Sam Warbuton - Agreeing with what most of us have said so far.

Sam Warburton says Wales should have kept hold of the ball rather than kicking it away in the final fateful moments of normal time during the dramatic clash with the Wallabies.

With just over a minute left on the clock, fly-half Rhys Priestland booted the ball down field and that ultimately led to Australia earning the penalty which super-sub Mike Harris landed to snatch a 25-23 victory.

“The plan was to keep the ball,” revealed skipper Warburton.

“When the ball was kicked, I remember Ryan Jones shouting ‘No’ at the top of his voice.

“It wasn’t what the forwards were planning. Just a little bit of composure and patience was what was needed.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/rugbynation/rugby-news/2012/06/17/kicking-ball-to-australia-in-last-minute-was-wrong-admits-sam-warburton-91466-31199166/

Believe me, I do feel sorry for Priestland, because he is going to have a very difficult time clinging onto the Welsh 10 shirt from now on, his confidence is also rocked, but I'm glad Warburton is not afraid to voice his opinion on the matter.

I think Warburton sums up the blame culture of this management team, Warburton is the captain he is the responsible player on the field, the kick was not the only lack of captaincy lacking during the game. I thought Preistland was rubbish as he has been since the RWC but for you captain to point a finger is very, very poor he should take responsibility. Howley should also put his hand up he picked the team and did not substitute the player way out of his depth.

I think Warburton is correct to say this, you cant keep pretending that you win and lose as a team, if you have a game plan to keep the ball why the hell is someone kicking it away?

Why kick loose and give the opposition a chance to run back at you with only a small lead? Why take the risk?

Warburton should have been home, in Wales having some well deserved and needed rest and rehab, ahead of a big season for the Blues and Wales. How Tipuric didn't get onto the field yesterday is anyone's guess.
Our tactic for the ENTIRE game was to kick SHOCKINGLY just about to our own 10m line, making sure no one was chasing, and letting them make easy yards up to our 5m line. Why is Warburton therefore surprised that Priestland continued doing it up until the very last minute?

They should cancel the next as it's so meaningless. I would be mire annoyed if we win I think.
I can take losing to a better side - the first test for instance - but to lose a game because you physically can't stop yourself kicking the ball away for 80 mins, that hurts.

Why did the forwards let Webb get the ball? Why didn't the forwards communicate to Webb that they wanted to keep it? If they did, why did Webb pass it to Priestland?

Disappointed by those comments from Sam. If the forwards wanted to keep the ball then they blydi should have, it shouldn't have gone anywhere near the backs.

Shifty wrote:I think Warburton is correct to say this, you cant keep pretending that you win and lose as a team, if you have a game plan to keep the ball why the hell is someone kicking it away?

Why kick loose and give the opposition a chance to run back at you with only a small lead? Why take the risk?

Why? Why? Oh Why?

Now don't we in Ireland know that particular question oh so well...and when many of us were critical of us doing it against Wales in the 6N weren't we told over and over that its just a player [lack of] quality issue and nothing to do with kicking away aimlessly to an attacking side.

Higher_Ground wrote:
Our tactic for the ENTIRE game was to kick SHOCKINGLY just about to our own 10m line, making sure no one was chasing, and letting them make easy yards up to our 5m line. Why is Warburton therefore surprised that Priestland continued doing it up until the very last minute?
.
I can take losing to a better side - the first test for instance - but to lose a game because you physically can't stop yourself kicking the ball away for 80 mins, that hurts.

+1

Also feel nobody in charge to make the big calls on kick or rumble. There's a post-match comment from Howley where he says how well we played without the ball. WTF!!

"How Tipuric didn't get onto the field yesterday is anyone's guess. " -- Probably for the same reason why Biggar didn't tour. Hasn't Howley called the shots re: squad and team selection? If so, now he can add a two-test loss to his CV for when he was in charge. I'm not looking forward to the 6N next year at this rate.

