Which Players are you looking forward to watching this year?

The players I am most looking forward to seeing at the welsh regions are.

Tom Habberfield Ospreys. Great junior RWC, clever skillfull and very fast.

Tavis Knoyle Scarlets. Back from injury, I think this lad has it all as a scrum half. He was in great form over a year ago. Injured at the RWC and didn't really play since.

Harry Robinson Blues. Great speedy winger in the Shane mould. Hopefully he will start to make a name in what could be a cracking blues back three, with Cuthbert and Halfpenny.

Matthew Morgan Ospreys. I would be surprised if he makes an international career, but this kid is worth the ticket price. Such a talent. Such a thrill to watch, players like him are what rugby used to be all about.

Sampson Lee Scarlets. Another impressive performer at the JWC. He had no trouble with his opposition whatsoever. Be great to see how he gets on at regional level.

Toby Faletau Dragons. Toby had a great twelve months though he started taking a bit of stick towards the end of it for not being his dynamic best. Hope he finds form after injury and shows us what a brilliant talent he is.

Morgan Stoddart - Scarlets

Andreus Pretorious - Blues

Adam Hughes - Dragons

Tom Haberfield/Matthew Morgan - Ospreys

Pretorious is an interesting shout???

Will he be first choice for the Blues this season?

maestegmafia wrote:Pretorious is an interesting shout???

Will he be first choice for the Blues this season?

Yep, he was first choice 6 the season before last (and was Player of the Season), then was injured all last season, Paterson has taken the 6 shirt, so now that Rush has retired he is the only 8 we have in the squad (having started to play 8 at the beginning of last season). He will play every game possible, ontherwise Hamilton is the only other 8 (unless Copeland can also play there)

Be better to have Hamilton won't it? He looks really good, plus hes welsh Qualified.

I am Certainly more excited to see Hamilton over Pretorious.

maestegmafia wrote:Be better to have Hamilton won't it? He looks really good, plus hes welsh Qualified.

I am Certainly more excited to see Hamilton over Pretorious.

Pretorious was our player of the season last fit he was fit, he was our best player on the pitch in almost everygame he played - This season Paterson was our best play in almost everygame we played (being the only player to best his opposite number in Dublin IMO) - Not having Paterson, Warburton and Pretorious in the backrow would be a crime if they are all available ; it has potential to be the best backrow in the pro12.

Also, Pretorious is welsh qualified, I won't be surprised to see him in the Welsh squad at some point next year.

Paterson has looked excellent anytime I have seen him. However, best back row in the Pro 12 is a big claim. There is some real competition there.

Interested to see how Jason Tovey and Tom Prydie do at their new Regions.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Paterson has looked excellent anytime I have seen him. However, best back row in the Pro 12 is a big claim. There is some real competition there.

They have potential to be the best, certainly when they are all on form, although Leinster probably have the best at the moment (Ospreys would be close if they had a decent no8)

wales606 wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Paterson has looked excellent anytime I have seen him. However, best back row in the Pro 12 is a big claim. There is some real competition there.

They have potential to be the best, certainly when they are all on form, although Leinster probably have the best at the moment (Ospreys would be close if they had a decent no8)

The Ospreys, Edinburgh and Leinster all had top back rows. I think with Chris Henry really shining this season Ulster also had one of the better back rows in the Pro 12, though Ferris was injured too often to claim they were up there with the best.

Munster would have had the very best back row IMO had Leamy and Wallace not got injured and had to retire.

On the international front I am looking forward to see Marcell Coetzee and Jp Pietersen, both have been in scintilating form.

Glad Frans Steyn is back and can't wait to see Schalk Burger in action again.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

wales606 wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Paterson has looked excellent anytime I have seen him. However, best back row in the Pro 12 is a big claim. There is some real competition there.

They have potential to be the best, certainly when they are all on form, although Leinster probably have the best at the moment (Ospreys would be close if they had a decent no8)

The Ospreys, Edinburgh and Leinster all had top back rows. I think with Chris Henry really shining this season Ulster also had one of the better back rows in the Pro 12, though Ferris was injured too often to claim they were up there with the best.

Munster would have had the very best back row IMO had Leamy and Wallace not got injured and had to retire.

