What's next for Wales

Well well, hopefully i've missed all the arguments anyway;) 

Was it a great game? Yes
Did We play Bad ? No
Were Australia better? Yes

That's what i got from the match
Now, since the game a lot has been said in the media by both Gatland and Sam which has really pi$$ed me off. Sam saying 'it isn't a setback' and then Gatland to have a shot at Wayne Barnes for awarding the try.

Um Gatland, we have lost 9 game sin a row against them now,  clearly it's not Wayne Barnes who is the problem
And for Sam to say it isn't a set back is enough, if we are to look towards the World Cup where the team who has beat us 9 times are in the same group as us. Then I would say, it is a bit of a setback.

Before the game i clearly said that they had 3 players who were going to do the damage and i hat to blown my own horn but that's exactly what happened.
Quade Copper out classed Biggar
Folau did Halfpenny
Hooper was at another level to Warburton


A few senior players didn't stand out yesterday as much as they should have, Alyn Wyn, Lydiate, Halfpenny and especially Warburton didn't have there best games. When we needed them to stand out and put their hands up and lead the team the most, they didn't deliver and it's really frustrating.
Shame for Halfpenny he has had such a great year and deserves the Player of the year but he needs to work on his kicking (not place kicking), he is a great player but I believe our biggest weakness is our thoughtless kicking errors; three quarters of the time we just give the ball to our opponents
The one player who stood out to me though and the only good thing to come out of the game was Scott Williams, to me he is the way forward now with Johnathan Davies. Owen Williams is very young (and i'm not knocking the kid but he id make a lot of defensive mistakes , Alex Cuthbert was shocking in defense and Scott had to make up for both of their mistakes. His scramble defense was amazing and i don't think he has had enough praise for his efforts yesterday, you can't say i'm biased either because i have been his biggest critic on the past at Scarlets.



Captaincy
Sam Warburton is a great player, we all know that; however, he isn't consistent enough and turns on and off which isn't good enough sorry. The first 30 minutes of the game (before he got injured), Gethin Jenkins was doing the jobs that Sam should have been. I don't care what anybody says, Gethin is one of the best players we have, HE was the one bossing the forwards about in defense and HE was the one putting the pressure on at the break down. Watch the game back if you don't believe me, I was gutted when he went off, i felt like the captain not the anonymous one who was picked.
Maye Captaincy should be handed over to Alyn Wyn or Gethin Jenkins (but Geth is too injury prone now so the clear option in my eyes is Alyn Wyn)

The one player who stood out to me though and the only good thing to come out f the game was Scott Williams, to me he is the way forward now with Johnathan Davies. Owen Williams is very young (and i'm not knocking the kid but he id make a lot of defensive mistakes , Alex Cuthbert was shocking in defense and Scott had to make up for both of their mistakes. His scramble defense was amazing and i don't think he has had enough praise for his efforts yesterday, you can't say i'm biased either because i have been his biggest critic on the past at Scarlets.

I love my team so much and want them to do the things they are capable off. It's just so frustrating.
We have the six nations and a test series vs the Boks ready for next year so far.
Next year will define were we will be at the World Cup and will be one of the hardest years we have had in a long time.

What do you think our chances are and your predictions.

I think the difference was in the backline.

Genia and Cooper managed more out of their backline than Wales did out of theirs.

The Welsh backline depended on individuals to create magic wheras the Wallabies relied upon a collective to break down defences

Biltong wrote:I think the difference was in the backline.

Genia and Cooper managed more out of their backline than Wales did out of theirs.

The Welsh backline depended on individuals to create magic wheras the Wallabies relied upon a collective to break down defences

I do think you are right about the Wallibie back line.

Plus maybe if Wales did not kick the ball away so many times, they might have been able to create more of a running game and put Australia on the back foot. Or atleast give them a big shock. (WHAT wales not kicking the ball back too us.)

One question about the Welsh team and yesterday, did Wales play the Welsh way?

One of the commentators said it during the game and that's that Quade Cooper's skill set is un-coachable and pure talent.
He is such a great player when on form and tore our backline apart.
Genia, didn't do anything that stood out yesterdays, but even his basics out classed Mike.
Mike Phillips is good rugby player but his service is way way to slow and the different between him and Genia was just ridiculous. Genia gets the phases phases and seeds up the game whcih reminded me of how great a player he is.
If we are to look forward, we need to look pass Mike now; he is probably going to be signing back to a french team and that's where he should stay. I would rather a short term loss of experience for an even larger gain in the future. There are a lot of young scrum halves in Wales, we need to start building them up as Mike is past is now.