As an outsider, I think that is not a good trait of a captain to place blame on individual players. I'm a bit surprised by it to be honest. If he couldn't convince the lads not to kick it, is he a true leader? Hope so, becasue he is a cracking player. We need him to step up for the Lions.

On the evidence of the combined abilities of the top Irish, English, Welsh and Scottish players in the last few years... I don't genuinely think Warburton's leadership abilities will be required to win the series against Australia. Not saying he won't be needed in the side but the players that could be on tour won't be needing too much of his guidance.

If the right players are chosen by Gatland, if they are prepared sufficiently and if they play to their abilities I think.................. well I think Australia will suffer.

rugbydreamer wrote:Why did the forwards let Webb get the ball? Why didn't the forwards communicate to Webb that they wanted to keep it? If they did, why did Webb pass it to Priestland?

Disappointed by those comments from Sam. If the forwards wanted to keep the ball then they blydi should have, it shouldn't have gone anywhere near the backs.

I have to say, having criticised Priestland yesterday but since reflected on this, I am also slightly baffled as to why if the forwards wanted to keep the ball and wind down the clock (definitely the correct tactic and obvious at the time), the ball went from Webb to Priestland. It was a poorly executed kick by Priestland but I do agree with what you're saying here Dreamer. You have to question the communciation between the forwards and Webb and also have to look at Webb's decision to pass to Priestland. I now see that passage of play as a collective failing (still think RP should be dropped for next game but that's another issue). I think (hope?) Sam is learning fast about the art of captaincy.

SecretFly wrote:On the evidence of the combined abilities of the top Irish, English, Welsh and Scottish players in the last few years... I don't genuinely think Warburton's leadership abilities will be required to win the series against Australia. Not saying he won't be needed in the side but the players that could be on tour won't be needing too much of his guidance.

If the right players are chosen by Gatland, if they are prepared sufficiently and if they play to their abilities I think.................. well I think Australia will suffer.

I agree with this. I also think Sam may well be usurped at Wales 7 by Tiputic in the next 12 months in any case. There will be a number of contenders but I could easily see Tipuric as the Lions 7 next summer. And let's not forget he just led the Ospreys to the league title... Possible future Wales captain himself. Sam has a lot to prove next season.

I was talking about as a player as much as a captain. Ireland could have two captains in the squad (BOD and POC who does it for Munster and Ireland regularly) and probably even Rory Best who captains Ulster. Leadership won't be an issue.

Cadair Idris wrote:You have to question the communciation between the forwards and Webb and also have to look at Webb's decision to pass to Priestland. I now see that passage of play as a collective failing (still think RP should be dropped for next game but that's another issue). I think (hope?) Sam is learning fast about the art of captaincy.

The problem was Priestland was standing to deep to take the ball, he needed to be flat to bring forwards into play. He was so far behind the line that when he took the ball with the Australian defense flying up on him he had no option but to hoof it up field.

You can;t blame Webb for passing the ball, thats his job as a scrum half, you can point out Priestlands positioning though. He should of been flat with a few forwards on his shoulder to set the next phase up.

Way out of line and makes Warburton look out of his depth and looking for a scapegoat, if the plan was to keep the ball it should never have got to Priestland, once it had he had no option other than to put as much distance on it as possible or he would have been caught isolated and in posession.

At the same time I believe a penalty was going to be given one way ot another regardles of anything the Welsh players did.

Disappointing comments coming from Warburton, the captain of the team no less. He has gone down in my estimation as both a player and a captain in recent times. Blaming individuals publically is not the act of a good captain.

I also think he should be considering why there was a failure of communication if he really didnt want to kick the ball away. As he is the captain this should be his greater concern. Instead he is shifting responsibility and passing the buck.

Thomond wrote:I was talking about as a player as much as a captain. Ireland could have two captains in the squad (BOD and POC who does it for Munster and Ireland regularly) and probably even Rory Best who captains Ulster. Leadership won't be an issue.

Agree with that. The tricky decision will be picking as captain someone who is a near guaranteed test starter. As things stand Rory Best is probably the closest to that but all will depend on form of BOD, POC, Warbs etc, in next year's 6N.

