Brive v Scarlets

First topic message reminder :

Looking forward to this game, how do you guys see this one going?
Scarlets really have a good chance to take this one I think.

o my god this is like watching Scotland. So frustrating

Keiran Murphy on for Morgan?

well impressed with Owens so far

mckay1402 wrote:well impressed with Owens so far

+1

what's the score so far? who's on top?

Scarlets need to be more direct, they're just running from side to side at the moment

12-11 to Brive. Pretty frustrating game to watch though. mistakes galore

Ken Owens is having a great game. He's better than smiles at the moment.

I said the other day on here that I tought Owens would be first choice soon. on this form he is now

Why one of the regions have never tried to pick up some Georgian or Romanian props i'll never know. These two lads are making marmalade out of the Scarlets scrum.

don't rate Gareth Davies. We need a better 9 with a faster service

nathan wrote:what's the score so far? who's on top?

http://www.s4c.co.uk/clic/e_live.shtml

watch it there 12-11 to Brieve

mckay1402 wrote:I said the other day on here that I tought Owens would be first choice soon. on this form he is now

Aye he looks great, in really exciting form.

Scarlets deserve this it's been a dirty scrap of a match. Not impressed with brive at all.

The props are fine, it's the second rows that lack bulk.

Coleman wrote:Why one of the regions have never tried to pick up some Georgian or Romanian props i'll never know. These two lads are making marmalade out of the Scarlets scrum.

I know right. Don't know why the regions haven't tried signing Georgian, Romanian or Italian props. Their 2nd Div props would probably be better than some of the props on the regions books!

Gareth Davies has been impressive too.

Liam Williams man of the match

Should have taken the penalty. Can't blame anybody else, you have top play the ref.

Kind of maestage, Gareth doesn't look international class though imo

really? I don't agree. too slow in my opinion.

Great counter ruckin by scarlets

I love the Scarlets, they have a fantastic business plan. Who found this rapper who can also play in the second row? Genius! T-Money, my new favourite player!

mckay1402 wrote:really? I don't agree. too slow in my opinion.

Who?

15-11 five seconds left.

Wayne Barnes has been impressive.

I can't fault him.

Portnoy wrote:Wayne Barnes has been impressive.

I can't fault him.

You should have watched this game, he was awful. Lost the scrum and the breakdown completely.

Bastewards

Smirnoffpriest wrote:Great counter ruckin by scarlets

Apologies that post was meant for about 30mins ago.

Damn android phone

We got done over by Barnes good and proper

Scarlets never looked like winning the game though to be fair

1. missed kicks. AGAIN
2. Far too slow at the breakdown, players getting isolated. AGAIN
3. Why the hell didn't we go for the penalty when Barnes indicated we had one, right in front of the posts?!

Same problems for us. Supporting play at the breakdown, not a high enough % kicking and just mindless decision making. AGAIN.

COmpletely gutted. Brive didn't look like scoring apart form when we gift wrapped them an opportunity.

What's the point in us making half breaks if we don't support the player?

and interview with RHys P - even he doesn't know why they didn't go for the penalty!

maestegmafia wrote:

Portnoy wrote:Wayne Barnes has been impressive.

I can't fault him.

You should have watched this game, he was awful. Lost the scrum and the breakdown completely.

I did. And he is way better than either than Owens or Rolland or any number of SH refs.

He's hated at Welford Rd. But I've always liked him as a neutral ref.

he had a hit and miss game, Portnoy. Generally sound but a lot of his decisions were baffling. Not consistent enough at all.

I only saw the first half - but in that Barnes looked fine to me.

Rolland - i am probably the only poster on the boards who has no issue with him. Most refs are fine really - I am even warming to Walsh.

Owens however - I would be happy if he never reffed an England or Tigers match again.

My favourite ref - Roman Poite - but I doubt he is on the Christmas card list for many Munster fans.

gowales wrote:

Coleman wrote:Why one of the regions have never tried to pick up some Georgian or Romanian props i'll never know. These two lads are making marmalade out of the Scarlets scrum.

I know right. Don't know why the regions haven't tried signing Georgian, Romanian or Italian props. Their 2nd Div props would probably be better than some of the props on the regions books!

Why would a Georgian or Romanian prop take a pay cut to come to wet and windy Wales. Simple economics tells you why they're not playing in Wales.

Griff wrote:

gowales wrote:

Coleman wrote:Why one of the regions have never tried to pick up some Georgian or Romanian props i'll never know. These two lads are making marmalade out of the Scarlets scrum.

I know right. Don't know why the regions haven't tried signing Georgian, Romanian or Italian props. Their 2nd Div props would probably be better than some of the props on the regions books!

Why would a Georgian or Romanian prop take a pay cut to come to wet and windy Wales. Simple economics tells you why they're not playing in Wales.

How about some youngster coming through, they wouldn't be commanding a massive salary would they?
Anyways i'm talking about the past few seasons where they've had money to spend on foreigners, not now where they are going to completley develop from within. The Blues and Scarlets could have used a decent tighthead a few years ago!

Scarlets didn't have any money a few years ago! (and still don't)

Our lack of support play in the forwards is worrying. They can do it for about 4 phases, then just seem to fall off the pace completely. I lost count of the amount of times our players got isolated when they made good half breaks. Infuriating.

