Wales team vs Barbarians

First topic message reminder :

15. Liam Williams
14. Harry Robinson
13. Andrew Bishop
12. James Hook
11. Aled Brew
10. Dan Biggar
9. Lloyd Williams
8. Ryan Jones
7. Justin Tipuric
6. Josh Turnbull
5. Ian Evans
4. Alun Wyn Jones
3. Rhodri Jones
2. Matthew Rees (c)
1. Rhys Gill.

Reps: R Hibbard, P James , A Shingler, M Williams, Webb, A Warren, W Harries

With the following 16 going to Australia tomorrow:
Leigh Halfpenny, George North, Jonathan Davies, Scott Williams, Ashley Beck, Alex Cuthbert, Rhys Priestland, Mike Phillips, Gethin Jenkins, Ken Owens, Adam Jones, Bradley Davies, Luke Charteris, Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburton, Toby Faletau

Oh feck off Gussett....I really can't stand him. Why they got him in I don't know. Thankfully, they've put on some slo-mo shots and music instead. It's more interesting...

Second half - let's go!

Morgannwg wrote:

Knackeredknees wrote:And you could tell it was a baabaa's hand because?

Sometimes a player will make a mistake and loose control of the ball

First of all, it's lose. Sorry to be pedantic but this common error is getting on my nerves .

Because in slow-mo I seen a Barbarians player dive head first into the ruck with a swinging arm which knocked the ball forward. I can't tell who, all I could see is that he black hair.

Sorry mr pedantic, but typing on my phone

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

Cari wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Well Tipuric has had his hands all over the place at the breakdown, but I call that clever when he gets away with it.

Sounds like Richie McCaw... Tippy's having a great game. Potential MOTM so far??

Jebus. Gussett really doesn't like speaking positively about Wales does he?

Yeah, seriously Wales better play him or I will get mad. Ireland could do with a Tipuric/Warburton. I am pretty jealous.

6) Warburton
7) Tipuric

Play that and I don't think there will be many flanking partnerships as effective.

Potentially deadly, but I still think its Lydiate and Warbs for now. And Ryan Jones is still a superb 6.

Have they taken Gorgonzola off?

Please?

How rory? If Warbs and Tips are both competing for the breakdown, who do you think will be putting the tackles in? It would have to be Faletau, more than he's doing now,and then we'd see even less of his Dragons form.

Warburton has proved many times that he a VERY good defender. I don't see what would be lost with Warburton starting at 6.

Two of the best flanking partnerships involved two geniuses at the breakdown. Hill/Back and Smith/Waugh.

No I think he's still on Casartelli.

Oh no...Baabas have a very good start.

Maybe they put him on to bring balance to jiffy high pitched bias

Casartelli wrote:

Morgannwg wrote:

Knackeredknees wrote:And you could tell it was a baabaa's hand because?

Sometimes a player will make a mistake and loose control of the ball

First of all, it's lose. Sorry to be pedantic but this common error is getting on my nerves .

Because in slow-mo I seen a Barbarians player dive head first into the ruck with a swinging arm which knocked the ball forward. I can't tell who, all I could see is that he black hair.

Sorry to be pedantic, but that makes no sense whatsoever.

He HAD black hair!

Magnificent from Hookmeister.

Not really, we're still stuck down the wrong end!

We'd lose his main stregth which is that of him jackling the ball and getting turnovers.

I don't get this obsession that just because individually Tip and Warbs might be better then the rest that they should then both start. It's all about how they would benefit the team as a whole, and having the two of them starting would have a negative effect on the balance of our backrow imo.

Wales play to a set game plan, and playing two 7's at the expense of a proper 6 would not work imo. Why on earth would we want to spoil what works?

Although aha! Is that your master plan Rory, to stop the Welsh backrow being so effective?? I'm totally on to you.....

rugbydreamer wrote:How rory? If Warbs and Tips are both competing for the breakdown, who do you think will be putting the tackles in? It would have to be Faletau, more than he's doing now,and then we'd see even less of his Dragons form.

That is a pretty simple way to view the back row, dreamer. They aren't ALWAYS competing at the breakdown. Same way the 6 won't ALWAYS be making the tackles. The role is shared. A 6 isn't simply a tackler, 7 a fetcher etc.