You never know what will happen next year, we could see a whole batch of new players come through who are going to be certain Lions.

For example the way George North, Toby Faletau and Alex Cuthbert burst onto the Welsh scenes from nowhere. Or Stuart Hogg for Scotland.

The team selection for the final test will be interesting, if Preistland is still selected I assume he was following orders from the coaches, lets face it he kicked poorly throughout the game (and much worse in the first test), if he was not following orders, they should have taken him off before half time. My guess is, the tactic is kick down the centre of the field and defend which I find disappointingly negative and Warburton should not be pointing a finger at his 10.

In Warburton's defence he does not select the team so he can only play with the hand he is given, I have always believed the captain should be part of the team selection but that another issue.

rugbydreamer wrote:Why did the forwards let Webb get the ball? Why didn't the forwards communicate to Webb that they wanted to keep it? If they did, why did Webb pass it to Priestland?

Disappointed by those comments from Sam. If the forwards wanted to keep the ball then they blydi should have, it shouldn't have gone anywhere near the backs.

I dont think you can blame webb. The ball had moved and the breakdown was underpoliced, Webb had to throw the ball to RP. However RP should have brought the ball back to the forwards and reset or even passed as we had two runners outsie who could have cut back into support. We needed to be bold and instead tried to defend a one point lead with ten minutes to go.

I have not been one of Priestlands biggest fan, but surely he is not getting the blame for Wales losing yesterday.

Priestland was only playing to a game plan, kick the ball in to the Australia half of the field, and let them run it back at Wales.

If Priestland was that bad why was he not taken off before now? Why was the ball even passed to him in the first place,

Rob Howley should take some of the blame, i meen he did pick the team right.

majesticimperialman wrote:I have not been one of Priestlands biggest fan, but surely he is not getting the blame for Wales losing yesterday.

Priestland was only playing to a game plan, kick the ball in to the Australia half of the field, and let them run it back at Wales.

If Priestland was that bad why was he not taken off before now? Why was the ball even passed to him in the first place,

Rob Howley should take some of the blame, i meen he did pick the team right.

The ball had to be passed, see my previous post,

Howley does need to shoulder quite a lot of blame with his selection, preperation for the first test and tactics. However the team could have won this game, trying to protect a 1 point lead is stupid.

What I don't quite understand....

Even though Howley is the man in Aus, surely Gatland is in contact with him and the squad. This isn't just Howley going rogue, it's the squad plan for beating Australia. Or trying to anyway.

I said this on another thread, McCaw was going ape sh!t with Carter on Saturday,
they are best mates but the captain has to expect nothing but the best.

If Martian Johnson was playing yesterday do you think he would have accepted kicking possession away in the dying minute?

viewtothegym wrote:If Martian Johnson was playing yesterday

He was a brilliant player, but he's no alien

Maybe Warburton only realised it wasn't the right thing to do...when it became clear that it wasnt the right thing to do? Hindsight insight?

I dislike how this has come out.

You don't single out individual players for criticism in the media... especially from your captain. Do it behind closed doors sure, but make it constructive.

Comments like that can destroy careers.... we've seen higher profile sportsman go under due to unfair criticism in the media.

I don't think the forwards can lay claim to no blame anyhow... it was there that Wales was meant to have the upper hand.. yet in both tests they've been at best competing with a weak AUS pack who get bossed by every other tier 1 side around the world. We always hear "Lions front row", "7 of the pack will test for the lions next year yardy yardy yah"... well I'll tell you something, I don't care how talented a pack may seem, if they can't out muscle an AUS pack then those players ain't going to get near a lions jersey next year.

What did Warburton himself do on Sat???? He didn't achieve an turnovers, he didn't carry the ball all game, he made some tackles sure but he missed one or two and was one of the persons to blame for the AUS 1st half try... as the openside, Barnes is his man, his responsibility.