Apparently you could afford David Lyons

we couldn't, we bought him in the season before our finances went jubblies up (a sign we shouldn't have got him!)


urrrgh. Oh God. I hate losing for the same reasons as we always lose. Why can't we ever learn from our mistakes

rugbydreamer wrote:
3. Why the hell didn't we go for the penalty when Barnes indicated we had one, right in front of the posts?!

Couldn't understand that either.
There again I still don't understand why Wales didn't have a pop at a drop goal against France in the RWC.
Maybe it's a Welsh thing.

Hopefully you can afford to keep Timani, he was excellent today. Not so sure about convertain Rhodri to a tighthead, will that pay off or be a disaster? Good player though.

Don't understand why we didn't take that penalty , however it was the breakdown that killed us not that one decision. Im pretty sure the players thought they'd be brought back for the penalty advantage but considering the stakes and stage of the game, the advantage was over before any advantage was gained. Barnes had another mare of a game but he's not responsible. The players from both sides should adapt and play to his standards.
Poor game overall really, even though it was exciting due to the closeness if the scores, the errors from both sides were preventing the game from flowing.
We need to draw a line under it and try to learn from our mistakes. Easier said than done when it's the same mistakes costing us games but we never seem to adapt.

maestegmafia wrote:

Portnoy wrote:Wayne Barnes has been impressive.

I can't fault him.

You should have watched this game, he was awful. Lost the scrum and the breakdown completely.

The only thing that lost the scrum & breakdown was The Scarlets who were outplayed at the set piece by effectively a second string Brive pack.
If supporters can't acknowledgee that then there is no chance in moving forward. Invariably if your pack gets pushed backwards early in the game then you are more likely to get penalties against you subsequently because you are forced to wheel, pop up etc.
As Scott Q said when the first choice front 3 came on later in the game it only got worse. The strength in depth of the French teams is incredible and opposing supporters should have the good grace to put their hands up & acknowledge this instead of look for excuses.

overlordofthewest wrote:Don't understand why we didn't take that penalty , however it was the breakdown that killed us not that one decision. Im pretty sure the players thought they'd be brought back for the penalty advantage but considering the stakes and stage of the game, the advantage was over before any advantage was gained. Barnes had another mare of a game but he's not responsible. The players from both sides should adapt and play to his standards.
Poor game overall really, even though it was exciting due to the closeness if the scores, the errors from both sides were preventing the game from flowing.
We need to draw a line under it and try to learn from our mistakes. Easier said than done when it's the same mistakes costing us games but we never seem to adapt.

+1

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

Portnoy wrote:Wayne Barnes has been impressive.

I can't fault him.

You should have watched this game, he was awful. Lost the scrum and the breakdown completely.

The only thing that lost the scrum & breakdown was The Scarlets who were outplayed at the set piece by effectively a second string Brive pack.
If supporters can't acknowledgee that then there is no chance in moving forward. Invariably if your pack gets pushed backwards early in the game then you are more likely to get penalties against you subsequently because you are forced to wheel, pop up etc.
As Scott Q said when the first choice front 3 came on later in the game it only got worse. The strength in depth of the French teams is incredible and opposing supporters should have the good grace to put their hands up & acknowledge this instead of look for excuses.

Wern't the Scarlets missing first choice props; Iestyn and Rhys Thomas, also Reed in the 2nd row? Their scrum has not been bad this season with those three playing.

Reed has hardly played for us this season, he was not a loss. Iestyn and Rhys T perhaps, but pretty much only Rhys T. Rhodri is a more than able replacement for Iestyn.

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

Portnoy wrote:Wayne Barnes has been impressive.

I can't fault him.

You should have watched this game, he was awful. Lost the scrum and the breakdown completely.

The only thing that lost the scrum & breakdown was The Scarlets who were outplayed at the set piece by effectively a second string Brive pack.
If supporters can't acknowledgee that then there is no chance in moving forward. Invariably if your pack gets pushed backwards early in the game then you are more likely to get penalties against you subsequently because you are forced to wheel, pop up etc.
As Scott Q said when the first choice front 3 came on later in the game it only got worse. The strength in depth of the French teams is incredible and opposing supporters should have the good grace to put their hands up & acknowledge this instead of look for excuses.

I didn't think it would take long for Trev to stop by and comment. How are Northampton and England doing again? Both crap the last time I checked, so go and comment on your own teams.

Morg - c'mon mun, he's allowed to comment, and he's pretty much spot on. BUt then, we've all known for years that the Scarlets pack has been it's weakness, and when we are without players like Rhys T, Iestyn to an extent, and the likes of Rob Gog and Shings at the breakdown, well, we struggled.

We still had a chance to win this game though despite playing poorly, and that's what irritating. We were just so brainless.

The Scarlets scrum was fine when the opposition didn't push before the ball was in...!

It was good in defence when we did push before the ball was in. Accountable injuries to first choice players, that pack was missing five or six players.

Promising for next year though. Onwards and upwards.

the scarlets are looking to strengthen their pack for next season.heard we are in negotiations with a georgian/eastern european TH. whether something comes from it I don't know. personally i don't think peter edwards and simon gardiner (who's conditioning is progressively getting worse) are good enough for regional rugby. however nigel has little option but to persevere with at least one of them for next season. although on a positive note the welsh u20 front rowers of rob evans, kirby myhill and samson lee should get more game time next season.also should have 2 new locks at the club next season -so the signs for a stronger pack for next season is looking good.