Wishful thinking?

England....
So with a new look side, plenty of youth in the team, scraped two wins with luck and the help of the opposition. Hang on, is that England or Wales?
Perhaps it is just me – or perhaps just my wishful thinking, but I’m not entirely sure I buy into this whole “Wales are unstoppable” talk the media are presenting. They are playing attractive rugby, they are a good side with good balance and youngsters with oodles of promise. Wales have loads of confidence, but I don’t however think they are unbeatable. There rush defence is excellent, but they stray off-side an awful lot. Their discipline at the breakdown was woeful against Scotland, and if the ref had actually policed it, it would have lead to a yellow in the first half in my opinion.
The down-side of the rush defence being that it only works well if you have 15 men on the field, wish may explain why Wales leak (no pun intended) more points than any other team in the tournament when down to 14 men.
At Twickenham, with the wrong ref – someone willing to hand out cards rather than constantly just telling them to get their hands out of the ruck, and willing to make them play on-side, they may have problems.
England have not demonstrated any attacking ability yet. Not really had the However with questionable line-out form from Wales, and if England can kick well I can see England doing okay. The kick and chase game may well go well for England if Wales keep the rush defence up. We have a quick enough back three to create pressure.
Am I deluding myself?

Honestly I think Wales are being way overrated,they played at the top of their game and dominated Ireland for long periods of the game yet only scraped past them.

They don't have much subtlety in attack and when they come up against a decent side like Oz,France,S.A. they have been shown up time anad again as a good side but just a bit short of being top class.

They are a young side so and definitely have the potential to be a top side in the future but they need to stop throwing away close games.They did it with missed kicks against S.A. and France and Bradley Davies did his best to do it against Ireland but they recovered.That game could be the catalyst for them to kick on but only time will tell.

The thing is, its only the media (not all Welsh) and some fans that are 'over rating' them.

There is some very sensible and down to earth talk coming from the Welsh players and the Welsh coaches.

Interviews with Sam and Priestland for example show them to be very humble and cautious over the next game, some players saying it will be the toughest yet.

munkian wrote:The thing is, its only the media (not all Welsh) and some fans that are 'over rating' them.

There is some very sensible and down to earth talk coming from the Welsh players and the Welsh coaches.

Interviews with Sam and Priestland for example show them to be very humble and cautious over the next game, some players saying it will be the toughest yet.

Agree with you here,it's definitely more media talk than anything else,I don't think the Welsh players or management are getting ahead of themselves and like I said I can only see them getting better over the next 4 to 5 years (that's presuming they can get a handle on their injury and lineout problems)

munkian wrote:The thing is, its only the media (not all Welsh) and some fans that are 'over rating' them.

There is some very sensible and down to earth talk coming from the Welsh players and the Welsh coaches.

Interviews with Sam and Priestland for example show them to be very humble and cautious over the next game, some players saying it will be the toughest yet.

Absolutely agree - I'm not fishing for "Wales aren't any good" type responses - or knocking Wales for being confident. The majority of Welsh posters are understandably confident, without being daft. If, and I am aware it's a sizeable if, England win, it will be interesting to see how the Wales side do in the following game. I suspect they'll do fine, but it'll be a good test of character.

I hope our current injured players recover in 4-5 years !

If North isn't fit in a few weeks he'll return to Valhalla to slumber and re-grow his ankle.

munkian wrote:I hope our current injured players recover in 4-5 years !

If North isn't fit in a few weeks he'll return to Valhalla to slumber and re-grow his ankle.

The amount of injuries Wales are getting is kinda freakish,I wonder is it as a result of too much training or is it just a run of bad luck.Munster are suffering something similar this year.

I hope its not something that will become a regular feature.

But saying that, we seem to be able to cope better with injuries to key players that would have crippled us a couple of years ago.

As a fan I think Wales should beat England just because we are a far more settled side.

I'm absolutely bricking it mind

asoreleftshoulder wrote:Honestly I think Wales are being way overrated,they played at the top of their game and dominated Ireland for long periods of the game yet only scraped past them.

They don't have much subtlety in attack and when they come up against a decent side like Oz,France,S.A. they have been shown up time anad again as a good side but just a bit short of being top class.

They are a young side so and definitely have the potential to be a top side in the future but they need to stop throwing away close games.They did it with missed kicks against S.A. and France and Bradley Davies did his best to do it against Ireland but they recovered.That game could be the catalyst for them to kick on but only time will tell.

I'm sorry but I don't agree with this. They have had very narrow losses through a lack of composure and a bit of experience but they have been extremely close and I think this season will see them rise up the rankings. Make no mistake, Wales have not been playing as well as they can do. If they click against England then we will see how good they really are.

Also, no subtelty in attack? Did you not see the Priestland offload or the North flip out the back? There is plenty of skill there as well as bulk and power

I'm really hoping we get a chance to see England attack. The conditions for their last two games were pretty atrocious and they were a danger to themselves when they did attack (poor old Foden) but if the weather is decent at Twickenham they'll have no excuse not to get the ball out wide.

mckay1402 wrote:

I'm sorry but I don't agree with this. They have had very narrow losses through a lack of composure and a bit of experience but they have been extremely close and I think this season will see them rise up the rankings. Make no mistake, Wales have not been playing as well as they can do. If they click against England then we will see how good they really are.

Also, no subtelty in attack? Did you not see the Priestland offload or the North flip out the back? There is plenty of skill there as well as bulk and power

That's fine you don't have to agree with me.

The S.A. game wasn't as close as it looked imo,to me it always felt like S.A. could go up and get another score if they really needed to as they proved with their last try.The two games Wales played against Oz they were well beaten and they blew up against France the sending off was unlucky but they still had numerous good chances and blew them all.

Also I'll concede maybe I was a bit harsh saying they have no subtlety in attack but I don't think I'm completely wrong.Scotland stopped you for most of the game but eventually the step up in class showed,I suppose we'll see over the next few games.

I think Wales played to their best against Ireland,dominating possession and territory all game long yet still barely scraped through with almost the last kick of the game.

Like I said I think they'll get better but until they can beat a tri nations team with semi regularity then as far as I'm concerned they're more hype than substance.