As a pack they were out muscled in the first half in the scrum, lost a number of lineouts and it was the backs who kept WAL in the game.

It reminds me of the old days when teams would get battered but you'd always here some prop say... "yeah, but we murdered them in the scrum". Individualism like that won't win friends, trust or test matches.

SecretFly wrote:Maybe Warburton only realised it wasn't the right thing to do...when it became clear that it wasnt the right thing to do? Hindsight insight?

Or he heard a gasp of indrawn breath and shouts of dont kick it you stupid fxxxer that happened half a world away.

SecretFly wrote:Maybe Warburton only realised it wasn't the right thing to do...when it became clear that it wasnt the right thing to do? Hindsight insight?

Or he thought, "I've had a pretty poor game, Rhys as been doing worse recently and I'll hang him out to dry"?

we do not under pain of death(it seems) kick to touch. if you are not kicking well to put pressure on the opposition, or well enough for a good chase( not a chase that only an olympic athlete could make!) then stop kicking and keep the ball.
asking rp to kick when he was totally out of it ((both games) has now put his career into rebuilding mode.

not taking the goal kicks as a ten needs a strong mental approach to the rest of your game. goal kicking is a momentum and confidence builder.
i'm not saying 1/2p shouldnt be kicking, thank g*d he was, but the fact that you as a 10 weren't taking ANY kicks must have some bearing on your confidence and your ability in other areas of your game.

who has enough self belief as a 10 to let someone else take the kicks?biggar for certain, hook? if hook is picked next week and he takes the kicks not 1/2p, what message does that final nail give rp. wait and see, very interesting decisions to be made.

Everyone complaining about Warburton finding a scapegoat and picking on Priestland should realise he never actually mentioned him, he only said that they should've kept possession. He could be referring to the pack, Webb, Priest or any other factor. Stop getting wound up over nothing.

Looseheaded wrote:Everyone complaining about Warburton finding a scapegoat and picking on Priestland should realise he never actually mentioned him, he only said that they should've kept possession. He could be referring to the pack, Webb, Priest or any other factor. Stop getting wound up over nothing.

Well it's more a case of if you read between the lines he certainly wasn't blaming Ryan Jones or himself.

“When the ball was kicked, I remember Ryan Jones shouting ‘No’ at the top of his voice."

You're right, it is getting wound up over nothing but it's also quite clear he blames a kicked ball.

It's shocking the abuse RP is getting here. We play, win and lose together. Every game will see a perceived weak player, or play. You get behind the player, overcome the weakness and fix the error. All this talk about having confidence and backing ourselves in the forwards, well where were they for those two final plays costing two penalties. And where were they in securing possession from set piece. Not sure if Warbs comments are taken out of context or media spin on them, but poor show if he is throwing some blame.

We've played the kick (to open space) and let them try and pass us from 60-70M with reasonable success for quite some time now. We've backed our defence and fitness, and willing to keep ball in play.

Never been overly impressed with RP, but he is not the reason we lost yesterday. We aren't backing ourselves with ball in hand, we're still making error after error at the lineout at crucial times. We scored almost 50% of the points with almost 30% possession..... Time to back our attack along with our fitness and defence.

SecretFly wrote:

Looseheaded wrote:Everyone complaining about Warburton finding a scapegoat and picking on Priestland should realise he never actually mentioned him, he only said that they should've kept possession. He could be referring to the pack, Webb, Priest or any other factor. Stop getting wound up over nothing.

Well it's more a case of if you read between the lines he certainly wasn't blaming Ryan Jones or himself.

“When the ball was kicked, I remember Ryan Jones shouting ‘No’ at the top of his voice."

You're right, it is getting wound up over nothing but it's also quite clear he blames a kicked ball.

I know he blames the kicked ball, we all do, but he's not outlined or indicated what was the cause of that ball being kicked.

Looseheaded wrote:

SecretFly wrote:

Looseheaded wrote:Everyone complaining about Warburton finding a scapegoat and picking on Priestland should realise he never actually mentioned him, he only said that they should've kept possession. He could be referring to the pack, Webb, Priest or any other factor. Stop getting wound up over nothing.

