The next Wales 10 for 2015 RWC?

I have just watched the Ospreys v Saints game from this after noon, and i truly believe that Wales 10 shirt is well and truly covered by first choice Priestland, and second choice Mathew Morgan...Man of the Match display this after noon and if he keeps this style of play up between now and 2015 Rugby World Cup, he will be one of the stars of the tournament. In my opiniion any way.

Any one disagree with ne on this?

Morgan has the potential but there's a lot of rugby to be played. Tovey, Biggar and Steffan Jones could all be there as indeed could Hook! Or in 4 years time we could have someone we havent heard of yet. How many people outside of the Scarlets fans knew Priestland 4 years ago?

In 4 years time i dont think that Hook will be good enough at 10 for Wales, but then again playing in France might just might a better utility back, but it will never make him a 10.

Madge, you might want to put S4C on now for a re-run of the Dragons v Wasps. Steffan Jones has a blinder, by all accounts.

We've also got Shingler & Jordan Williams who could well be very, very good in 4 years time.

Steffan Jones was the best of the bunch for the Dragons, they also have Tovey too...!

I'm excited to see Tovey getting a run in the Wales team at either 10 or 15, I think he could be very good - trouble is with us playing Oz so many times and Priestland looking so good, and Stoddart, Byrne and Halfpenny at 15, I'm not sure when he (or any of the other 10's besides Hook) are going to get a chance for Wales.

Smirnoff he needs a run of games without injury to prove himself. He has had some bad luck with injuries

true true, fingers crossed this season will be that season.

yes definitely. He and Wayne Evans form a great partnership when they get a run of games together, I thought WE was on great form tonight. Protected Jones well until he found his feet.

Really think Jones will be a good challenger for Toveys shirt, he was that good.

Really too early to be getting excited over Morgan, keep the expectations cool guys. Shining in the LV= is easier than shining at RWC level. Let's just hope that one day soon Holley manages to unearth the courage to give Morgan time in comps beyond the development sector

The Ospreys and Dragons were playing against teams with all their stars playing. The Welsh teams picked the academy and third string players but their opposition were far from it.

Look at the team sheets

open minds, no regional favourites on new 10's is the key, lets bring them all up to international standard. and forget about hook, blown it. these kids are serious contenders-----AND THEY CAN KICK !!!!!!!!!

Tovey/steffan jones

The title of this article is hilarious but in terms of Welsh 10s who are developing well we'll go....

Priestland (amazing W.C - potential Lion [personally I've rated him since Steven Jones was at Clermont and no one else knew his name])
Tovey - needs an opportunity and he'll shine
Morgan
Shingler (Flip off L.I playing him at 12)

Quite promising really

If Halfpenny is moved from fullback I will never stop laughing...

Also I did not write "flip" for FLIP sake

In this order

Priestland
Tovey
Morgan
Henson
Gethin Jenkins
Me
Hook

Gatts wrote:In this order

Priestland
Tovey
Morgan
Henson
Gethin Jenkins
Me
Hook

I'd probably swap Gethin and Henson around

Priestland seems to be the man to go to, though I would really like to see more of Steffan Jones. Seen a few of his games at ten and full back and he looks very very good.

In 4 years time we could have a revelation come along who is better than Dan Carter, who knows.

Id forgotten about geth to b honest! Id dont think we can say 'forget about hook' as if he rounds out his game in france and improves then hell b an awesome option at 10

I dont know if Hook will improve his game enough in France to be a class 10 but it ia too early to rule him out completely like some poaters want to do.

Steffan Jones had stormer for us yesterday but is behind Tovey in the pecking order still and he will get more game time in the bigger games.

Tovey needs to work on his kicking and concsistency but I hope he gets a crack at the Welsh squad this season.

It's interesting no one listing Biggar, iim not complaining!

would love Morgan to get a few more Magners games this season.

Quick,

I think Biggar will still be knocking about the squad/players in contention as I reckon he will get far more chances than Morgan this season.

I'd like to see Wales play priestland with lloyd williams at 9 from the off on the 3rd Dec

An advantage of Phillips was his "extra forward" abilities. This was fine in the past but now we need a quick serving srum half.

My point being sameone like Matthew Morgan would also look a bit ordinary with poor ball.

Someone was telling me the best thng about prestland was that he was screaming and demanding the ball - and Phillips played better for it.

Matthew Morgan will never play for Wales.

There are many ahead of him who will be there for the next 10 years and any international coach is never going to risk someone so small however good he is.

biggar has it all, but the pieces are not quite fitting together ....yet! he's my first choice though to comr through as 2nd to rp.

matthew m was great yesterday, good decision making, but , does size matter? we'll have to see.

