Powering up for Wales?

Lancaster is right now considering his options for Wales. A hell of a lot of posterts have said 2 changes only Dickson and Morgan in and the rest should be given another chance to gel. I can certainly live with that.

1. It is about attitude to a degree. That having been said, do we need include more powerful players for Wales? (Calm down I'm not going to call for Banahan)

2. If we do who look to include and where? Morgan to start at 8 is almost inked in for most people. But who else? And where? I think that with players being sent back to clubs and with some injury luck we will have more match fit players to chose from than in either of the first two weeks.

I am not a fan of playing players out of position and I know that it is mortal sin to do so.

I read a strange article in the Standard last night by Chris Jones saying that Tuilagi should come in for Ashton because the left wing was the obvious place for him to come in. He went on to say that Lawes should come in for Palmer I think.

I think it is beyond ridiculous to replace Ashton when Strettle has done nothing either and at least we know Ashton is capable of ripping sides open and scoring tries at this level.

All of that said it got me to thinking…… that IF we felt we needed to power up. We can do so by adding Tuilagi in place of Strettle IF we keep the Hodgson(passing) Farell(kicking) and not the Flood (passing and kicking) option. My preference is to play Tuilagi at 13. I think Tuilagi could cope at wing though.

Lawes in at 6. He has played a lot of rugby there and is mobile enough. Lawes, Robshaw, Morgan is a backrow to put it about a bit. Is Lawes up to scratch with breakdown skills?

I've concluded that while it is good to have options, Morgan and Dickson in are the only changes required for now. We dont need to worry about Wales. Let them worry about us.

What do you think?

Tri,

As a Welsh fan if Morgan and Dixon were the only changes I'd be happy with that and I would be more worried if Flood and Tuilagi started.

If as you suggest Morgan is inked in then I guess its a case of fingers crossed for Lancaster that he doesn't get injured or the Scarlets this weekend.

Bedfordwelsh

Yes i was a bit gutted about him playing this weekend. I think someone told us all yesterday it is down to agreed release periods etc so he HAD to be released.

Injury or no that is in the lap of the gods.

Second thoughts if he pulls through without injury he has had some valuable game time. He has not played all that much so far in this 6N.

Ditto the other players being sent back to clubs. Mostly they NEED game time. Lancaster has said as much.

Yeah he had to be released as its outside ITB window etc and no agreement with the Scarlets, that said it will be good gametime, having only played bit parts over last few weeks.

Personally I would be less worried if Flood plays. He's just coming back from injury and if England want to progress they need to keep a similar side. Don't mind if Youngs starts though but Morgan should stay in Llanelli. He could make a real impact on us.

Morgan will be Englands stand out player for the next couple of years, as he has been in Wales for most of his professional carreer I don't think the English realise what a gem of a player they have. I have watched a lot of games with Ben Morgan in them and this guy has the potential to be one of the best no. eights in the world.

Faletau > Morgan

I'd like to see more barnstorming runs from the base of the ruck by Faletau like he does for the Dragons.

I think Faletau and Morgan are on about a par to be honest. Toby has a bit more of an athletic skill in his play, whereas Ben has a bit of brute force about him. But all in all they are pretty much as good as each other, just one may be better than the other depending on game strategy etc.

Ben Morgan is only on the bench for the Scarlets, and I doubt he will come on unless we are still in the game with 20 mins left, or we suffer a back row injury, as Nigel Davies is going to want to try and keep him sweet seeing as he is at a bit of a cross roads career wise.

If I were in charge at Twickers I personally would resist throwing players straight in from injury, but maybe have them as bench options to shake things up if required.

If you were picking the Lions you'd pick Morgan over Faletau at 8. You might pick Faletau at 6.

Triangulation wrote:If you were picking the Lions you'd pick Morgan over Faletau at 8. You might pick Faletau at 6.

Nah, would pick Denton over the two of them

Morgan is yet to prove himself against top backrows, the buzz around him has built without him having faced the best players from the PRO12 (not O'Brien, Heaslip, Ferris, Faletau or Lydiate).

It'll be interesting to see how he gets on in the remaining 6N fixtures. I hope tha lad does well, but my feeling is that he won't be first choice for England next year once the injured return.

Triangulation wrote:If you were picking the Lions you'd pick Morgan over Faletau at 8. You might pick Faletau at 6.

Why would you pick Faletau at 6? He is a great athlete at No8 but there are beter 6s than him including his own Dragons and Welsh tean mate Lydiate, not to mention Ferris.

if morgan, flood and tualagi don't start then I for one will be purplexed. They are by a country mile the best players in their positions.

Triangulation wrote:If you were picking the Lions you'd pick Morgan over Faletau at 8. You might pick Faletau at 6.

Faletau is a superb no 8, but not a 6. There will be a lot of good back row players for the Lions to choose from and I can't see them picking players out of position. As 6 I would say Ferris, O'Brien, Lydiate, Wood will be front runners. At 8 with Heaslip, Faletau, Denton and perhaps Morgan. He's a great Quinnell-type ball carrier but I personally think Heaslip and Faletau have better all round games and are better athletes. Haven't seen enough of Denton yet but he certainly looks like he could be very good. The easy choice will be the captain and number 7.

Triangulation wrote: We dont need to worry about Wales. Let them worry about us.

What do you think?

what exactly are we supposed to worry about? charge downs?

slartibartfast wrote:if morgan, flood and tualagi don't start then I for one will be purplexed. They are by a country mile the best players in their positions.

If they're not in form after injury there would be no sense in selecting them. I didn't see the Tigers loss to Exeter, but there weren't glowing reports of Flood's performance, 4 missed kicks and conceding a try from a charge down being the headlines.

Don't worry Hodgson won't be playing for Wales.

bedfordwelsh wrote:
I would be more worried if Flood and Tuilagi started.

flood is a brilliant fh, imho. tuilagi is such a dangerous player. they would give wales a lot to worry about.

ben morgan is, again imho, the better 8man from any of the home nations. i hope the scarletts give him a good 80 minuets this weekend and that he gets fully up to speed for a start against wales and our much vaunted back row.

i thought dickson played well so far. looks like he has a future. would like to see him start against wales.

As a Welshman i'd love to see Lawes at 6 as suggested. The balance is one that doesnt look like it would work. Morgan isnt the quickest off the mark and Lawes wouldnt be as quick to the breakdown as Lydiate. Could see a lot of slow ball to the English back line and a few turnovers. That backrow may be powerful with ball in hand and hit rucks hard but as support players and searching for turnovers they may be left wanting when it comes to turnovers.

bedfordwelsh wrote:Tri,

As a Welsh fan if Morgan and Dixon were the only changes I'd be happy with that and I would be more worried if Flood and Tuilagi started.

If as you suggest Morgan is inked in then I guess its a case of fingers crossed for Lancaster that he doesn't get injured or the Scarlets this weekend.

Worried about Tuilagi?
Did you see what Jamie Roberts did to him pre-World Cup?

Roberts flattened him in the games they played together!

Wales and England have won 2 each and whilst you could say Wales are playing the better rugby, it only takes 1 careless tackle early on to be reduced to 14 men and luck can change quickly, as we know!

AlynDavies wrote:Worried about Tuilagi?
Did you see what Jamie Roberts did to him pre-World Cup?

Roberts flattened him in the games they played together!

I don't remember that as being a defining memory of the two games. I do remember Tuilagi scoring. Was Roberts not on the pitch at the time? Not having a go at Roberts as I think he's a fine player

Well, not a great turn out for Bath by Banahan, I'd say that ends his chances.