Well it's more a case of if you read between the lines he certainly wasn't blaming Ryan Jones or himself.

“When the ball was kicked, I remember Ryan Jones shouting ‘No’ at the top of his voice."

You're right, it is getting wound up over nothing but it's also quite clear he blames a kicked ball.

I know he blames the kicked ball, we all do, but he's not outlined or indicated what was the cause of that ball being kicked.

I would argue that its pretty clear that Priestlands boot caused the ball to be kicked. These guys are pro sportsman and when the screw up they have to suck it up. If RP's confidence is so frail he cant take the criticism he should have stayed at carmarthern quins.

TycroesOsprey wrote:

Looseheaded wrote:

SecretFly wrote:

Looseheaded wrote:Everyone complaining about Warburton finding a scapegoat and picking on Priestland should realise he never actually mentioned him, he only said that they should've kept possession. He could be referring to the pack, Webb, Priest or any other factor. Stop getting wound up over nothing.

Well it's more a case of if you read between the lines he certainly wasn't blaming Ryan Jones or himself.

“When the ball was kicked, I remember Ryan Jones shouting ‘No’ at the top of his voice."

You're right, it is getting wound up over nothing but it's also quite clear he blames a kicked ball.

I know he blames the kicked ball, we all do, but he's not outlined or indicated what was the cause of that ball being kicked.

I would argue that its pretty clear that Priestlands boot caused the ball to be kicked. These guys are pro sportsman and when the screw up they have to suck it up. If RP's confidence is so frail he cant take the criticism he should have stayed at carmarthern quins.

Don't be silly, if you're a fly half in that position you're gonna kick it, however he may not have wanted the pass, or have thought that's the gameplan, it could be any one of the packs, Webb, Howley or Preistland's fault. Obviously he kicked the ball, but if he's put in a position when that's all he can do then it may not be his fault.

Surely everyone takes the blame for losing again. Priestland, Warburton, the management.

The blame game could go on all day. Smiler for throwing poorly in key positions, losing momentum for Wales going forward. I said from the start of the week, Ken Owens didn't miss a line out last week and should not have ever been dropped. Rees has looked unconvincing for a while and we have 2 far better hookers atm in Hibbard and Owens.

You can't win test matches without the ball. I felt Wales kicked far too often anyway. Perfect example was during the sin binning for Vuna (Which I believed to be a red card). We kicked possession needlessly away every time and allowed Aus to run down the clock, you can't do that. Keep ball in hand with and go through the phases with the forward, then work it out wide and the overlap should be there.

The management should have been better, along with Rhys' kick at that final ruck. I saw no one taking command and saying 'Boys we are keeping this ball here for the minute and if Oz want to try and turn it over and risk the penalty then so be it'. We didn't, instead the ball was thrown to Rhys who showed poor composure. We then had poor discipline in pulling the maul down although I've still yet to see where the guilty party was.

A combination of things cost us this result. I maintain I never expected to win the series, not many win more than 1 game in Ox anyway. Of course, we could have easily won the opening two games when looking back and certainly won this second test. As it goes, the score is Oz 2-0 Wales and that's all that matters. I said before the tour, we need just one win for me, just to show we can win against a SH nation and on their own patch anyway. The real work starts in the AI where as GS champions on our own turf, we should be targeting wins over Samoa, Argentina, Australia and NZ in order to establish ourselves as a top rugby playing nation again.

"The real work".... cobblers! Blydi insulting words, martyr. Surprised at you... but I can understand your frustrations.

No. The real work continues again next Saturday for Wales does it not?
You can't just sweep this series under the carpet and deny it has been a failure for Wales. It has. You failed. However, you still have a slim chance of 'stealing' a win on Oz soil on Saturday. I shudder to think what you guys will say if that happens.

