The AIs - The Top & Bottom

Just putting some feelers out there to get your personal highs and lows of the AIs? (admittedly there is a last, 4th fixture yet to come for a certain nation)

For me,

Top: The development of the welsh attack, we've seen some real heads up play and width put on the ball when there's space. Halfpenny has started running the channel outside of 13 consistently and its creating overlaps. We're not just sending forwards 1 up at a time from side to side (well, as much) and the scrumhalf is carrying less. I just hope we dont see a return to the bishbashbosh when Roberts/Cuthbert are back in (I dont think North/JD2 are seen in the same bracket as ballcarriers, they have more guile than Roberts/Cuthbert).

Low: The Blues having Bradley Davies, Rhys Patchell, Corey Allen and (probably) Owen Williams back injured, to add to Cuthbert. Oh, and Lloyd Williams coming back to us injury-free and fresh. JUST DONT DO ANYTHING TO HALFPENNY OR WARBURTON (I'll give you the injury to Scott Andrews, maybe Borrust will start getting some gametime now......)  

So whats yours? Whether it be that first 40 minutes by Ireland? The English win against the Ozzies? The all blacks last minute try to clinch the 100% record for the year?

Hit me folks.

I'm pleased with the development of our attacking game, but I'm going to reserve judgement until after the Wallabies game. It was only against the Pumas that it really clicked - and even then, Halfpenny kicked away a lot of ball. We wasted a fair few overlaps against the Springboks and the less said about the Tonga match the better.

Promising signs, but I want to see more evidence of it - and a more clinical edge in execution. George North for one needs to look around for support runners, not just defenders.

I am not too sure we have seen any real improvement in our attacking game, as such. We seem to be playing the same sort of stuff as we always have. Use the forwards, typewriter side to side, and then if we have a decent lead run from everywhere.

One major positive for me from a Wales point of view is that we have lost Adam Jones, and a number of locks, but our pack still looks solid. The same goes for our backs, with nearly no centres with any real experience, we still look like an international side, and not the kids who went to Japan.

A major draw back for me is we seem to be playing a similar style to always (as mentioned above). Against SA I was sat behind our posts (in the second half) and watched Hook catch the ball and play safe rather than play what was infront of him, and there were gaps there! Also the fact that the Scarlets have lost a 4 front rowers and a full backline, with Connacht and Leinster away during our AI matches too.

To be fair I did sort of discount our game against SA from the 30 minute mark as far as attacking ploys go, the backline was torn apart by then, before that point we were creating openings and targetting Fourie well.

Also, Scott Williams really has stepped up for me these AIs.

Strength in depth

We have nothing of substance at 3, 9, 10 12 and 13 and 14 behind the first pick

Tonga

We were bloody awful

The good stuff…..i will update saturday evening

Thought that Scott's no. 10 looked useful. What's his name? Weir?

Also William le roux is a find for the saffers, plugs that gap that Kirchner was causing. Worrying that.

What can you say about Ireland? What a fricken enigma. Did you see the moment Cian Healy came off? They guy looked like a Chelsea pensioner limping along. Totally gave 100% in 60 minutes.

Nigel Owens was another plus point. Another great performance. Let's keep him away from twickenham and see if he can avoid the curse.

I feel for BoD. Some of us have given him a hard time lately, but it was again painfully obvious that his body can't withstand what his enthusiasm still has to offer.  For a fleeting moment as he sat, head in hand, probably contemplating that thought himself, as the victory slipped inevitably away, I actually spent almost a second feeling that a sneaky Ireland win might not be the worst thing in the world. Sitting there, frustrated at being removed from the action too early I thought he must've felt a lot like I did when biltong sent me off for a compulsory concussion stand down last week. Contributing a decent amount and staying clear of indiscretions and controversy it was just a cruel hand of fate to get blindsided like that. For him. Obviously.

Highs winning all three our matches.

We still have work to do though. Not once this whole year did we manage to put 80 minutes together, in every match there is a 20-40 minute period where we dropped our intensity.

Meyer admitted as much today, he says we will have an indaba with all the SA provincial coaches to work and discuss conditioning etc.

We still have to learn balance as well. If Meyer says attack, then we go all out attack and forget about defensive organisation, then he says territory, then we forget to take our chances from deep, when he says kick and chase we forget to vary our play.

We aren't yet adapting to the match by knowing when to attack, kick, defend, play territory and how it fits all together. Hopefully that is the next step.

Low for me was Ireland last night, I really felt bad for them.

England

high - developed a pack that can match the best with strength in depth.

Low - twin injuries to the 2 fliers Yarde & Wade before the ABs game.

All in all a good campaign but we need those backs firing for the 6Ns.

Eng


Highs -we have a pack that could do great things, again.

lows - we have no backs that will strike fear into the opposition, apart from Brown they were rubbish, Farrell needs to develop his attacking game, and soon or Burns should start come the 6nations.

