Positives from tonight...

Pacific rugby just took a giant leap.
England will feel good about themselves until tomorrow afternoon.
Howley's days are numbered.
Aaron Jarvis and Priestland won't start for Wales again.

.... AND FOTUALI'I IS AN OSPREY!!! Woooo

RogerLewis wrote:Pacific rugby just took a giant leap.
England will feel good about themselves until tomorrow afternoon.
Howley's days are numbered.
Aaron Jarvis and Priestland won't start for Wales again.

.... AND FOTUALI'I IS AN OSPREY!!! Woooo

That will help me sleep tonight. Think of the positives, thank you Mr Lewis.

I didn't waste my money on the ticket is about all I can come up with

stevetynant wrote:I didn't waste my money on the ticket is about all I can come up with

Players should be ashamed. They are the SAME players who won the slam. They can't suddenly forget how to try.

The first name on the Wales teamsheet is always Adam Jones. His absence is always missed, but it says something about Welsh rugby that we haven't found any competition for his position in the last decade.

Wales are tactically inept. That's at least partly a coaching issue, but it's also a player issue. There were chances tonight -- but Priestland kicks the ball away rather than pass the ball out to exploit a clear overlap. On other occasions, players do not straighten the line to try to maintain or create some space for the players out wide. You can't expect to win against well-drilled, good teams unless you do the basics. Wales were stuffed in the set piece - the scrum was demolished in the second half and the lineout was frail once again. Wales can't secure the ball from set piece, are outmuscled at the breakdown, are tactically naive and one-dimensional.

Gatland is back in charge for the next two weeks but he can't turn Aaron Jarvis into a great TH in that space of time, if ever. There was a time when Wales players could vary their attacks, show some nifty footwork, and play with vision and imagination. It's all sadly lacking at the moment. Fowards and backs tend to attack one up, and support either side is rarely there to force a defence to question itself. All too predictable. Wales lack the basics, don't clearout at rucks to get quick ball, crab across field, kick the ball away far too much, and lose the ball in contact. Things are going to get worse -- NZ should score 60 plus next week unless Wales can shore up the scrum, at least secure their lineouts, and play with a bit more imagaination and good technique. Even then, it'll still be a huge loss!

Howley should be replaced. The coaching team needs some new blood and new ideas and tactics/attacking plays.

Strangely most of these ldads appeared from nowhere just before the last world cup, then won the slam, maybe it's second season syndrome for many of them.

Losing to New Zealand won't cost Wales any ranking points.

IanBru -- that's a positive

On this form, Wale will lose more points to Aus. I haven't calculated the effect of the Samoa loss yet, but a heavy loss (15+) to Aus might push Wales out of the top 8, depending on other results, which would mean a group of death scenario in the WC.

I thought/hoped Howley would go.

RogerLewis wrote:Pacific rugby just took a giant leap.
England will feel good about themselves until tomorrow afternoon.
Howley's days are numbered.
Aaron Jarvis and Priestland won't start for Wales again.

.... AND FOTUALI'I IS AN OSPREY!!! Woooo

I'm sorry but where have you been? Pacific Rugby has been there or there abouts for more than a decade now at least. Don't you remember Wales' other losses to Pacific Island teams? Including in WCs? Sorry but I actually find that statement downright offensive. Gaud knows how I would feel if I was from one of the nations in the Pacific Islands who play Rugby. Get off your big feicing Wales pedestal and realise there are other good teams around. Gaud almighty what a joke.

You aren't as bad as Ireland. Spare a thought for a real team in crisis.

You welsh, hogging the glory and now the crises. What a bunch of selfish cretins.

There is one HUGE Positive from tonight's defeat V Samoa :- Wales didn't send out their best 15 rugby players out onto the field. Wales best playing XV was the one that beat France at Cardiff early this year during the Six Nations Grand Slam!

gboycottnut wrote:There is one HUGE Positive from tonight's defeat V Samoa :- Wales didn't send out their best 15 rugby players out onto the field. Wales best playing XV was the one that beat France at Cardiff early this year during the Six Nations Grand Slam!