We've all had to put up with this inflated talk for months now and heard just about every excuse under the sun from many posters - from the timing of the series, questioning whether 'it's a level playing field' with the refereeing, Howley's the problem, 'we're missing Roberts', 'Pocock's a cheat', 'we're really a better team than Australia' (you are not!), 'oh, but if it were at home' (beat you there too), 'we'll murder them up front' (you didn't), the Wallabies aren't that good.... Please. Who are you kidding?

It all looks and sounds very bad to hear this constant rubbish talk of players and underestimation of the opposition (whether justified or not). The GS champions have been brought down to earth along with their fans by a severely depleted Wallabies team.

The bad news is - it won't get any easier for Wales during the AI match at the end of our season. It's clear that Wales is far from a Top rugby playing nation (3rd or 4th at best) after 4 losses in a row against Australia.

Red_Dragon_Spirit wrote:.

We've played the kick (to open space) and let them try and pass us from 60-70M with reasonable success for quite some time now. We've backed our defence and fitness, and willing to keep ball in play.

Never been overly impressed with RP, but he is not the reason we lost yesterday. We aren't backing ourselves with ball in hand, we're still making error after error at the lineout at crucial times. We scored almost 50% of the points with almost 30% possession..... Time to back our attack along with our fitness and defence.

More or less agree. Not a fan of RP and think he should be replaced by Hook - who has been looking good for Perps, where strangely enough they never play him at 15 or 12 or 13 - but not because of this incident. The Priest's strengths are passing and making half-breaks. His weakness is kicking out of hand. so what do we do? We have him kicking out of hand.

It is possible to wina game with 30% possession, but not regularly. With Beale back, Oz will have seriously classy back 3, so to hand them the ball all the time would be an insane strategy.

martyr_94 wrote:

You can't win test matches without the ball. I felt Wales kicked far too often anyway. Perfect example was during the sin binning for Vuna (Which I believed to be a red card). We kicked possession needlessly away every time and allowed Aus to run down the clock, you can't do that. Keep ball in hand with and go through the phases with the forward, then work it out wide and the overlap should be there.

The management should have been better, along with Rhys' kick at that final ruck. I saw no one taking command and saying 'Boys we are keeping this ball here for the minute and if Oz want to try and turn it over and risk the penalty then so be it'. We didn't, instead the ball was thrown to Rhys who showed poor composure. We then had poor discipline in pulling the maul down although I've still yet to see where the guilty party was.

.

Agree totally. Not taking advantage of the yellow was a turning point. For most of the game, the Oz were putting together 18-20 phases and making good ground. Once we kicked the ball to them, they would keep it for the next 10 mins, yet we carried on with it.

He kicked it twice in the final minutes... once in the 77th then again at around 78:30 from memory.

If Warbs was calling the shots then you would have expected him to say after the first one "let's keep it next time!" He didn't or was ignored as the ball went back to Priestland again.

That gave us the only possible chance of victory as posters have mentioned. It was probably too much to ask for the chase to pin us down in our own half. The fact they got to around halfway bringing it back just before the penultimate penalty was awarded seems to support this view.

samuraidragon wrote:

martyr_94 wrote:

You can't win test matches without the ball. I felt Wales kicked far too often anyway. Perfect example was during the sin binning for Vuna (Which I believed to be a red card). We kicked possession needlessly away every time and allowed Aus to run down the clock, you can't do that. Keep ball in hand with and go through the phases with the forward, then work it out wide and the overlap should be there.

The management should have been better, along with Rhys' kick at that final ruck. I saw no one taking command and saying 'Boys we are keeping this ball here for the minute and if Oz want to try and turn it over and risk the penalty then so be it'. We didn't, instead the ball was thrown to Rhys who showed poor composure. We then had poor discipline in pulling the maul down although I've still yet to see where the guilty party was.

.

Agree totally. Not taking advantage of the yellow was a turning point. For most of the game, the Oz were putting together 18-20 phases and making good ground. Once we kicked the ball to them, they would keep it for the next 10 mins, yet we carried on with it.