That second attempt at the conversion: high

That first attempt at the conversion: low

Scrumpy wrote:Eng


Highs -we have a pack that could do great things, again.

lows - we have no backs that will strike fear into the opposition, apart from Brown they were rubbish, Farrell needs to develop his attacking game, and soon or Burns should start come the 6nations.

Yes you do

Brown
Foden
Yarde
Manu

it's not the personnel, it's the game plan and lack of centers

Get the centres sorted (easier said than done) and England could really be in business.

England

Highs- the forwards and their coach could be world class, we have a bit more depth at certain positions now as well; like no8 and lock. Everyone finally realises what Quins fans knew about Brown.
Lows- the backs and their coach are probably some of the bluntest in the 6N's, Yarde and Wade never got a chance, replacing Manu looks tough if he's out for long.

South Africa
Highs - Willie le Roux - He has X-factor in spades. But his defensive stats haven't made pretty reading, especially compared to Zane. He sorted that out this AI. Still not sure he's worth the risk in a tight game, but he did himself no harm.

The Defense - Conceding one try in three matches is fantastic going. 25 points conceded in 240 minutes of rugby is almost otherworldly.

Loosies - Our 6, 7, & 8 positions are so deep we could play our 5th choice combination, and still run teams down in the loose.

Negatives -
lack of tries - not fair perhaps, but we are competing with the benchmark set by the ABs here, and like Vanilla Ice says - Anything less than the best is a felony!

Not enough new faces.

Wales:

High - Well hopefully finsh the AIs on one this weekend.

Low - Injuries, whilst we have a very very good first 23 with a few back, its proved that once we get a few injuries we are struggling in certain positions. Mianly 3, 9, center and wing.

We have youngsters who have been given their chance this AI which is good but how do we now develop them, when should we experiment the AIs or 6 Nations etc.

SA and NZ both scored 8 tries this tour.

However we only conceded 1 and NZ conceded 5, so I think our defence was much better and has shown significant improvement.

Yes indeed ! For Scotland - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss - repeat ad infinitum.

Biltong wrote:SA and NZ both scored 8 tries this tour.

However we only conceded 1 and NZ conceded 5, so I think our defence was much better and has shown significant improvement.

Biltong

I genuinely think SA are the best team in the world at the moment. I reckon on neutral ground they'd beat all teams more often than not. Good times for the Proteas

mckay1402 wrote:

Biltong wrote:SA and NZ both scored 8 tries this tour.

However we only conceded 1 and NZ conceded 5, so I think our defence was much better and has shown significant improvement.

Biltong

I genuinely think SA are the best team in the world at the moment.  I reckon on neutral ground they'd beat all teams more often than not.  Good times for the Proteas

I would love to agree with you Mckay, but based on the season I cannot agree with you.

I think NZ deserve the crown as the best, But I can deffo see SA possibly catching and overtaking NZ next RC

mckay1402 wrote:

Biltong wrote:SA and NZ both scored 8 tries this tour.

However we only conceded 1 and NZ conceded 5, so I think our defence was much better and has shown significant improvement.

Biltong

I genuinely think SA are the best team in the world at the moment.  I reckon on neutral ground they'd beat all teams more often than not.  Good times for the Proteas

Crikey that's a bit tough on the ABs considering they beat the Boks in SA just a few weeks ago.

I think he meant to post on the cricket board.  

kingraf wrote:South Africa
Highs - Willie le Roux - He has X-factor in spades. But his defensive stats haven't made pretty reading, especially compared to Zane. He sorted that out this AI. Still not sure he's worth the risk in a tight game, but he did himself no harm.

The Defense - Conceding one try in three matches is fantastic going. 25 points conceded in 240 minutes of rugby is almost otherworldly.

Loosies - Our 6, 7, & 8 positions are so deep we could play our 5th choice combination, and still run teams down in the loose.

Negatives -
lack of tries - not fair perhaps, but we are competing with the benchmark set by the ABs here, and like Vanilla Ice says - Anything less than the best is a felony!

Not enough new faces.

I used to know all the words to that!

Wales

Highs - for some unbeknown reason we manage to lose three or for players of the same technical position every Autumn. This year we are coping well with it. The scrum is still solid though we have four tight heads unavailable, the backs are scoring very good tries though we have had four centres and three wingers unavailable.

Lows - besides the injuries to our squad, the disruption caused by clubs requesting players. It is hard enough to cope with injuries but losing more lads back to their clubs is harsh. We need this addressed for next season. Players must have full international release and the dates of the fourth international must be changed.

Maes, blame the WRU for arranging a match outside the international window. The clubs are fully entitled to retain their players. Roger and co knew full well that players would be unavailable, but went ahead anyway.