If Steffan Jones is the same guy who played fullback a few times I was quite impressed with him, and I remember thinking at the time if hes supposed to be a 10/12 with some of the passes he was making.

doctornickolas wrote:Matthew Morgan will never play for Wales.

There are many ahead of him who will be there for the next 10 years and any international coach is never going to risk someone so small however good he is.

He is the same size as Shane Williams and more talented at an earlier age... Size doesnt matter if you can tackle. Look at how well SWs defence has become working with our current Welsh coaching team... Holding out ferris on the try line.

Any coach would be a fool not to try him out.

We do though have an abundance of players who all seem keen to give it a go. But Biggar has to do a lot more in my mind to get another opportunity.

IronMike wrote:If Steffan Jones is the same guy who played fullback a few times I was quite impressed with them, and I remember thinking at the time if hes supposed to be a 10/12 with some of the passes he was making.

He looks a very good ten, accurate long boot, great defence and lead the game really well, got the backline moving nicely saw space well.

I remember him scoring a pretty awesome try, definitely one to keep an eye on

Some great young fullbacks on display last night too, Ross Jones for the Ospreys and Hallam Amos for the Dragons.

I think that Priestland, Biggar and Tovey will be in contention. If Jones can recovers quickly from his World Cup injury, I suspect he will be in the squad for the Oz gane and 6N but not much after this season. Hopefully he will be used to mentor Biggar and Tovey giving them the benefit of his great experience.

Morgan looks too small, may get away with playing wing but too small for defending the 10/12 channel. Too early to say about Shingler, these is also Jordan Williams and Sam Davies coming up.

Seagultaf wrote:
Morgan looks too small, may get away with playing wing but too small for defending the 10/12 channel. Too early to say about Shingler, these is also Jordan Williams and Sam Davies coming up.

I dont think that is as big a problem as you think. There are plenty of international flyhalfs who tackle on a biannual basis never pulling their weight in defence.

slartibartfast wrote:I'd like to see Wales play priestland with lloyd williams at 9 from the off on the 3rd Dec

An advantage of Phillips was his "extra forward" abilities. This was fine in the past but now we need a quick serving srum half.

My point being sameone like Matthew Morgan would also look a bit ordinary with poor ball.

Someone was telling me the best thng about prestland was that he was screaming and demanding the ball - and Phillips played better for it.

I'll second that. Hook was passive at outside half in the games he played and it looked like Phillips didn't trust him so he was taking on too much himself.

You have to remember that hook and jones played very little rugby before priest lands injury.

They were not on form.

I am sure both will return to the respective clubs and come out firing on all cylendars in a few weeks for the Heineken Cup.

It's a lie to say Hook hadn't played much rugby before Priestland got injured.

I personally dont see Hook developing any further as a 10 for Wales. He plays the way he plays and on his day can be sublime but his days are not as consistent as to what is required at 10.

RP is very similar to SJ in playing style i think is the best option for Wales going forwad.

Tovey needs to work on his kicking and concsistency but I hope he gets a crack at the Welsh squad this season.

Not much wrong with these. I would say Tovey needs to run the ball more and probably improve his defence.

I am glad they gave Steff a chance at 10 on Sat. I was hoping he would get a shot there against Russia or Leeds in the Summer too, but now I guess at least he will get the LV= games. I don't really trust Matthew Jones as JT's backup, so hopefully Steff can do that role now.

Risca,

I know you get to Dave mre frequently then me but last season I would have said his running game was better than his kicking game.

If he's improved on them through the off season then its a great bonus and hope he gets his crack.

Yeah it was. He's been injury free this season though, which probably helps all aspects of his kicking. I was speaking to his old man before the Aironi or Ulster game (think it was the latter) and he wants Tovey to run a bit more. His kicking against Ulster was pretty decent (off the tee and out of hand) though.

HOOK LOOKED LIKE HE DIDNT HAVE THE CONFIDENCE OF THE PLAYERS, HIMSELF OR THE COACHES. this is not the first time this has happened.

in games from long ago players have covered hooks positional, tackling, decision making errors. leave him go to perpignan, see if they can do anything with him, doubt it, top 2 inches just 'aint there. anyone who says he's got it is delusional.

7's player jink, hand off and now lost his mojo kicking.

Tovey will benefit from a few Wales A appearances as would many other fringe players.
The way Steffan Jones played on Friday will put the pressure on Tovey for 10 at the Dragons and hopefully that will make them both better players.
Priestland performed better than I expected and I have heard good things about Mathew Morgan.
Biggar has a lot to do to get back into the frame - yeh he does look good for the Ospreys but I don't think he can handle the pressure (the past few games at the Dragons suggest this and the AIs)

space,

Do you know something I don't about the A Side, last time I looked we still don't have which is utter disgrace as fas as I am concerned. Would prefer A Side way more than being on 7s circuit.