I couldn't believe that too.
For a moment I thought he had been given a red (got distracted on here) but when the cameras went onto Vuna with the YC clock ticking down - I couldn't believe we had come out of that 10 mins without a Wales score. It was a 'great escape' for sure.

ok posters, any takers? if hook is 10 next week who takes the kicks hook or 1/2p? who would you choose?

Amazed with all the blame game: management's fault, picked the wrong team, referee's fault, bad tactics and on it goes. A few points that have not been mentioned, for obvious reasons:

1. Wales first try came as a result of a huge Barnes mistake: booting the ball out on the full which provided Wales with a 50 metre territorial advantage and the Wales try was the next play

2. Wales second try was incredibly soft: off another error (Genia) and a kick through along the ground (twice) and a race to the tryline.

3. Barnes had the chance to win the game with a penalty goal directly in front of the posts and missed.

Those 3 OZ errors made the game closer than what it really was. OZ played most of the rugby and dominated both possession and territory - including with 14 players for 10 mins in the second half.

This was against a depleted OZ side.

Wales are a good side but premature to be thinking they are in or near the top 3/4 sides in the world. They have a few years to go until they are mature enough to win against 3N under pressure and that assumes they keep all their players in top form.

IronMike wrote:

Sam Warburton says Wales should have kept hold of the ball rather than kicking it away in the final fateful moments of normal time during the dramatic clash with the Wallabies.

With just over a minute left on the clock, fly-half Rhys Priestland booted the ball down field and that ultimately led to Australia earning the penalty which super-sub Mike Harris landed to snatch a 25-23 victory.

“The plan was to keep the ball,” revealed skipper Warburton.

“When the ball was kicked, I remember Ryan Jones shouting ‘No’ at the top of his voice.

“It wasn’t what the forwards were planning. Just a little bit of composure and patience was what was needed.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/rugbynation/rugby-news/2012/06/17/kicking-ball-to-australia-in-last-minute-was-wrong-admits-sam-warburton-91466-31199166/

Believe me, I do feel sorry for Priestland, because he is going to have a very difficult time clinging onto the Welsh 10 shirt from now on, his confidence is also rocked, but I'm glad Warburton is not afraid to voice his opinion on the matter.

If the guy actually named Priestland then he is an arse, should be stripped of his captaincy immediately.

The welsh forwards time and time again gave away penalties alot of the time under no real pressure, Gethin Jenkins gave away two IN FRONT OF HIS POSTS, one in the 73 minute and lost the ball for nearly a breakaway try that could have been 11 POINTS, Adam Jones and AWJ also gave away too many silly pens.

The welsh forwards were dire, it was the CORRECT thing to do by Priestland to hoof it up field, it was a good long kick and his team should have put pressure on the Aussie attack but they were slow and laboured. If the forwards kept the ball in their half it would have been more likely than not that a pen would have been given away

For shame Warburton blaming a player when so many of his forwards lost him the match............. I thought the blame culture went with the Henson biography debacle

Extract from seagulltaf........ which I believe is as accurate as you can get

"How is Priestland to blame? Webb chose to move the ball rather than sticking it up the jumper with the forwards. Priestland could have taken the ball into contact, but with all his forwards in front of him he would probably have been turned over. He could have spun the ball wide and tried an expansive threequarter move, but that would have been high risk. He took the only sensible option at the time.

Wales then gave away a silly penalty deep in Australia's, that was probably the crucial incident"

AND AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH

The following stats put this match into perspective. Australia clearly dominated again and worked harder with a player off for 10 mins.

Stat - Australia - Wales

Possession 64% - 36%
Territory 66% - 34%
Clean Breaks 2 -1
Defenders Beaten 13 -6
Offloads 6 -4
Rucks Won 110 - 52
Mauls Won 2 - 2
Turnovers Conceded 11 - 5
Kicks from hand 26 -26
Passes 148 - 65
Runs 125 -54
Meters Gained 343 - 124
Tackles Made 59 - 119
Tackles Missed 6 - 13
Scrums won/lost 4/1 - 4/1
Lineouts won/lost 12/0 - 10/4

gavstar wrote:ok posters, any takers? if hook is 10 next week who takes the kicks hook or 1/2p? who would you choose?

