Melon and Priestland out for Ireland match

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I think Gatland will go with this team

15. Lee Byrne
14. George North
13. Jon Davies
12. Gavin Henson
11. Leigh Halfpenny
10. James Hook
9. Mike Phillips

8. Toby Faletau
7. Sam Warburton
6. Dan Lydiate
5. Ryan Jones
4. Bradley Davies
3. Adam Jones
2. Matthew Rees
1. Paul James

Jenkins out for 5 weeks, whoooooaaaaa that is a long time.

I thought he looked bad the other day. but 5 weeks, he will be a big loss for Wales come the 6ns.

It seems just like England used to have just before a big tournament, their best players would get injured.

As I posted when the squad was announced Preiestland is the only specialist 10 in the squad. Hook proved in the World Cup that he is not a test quality 10 and since he has been at Perpignban they have gone from a Heineken Group winner to getting knocked out of the Amlin by Exeter and near the bottom of the top 14. And Henson......he can't even get into the 22 match day squad for his club!

If Priestland is injured bring Jones and Tovey into the squad. Jones to start as a one off and Tovey on the bench to learn from Jones and be future back up to Priestland.

I'm sure they are confident Priestland will be OK or they would have got cover in by now.

Seagultaf wrote:As I posted when the squad was announced Preiestland is the only specialist 10 in the squad. Hook proved in the World Cup that he is not a test quality 10 and since he has been at Perpignban they have gone from a Heineken Group winner to getting knocked out of the Amlin by Exeter and near the bottom of the top 14. And Henson......he can't even get into the 22 match day squad for his club!

If Priestland is injured bring Jones and Tovey into the squad. Jones to start as a one off and Tovey on the bench to learn from Jones and be future back up to Priestland.

Selective memory there Seagul! If this opinion is based solely on RWC 2011 then Hook, Jones and Priestland all 'proved' that they were not test quality 10s. Not a vintage tournament for our outside halves.

Of course, in real life, Hook has numerous of man-of-the-match performances at test level, at '10', to his name and Jones is massively experienced, although though the legs have long since gone.

Hook to start and Jones on the bench. Halfpenny to take the place kicks, obv.

If Halfpenny's taking the kicks then it'd be better advised to have Jones start with Hook or Tovey on the bench. Hook can be a decent kicker when he chooses but he's hardly renowned for his organisation with ball in hand. Priestland did during the WC what Jones used to do so well, get the backs moving and going forward. Even though he is past his prime, I believe Jones would still execute this more effectively than Hook, who can be good as an individual but as I said more often than not has failed to draw the best from his backline.

Casartelli wrote:

Seagultaf wrote:As I posted when the squad was announced Preiestland is the only specialist 10 in the squad. Hook proved in the World Cup that he is not a test quality 10 and since he has been at Perpignban they have gone from a Heineken Group winner to getting knocked out of the Amlin by Exeter and near the bottom of the top 14. And Henson......he can't even get into the 22 match day squad for his club!

If Priestland is injured bring Jones and Tovey into the squad. Jones to start as a one off and Tovey on the bench to learn from Jones and be future back up to Priestland.

Selective memory there Seagul! If this opinion is based solely on RWC 2011 then Hook, Jones and Priestland all 'proved' that they were not test quality 10s. Not a vintage tournament for our outside halves.

Of course, in real life, Hook has numerous of man-of-the-match performances at test level, at '10', to his name and Jones is massively experienced, although though the legs have long since gone.

Hook to start and Jones on the bench. Halfpenny to take the place kicks, obv.

Cas,

You serious about Priestland not proving he was a quality 10 in the WC? I don't think we would have got half as far if it wasn't for him.