Ulster did have a great backrow this season, but Ferris was injured the whole time and they are losing their SA no8 so won't be as strong next year. Not so sure about Edinburgh, Denton and Rennie always look good, but not really helping their teams performance in the pro12.

biltongbek wrote:On the international front I am looking forward to see Marcell Coetzee and Jp Pietersen, both have been in scintilating form.

Glad Frans Steyn is back and can't wait to see Schalk Burger in action again.

Coetzee has looked immense. He made 7 offloads last weekend or something ridiculous like that.

What are your thoughts on Kankowski? He also looked very good.

I'm looking forward to seeing Lou Reed partner Davies, not much lineout nous granted but they'll go well enough in the engine room, and around the park.If the front row up's their game this season we could see a pretty decent Blues pack, and one of the stronger packs in the Rabo.

wales606 wrote:

Ulster did have a great backrow this season, but Ferris was injured the whole time and they are losing their SA no8 so won't be as strong next year. Not so sure about Edinburgh, Denton and Rennie always look good, but not really helping their teams performance in the pro12.

I think Wilson will be very good for us, but yeah I'm not sure we will be just as good next season, and of course Ferris is always an issue due to injury. Yeah you are right, I mainly mentioned Edinburgh due to the quality of Denton, Rennie and Talei(I know he is gone next season though) as players, but they didn't really help them in the Pro 12 I suppose. HEC is a different story.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

biltongbek wrote:On the international front I am looking forward to see Marcell Coetzee and Jp Pietersen, both have been in scintilating form.

Glad Frans Steyn is back and can't wait to see Schalk Burger in action again.

Coetzee has looked immense. He made 7 offloads last weekend or something ridiculous like that.

What are your thoughts on Kankowski? He also looked very good.

I am not convinced he cuts it at international level, certainly he is better than Spies at super rugby level, but he has never really shown enough for me test level

biltongbek wrote:On the international front I am looking forward to see Marcell Coetzee and Jp Pietersen, both have been in scintilating form.

Glad Frans Steyn is back and can't wait to see Schalk Burger in action again.

First time I really watched Coetzee on the weekend. Made that try look like a walk in the park. Huge thighs on him. If he plays as well as he looks he'll be great.

Jp is for me one of the reasons I get disappointed in the lack of structured backplay in Bok rugby. Jp basically makes his own runs out of nothing. He's often given the ball with not a lot of momentum on 'and goes for a run' often going a lot further than he probably short if not for better defences. He wont get as much space in the top 3 matches but if there were more creativity going on- dummy runners, offloads etc with better use of the space he would find himself in better quality space more often. Again its a case of seeing a lot of something happening at sxv level, little flowing into the tests where things are shut down more through choice.

For NZ I want to see more of Aaron Smith and how our backline does against the top 3 with the better delivery. More of Same Cane and Barrett and I'd love to see Ben Tameifuna and Andre Taylor make the AI's with their sxv form.

thebluesmancometh wrote:I'm looking forward to seeing Lou Reed partner Davies, not much lineout nous granted but they'll go well enough in the engine room, and around the park.If the front row up's their game this season we could see a pretty decent Blues pack, and one of the stronger packs in the Rabo.

What is the blues starting front three?

maestegmafia wrote:

thebluesmancometh wrote:I'm looking forward to seeing Lou Reed partner Davies, not much lineout nous granted but they'll go well enough in the engine room, and around the park.If the front row up's their game this season we could see a pretty decent Blues pack, and one of the stronger packs in the Rabo.

What is the blues starting front three?

Not a clue

1. Hobbs/Filise/Campese
2. Dacey/Kyricau/Breeze
3. Andrews/Filise/Bourrust

It could really be any of them.

As a prediction, Bourrust should be our best THP, he is French after all.

Hobb and Campese will likely share the 1 shirt (depending on whether Campese is any good), although Filise may also play there.

Kyricau is likely to be the stable option at hooker, but he hasn't played for us yet, Breeze would also be solid but not bring much, Dacey and Williams are both very talented youngsters and I would expect Dacey to be pushing for the 2 shirt by the end of the season.

1.???
2.???
3.???
4. Davies
5. Reed
6. Paterson
7. Warburton
8. Pretorious
9. Williams
10. Tovey
11. Robinson/James/Czekaj
12. Roberts
13. Evans
14. Cuthbert
15. Halfpenny

If the new front row options show up well, that will be a very good pack when on form and playing together.