That wasn't samoa's best 15 either.. They were missing Ken Pisi and Mulipola.

Another positive is that the players who will come back into the team aren't as bad as the players who represented Wales during the dark days of Welsh rugby around 1991. Does anyone remember the Wales team that got picked to face the mighty England team at the start of that year's Five Nations? Here it is :-
15 Paul Thorburn
14 Steve Ford
13 Mark Ring
12 Scott Gibbs
11 Arthur Emyr
10 Neil Jenkins
9 Robert Jones
1 Brian Williams
2 Kevin Phillips
3 Paul Knight
4 Glyn Llewellyn
5 Gareth Llewellyn
6 Glen George
7 Alun Carter
8 Paul Arnold (The then Coach Ron Waldron's attempt at picking a 1991 version of a tall number eight forward who had a moustache to try and replicate an updated version of the great Mervyn Davies, in the hope that this strategy could help/inspire Wales to deal with and combat the physical menace of the number eight in the England team that year, the mighty Dean Richards)

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

gboycottnut wrote:There is one HUGE Positive from tonight's defeat V Samoa :- Wales didn't send out their best 15 rugby players out onto the field. Wales best playing XV was the one that beat France at Cardiff early this year during the Six Nations Grand Slam!

That wasn't samoa's best 15 either.. They were missing Ken Pisi and Mulipola.

In that case Wales were missing more than 2 of their best players, whereas Samoa were missing only just 2 of their best players!

gboycottnut wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

gboycottnut wrote:There is one HUGE Positive from tonight's defeat V Samoa :- Wales didn't send out their best 15 rugby players out onto the field. Wales best playing XV was the one that beat France at Cardiff early this year during the Six Nations Grand Slam!

That wasn't samoa's best 15 either.. They were missing Ken Pisi and Mulipola.

In that case Wales were missing more than 2 of their best players, whereas Samoa were missing only just 2 of their best players!

Thats two that I know off. They could be missing for all I know .Ken Pisi is a massive loss. Samoa dont have the kind of player pool that any other of the top 10 teams have. So them missing players is a lot more significant. Dont try to use that as an excuse.

Another two positives tonight are that the difference in the scoreline was only 7 points, and secondly Samoa couldn't score more than 26 points at the end of 80 minutes.

Irishhoneymonster wrote:

RogerLewis wrote:Pacific rugby just took a giant leap.
England will feel good about themselves until tomorrow afternoon.
Howley's days are numbered.
Aaron Jarvis and Priestland won't start for Wales again.

.... AND FOTUALI'I IS AN OSPREY!!! Woooo

I'm sorry but where have you been? Pacific Rugby has been there or there abouts for more than a decade now at least. Don't you remember Wales' other losses to Pacific Island teams? Including in WCs? Sorry but I actually find that statement downright offensive. Gaud knows how I would feel if I was from one of the nations in the Pacific Islands who play Rugby. Get off your big feicing Wales pedestal and realise there are other good teams around. Gaud almighty what a joke.

+1

Positives from tonight.

Errrrrrr It just goes to prove that Wales can score trys. From interceptions only though.

RogerLewis wrote:Pacific rugby just took a giant leap.
England will feel good about themselves until tomorrow afternoon.
Howley's days are numbered.
Aaron Jarvis and Priestland won't start for Wales again.

.... AND FOTUALI'I IS AN OSPREY!!! Woooo

Where do you start....

Samoa deservedly beat Wales and its a massive leap for ALL pacific rugby? Honestly.....
Don't know what Eng has to do with this...The usual wums crowing but you've never done that and gone ott at another teams expense right?

Howleys will remain on Gatlands staff, get used to it...

RP and AJ will play for Wales again

Please stop claiming to support the Ospreys. It makes us feel dirty...