed, not convinced by Lloyd Williams he has the basics but looks very lightweight. The fact that Namibia were down to 14 men and pretty much gave up by the time he came on made him look good. I doupt he has the physicality to take the bad ball Tavis had to contend with in the first half.

youngguns6 wrote:Gatts - did you not see charters v SA and Samoa !? How could you possibly drop him?
Awj and Davis looked good v NAMIBIA !! Time and time again we've seen Davis be ineffective against the bigger nations and now you want to start him in place of one of our hardest working players?

Yep