I'm taking the question seriously. Halfpenny has been awesome since he took over kicking duties and must continue. but he won't play every game from now on. He will have injuries, unavailabilithy etc. Hook has been kicking for Perps , also for Wales v. Ba-bas and Brumbies, with decent results (though he did miss one kickable shot vs. ba-bas). Biggar has been kicking very well for the O's too.

flyhalffactory wrote:

IronMike wrote:

Sam Warburton says Wales should have kept hold of the ball rather than kicking it away in the final fateful moments of normal time during the dramatic clash with the Wallabies.

With just over a minute left on the clock, fly-half Rhys Priestland booted the ball down field and that ultimately led to Australia earning the penalty which super-sub Mike Harris landed to snatch a 25-23 victory.

“The plan was to keep the ball,” revealed skipper Warburton.

“When the ball was kicked, I remember Ryan Jones shouting ‘No’ at the top of his voice.

“It wasn’t what the forwards were planning. Just a little bit of composure and patience was what was needed.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/rugbynation/rugby-news/2012/06/17/kicking-ball-to-australia-in-last-minute-was-wrong-admits-sam-warburton-91466-31199166/

Believe me, I do feel sorry for Priestland, because he is going to have a very difficult time clinging onto the Welsh 10 shirt from now on, his confidence is also rocked, but I'm glad Warburton is not afraid to voice his opinion on the matter.

If the guy actually named Priestland then he is an arse, should be stripped of his captaincy immediately.

The welsh forwards time and time again gave away penalties alot of the time under no real pressure, Gethin Jenkins gave away two IN FRONT OF HIS POSTS, one in the 73 minute and lost the ball for nearly a breakaway try that could have been 11 POINTS, Adam Jones and AWJ also gave away too many silly pens.

The welsh forwards were dire, it was the CORRECT thing to do by Priestland to hoof it up field, it was a good long kick and his team should have put pressure on the Aussie attack but they were slow and laboured. If the forwards kept the ball in their half it would have been more likely than not that a pen would have been given away

For shame Warburton blaming a player when so many of his forwards lost him the match............. I thought the blame culture went with the Henson biography debacle

Extract from seagulltaf........ which I believe is as accurate as you can get

"How is Priestland to blame? Webb chose to move the ball rather than sticking it up the jumper with the forwards. Priestland could have taken the ball into contact, but with all his forwards in front of him he would probably have been turned over. He could have spun the ball wide and tried an expansive threequarter move, but that would have been high risk. He took the only sensible option at the time.

Wales then gave away a silly penalty deep in Australia's, that was probably the crucial incident"

AND AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH

Hi there, FHF, Have you had a chance to see the game yet? I don't agree that hoofing upfield was the correct option - equivalent to giving Oz the ball on the halfway line, more or less - but I do agree that the responsibility is collective. Furthermore such issues should not be aired in public. There's a lot of pressure on players to feed the hungry mouth of the media, but they need to know when to keep quiet too.
To be fair Sam did not name Priestland or anyone else, but the implication of his words is that the halfbacks were to blame.

Whew now I know what Donald Duck went through (again).

In Hong Kong a couple of years ago with 20 seconds to go on his own line he screamed for the ball from a ruck, kicked it as hard as could- 60 m upfield, assuming the AB's would swarm them and hold them up-

rather than telling the forwards to punch up a couple and then put it out.

From the kick Oz ran the left sideline, gained a couple of rucks and JOC scored the try and needed and got the conversion to win it.

As a result we lost our only match that year, and were heading for the most consecutive wins of 18 (Hong Kong would have been 15 or16 I believe).

BUT. There has to be a moral to this story.

Donald duck eventually turned into a Prince and kicked the eventual winning goal in the World cup final...

So Priestland should start seriously thinking about 2015 perhaps...