up and coming future welsh 9 ands 10s

Any ideas who Wales could have at 9 and 10 for the rugby world cup or any good players we might have going on the next lions tour

dragon4life wrote:Any ideas who Wales could have at 9 and 10 for the rugby world cup or any good players we might have going on the next lions tour

Patchell is a fantastic prospect and we do have the under 20 world player of the year. Biggar is still young but not really my cup of tea. There are a number of promising 9s but it may be trial and error before we find out who is going to make it

Jonny Evans was playing well last season and should be capped by now really (if form was rewarded)

I bet after a good break that Priestland will be back to his 2011 form.

Could be competitive.

This time last year I felt Matthew Morgan and Tom Haberfield were cracking prospects. Morgan seemed to go backwards last season though and Haberfield, from memory, was used mainly on the wing?

Both have the talent to come good, but I guess need to oust Biggar and Webb first from the Ospreys.

At scrum half we have Jonny Evans (Dragons), Aled Davies & Rhodri Williams (Scarlets), Habberfield & Grabham (Ospreys, if they get a change at scrum half). Not to discount the likes of Lloyd Williams, Gareth Davies, Rhys Webb & Tavis Knoyle who are all far from being OAPs.

At fly half there are Owen Williams (Leicester, boo), Matthew Morgan & Sam Davies (Ospreys), and Rhys Patchell (Blues), as well as older players like Priestland, Biggar, Tovey, Shingler etc.

To be fair fly half and scrum half are pretty well covered for us. They seem to be positions that have a fair few youngsters coming through ever year, and every year they look like they could well step up to the full welsh squad if they get enough game time.

Personally I think that if/when Phillips retires we will see Tavis Knoyle become the first choice scrum half, unless his move to Galws goes against him. He is very similar to Phillips so it shouldn't reallly require much of a change in tactics. Also I see Lloyd Williams, Webb and Aled Davies all really battling for the 2nd/3rd scrum half places in the welsh squad.

At fly half I think we are looking good with Biggar/Priestland as number one and two fly halves, and maybe Owen Williams getting involved too if he can keep playing like he did at the back end of the season. I think the Jeff will be good for him, as he is a controlling fly half, who can also set players free if it is on. IMO he will get rave reviews if/when he gets a chance at Leicester, and will most likely force his way into the Welsh squad before the end of the season (if he gets played at Leicester that is).

Scarlet...whos your 3rd choice (I think) SH with the great sidestep down at Parc y Scarlets? Saw him run off the back of a scrum with some great footwork at the back end of last season.

iantobquick wrote:Scarlet...whos your 3rd choice (I think) SH with the great sidestep down at Parc y Scarlets? Saw him run off the back of a scrum with some great footwork at the back end of last season.

The pecking order changed so much last year, I really aint too sure. If he was a little blond lad that would be Aled Davies, pretty quick pass, but kicks too much IMO. Although it could have been Gareth Davies, a bit bigger with short dark hair, very good at snipping, but sometimes a bit too firey and a bit too slow on delivery. ANd if he had floppy teenager hair that would be Rhodri Williams, a good youngster and a key cog in the U20s team. But to be perfectly honest I think all three of them are very good scrum halves and the battle for the first choice shirt is going to be pretty feirce. At the moment I would say that Aled is probably the first choice, as he finished of in pole position last season, but both Gareth and Rhodri could easily oust him if he slips up.

Wish I could remember where I saw it. I think it may have been Williams. Good old fashioned body swerves.

Rhodri Williams is seriously talented... He has very young and has already played in some key Scarlets games.

Rhodri saw a fair bit of Scarlets action in the 2011/12 season, as we were missing Tav due to injury/RWC. He did have a few things that were obviously needing to be worked on but he does seem to have improved in those areas, especially judging from the JWC performances.

Will Knoyle be first choice at Glaws? After all they have spent a lot of money bringing in Jimmy Cowan.

I don't know if he will be first choice, however I know Nigel Davies rates him highly. He said when he signed him (at the Scarlets) that Knoyle was the most naturally talented scrum half he had seen at that age, and considering Nigel knew both Dwayne Peel and Mike Phillips as kids I guess he really rates him. Tav's major problem is injuries and being a bag boy for team Wales, I think that is basically why he was asked to look elsewhere. I guess only time will tell.

I think it will be Patchell 10 and Aled Davies for the 2015 world cup