Oi! Tippy was blocked then! Yellow card???

Donald you pill*ck

I think Warbs and Tipuric could both start against some opposition.

Throws something unexpected into it.

Against some teams (England) you'd still play Lydiate.

Nope, no yellow. Tippy OK. Gill back on out of the bin.

Poor throw by Rees

So what if it's a simple view? Rugby is often a simple game and this is what would happen.

For Wales, in most instances Lyds is the tackler and Warbs is the fetcher. It works incredibly, incredibly well for us. And at other times they have shown that Lyds can be the fetcher and Warbs the tackler. They're already versatile enough, so I don't see why we'd need to disrupt the balance

It's like this Irish obsession of playing the best players even if it means screwing up the balance of the team as a whole. The Irish backrow is a prime example of this imo.


Scrappy start to this first half, but at least Wales are back up to a full 15 now

Nugget gets his 100th cap!

Warburton/Tipuric usually still have massive tackle counts, despite also making many turnovers. Same with most world class 7s.

Awwwwww Martyn!!




Legend of the Welsh game. This is the send off he well and truly deserves.

I love him.

Nice touch from the opposition.

Cari wrote:Oi! Tippy was blocked then! Yellow card???

Since when has a block been a yeelow card offence? Its not like there wasnt significant covering defence. It wasnt especially blatant if anything it was Tupuric looking for it, he put in a dive worthy of Byrne

awww that's lovely, even the Baabas on the pitch applauded him coming on.

R-Jo means business, off comes the headband

What has happened to the Wales team that played the first 20 minutes.

It alright, Martyn's on.

For AWJ?

Ryan to 2nd row, Turnball to 8, Tips to 6 I guess?

Rory I know, i've just said that Warbs as a 7 tackles also. I'm not sure where I've said a 7 never tackles? I merely implied that they don't tackle as much as 6's (which by and large, in any side, they don't)

Martyn Williams forced Richie Rees to knock on

Eh...Wales, what are you doing? Oh OK...they're going for the posts. Wonder why Hook is kicking then.

I think the baa-baa's are tiring. As for Barbarians rugby, it's coming from Wales today and the high risk stuff has just forced the errors from these guys.

yeah Cari I don't know why Hook is kicking either, especially as Biggar's been kicking so well for the O's?

Cari wrote:Eh...Wales, what are you doing? Oh OK...they're going for the posts. Wonder why Hook is kicking then.

In-case 1/2p gets injured? Biggar can't play FB.

Ryan Jones smashes Tialata.

Man of the match so far.

Oooo, awful kick

A conversion of Shane Williams' last ever international try (against Australia) was Biggars last kick.

ooh fluffed that one Hooky. 13 - 14.

Dreamer - maybe Biggar's harbouring a twinge injury or something and doesn't want to make it worse? Another Welsh penalty attempt already.

Sorted 16 - 14.

Hook showing some cojones after the previous slice. Should be playing 10, obv.

Shingler on for R-Jo.

Wales finally back in the lead

16 - 14

better kick by hook.

Hooray, Shings is on!

That isn't necessarily true at all dreamer. Sometimes the 6 is the guy who has made the most carries, and the least tackles. It really isn't "6 makes the tackles, 7 makes the turnovers, 8 makes the carries". It doesn't work like that.

Anyway I shall discuss this later if you want, going to focus on the game.

Josh Turnbull, WHAT a tackle!!

Aaron Shingler playing lock now?

woah! Great tackle by Turnbull to prevent a try by the Baabas, but Turnbull looks injured.

Josh Turnbull, take a bow.

Turnbull doing the finger test, took a knock on the head. Hope he's not concussed or something.

Well as an out and out rule it might not work like that all the time Rory, but as a starting point to get a balanced back row, it's not a bad place to go from. Ireland should take note, except I forget, they don't actually have any 7's....

No offence, but Rhys Webb shouldn't be wearing an international jersey as long as he has a crack in his bum.

Brilliant clearance by Webb.

wales606 wrote:Aaron Shingler playing lock now?

Probably, he's played most of his rugby at lock throughout his life, only recently started playing backrow in the last 2 seasons and that was at 6. Makes his debut at 7 for Wales all the more impressive!