That's a great opening post and a pretty fair assessment.

Lets get some of the things out of the way.

Firstly it was the press and media interpretation of both Mr G and your captains assessment, which was both done in the aftermath of a very emotionally intense match. Crikey if Warburton said it was a major setback he would crucified for that as well. The next time these two sides meet will be in the WC and that's not for quite a while yet so in effect its not that much of a setback taking that into account, and considering you had a few very important experienced key players out or ones not match then it could have been a whole different ball game with those players.

Secondly I am convinced Halfpenny was carrying an injury from the 17 minute, he seemed to pull his thigh taking the third penalty and played subdued from thereon, so perhaps a tad unfair to criticise unduly.

Most importantly for me was not the match but the mixed messages coming from Mr Gatland, only a month ago he was spouting about Wales changing their playing style and looking to play a "running game, ball in hand from their 22m", then he starts this game with a not match fit and defensively fragile Cuthbert, Owen Williams in midfield, the more structured Biggar pulling the strings, Faletau at 8, and Lydiate at blindside when he could have played a more adventurous Liam Williams, Beck, the on-form Ryan Jones at 8, and a left-right Warburton/Tuperic. It was clear from the off that Wales were going to play a restraining game, using the pack to strangle the life out of the game, once that didn't pan out again their was no Plan B. The starting of Cuthbert was yet another selection faux pas by Mr G, as his performance was dire, only what 6 tackles made and 3 tackles missed, turnovers against him, and 6 runs/23 metres made compared to Norths 11 runs/75 metres.

I thought that both Hibbard and Gethin showed a lot of aggression, and North was absolutely awesome with his all round play, two tries and one disallowed! and that tackle on AAC wow, led from the front and IMHO is your future captain and perhaps even could be looked at for the WC in 2015.

I agree perhaps AWJ should be looked at leading the side, but I have to say I have a lot of time for Warbs as a player.

Look guys, don't take it so personally.

As my father used to say, and my grandfather before him, and his grandfather before him:

Wales are a decent side, and one day they'll beat us.

GloriousEmpire wrote:Look guys, don't take it so personally.

As my father used to say, and my grandfather before him, and his grandfather before him:

Wales are a decent side, and one day they'll beat us.

The rumour is you didn't know your father

Did his mother?

What the woman affectionately known as Glorious Glo "the plumbers mate"?

...... and the brickies mate, the sparkys mate, the chippies mate, the policemans ball, the fishermans friend............ the....!

Wouldn't have thought so, I mean she was a busy girl in her hey day

flyhalffactory wrote:That's a great opening post and a pretty fair assessment.

Lets get some of the things out of the way.

Firstly it was the press and media interpretation of both Mr G and your captains assessment, which was both done in the aftermath of a very emotionally intense match. Crikey if Warburton said it was a major setback he would crucified for that as well. The next time these two sides meet will be in the WC and that's not for quite a while yet so in effect its not that much of a setback taking that into account, and considering you had a few very important experienced key players out or ones not match then it could have been a whole different ball game with those players.

Secondly I am convinced Halfpenny was carrying an injury from the 17 minute, he seemed to pull his thigh taking the third penalty and played subdued from thereon, so perhaps a tad unfair to criticise unduly.

Most importantly for me was not the match but the mixed messages coming from Mr Gatland, only a month ago he was spouting about Wales changing their playing style and looking to play a "running game, ball in hand from their 22m", then he starts this game with a not match fit and defensively fragile Cuthbert, Owen Williams in midfield, the more structured Biggar pulling the strings, Faletau at 8, and Lydiate at blindside when he could have played a more adventurous Liam Williams, Beck, the on-form Ryan Jones at 8, and a left-right Warburton/Tuperic. It was clear from the off that Wales were going to play a restraining game, using the pack to strangle the life out of the game, once that didn't pan out again their was no Plan B. The starting of Cuthbert was yet another selection faux pas by Mr G, as his performance was dire, only what 6 tackles made and 3 tackles missed, turnovers against him, and 6 runs/23 metres made compared to Norths 11 runs/75 metres.

I thought that both Hibbard and Gethin showed a lot of aggression, and North was absolutely awesome with his all round play, two tries and one disallowed! and that tackle on AAC wow, led from the front and IMHO is your future captain and perhaps even could be looked at for the WC in 2015.

I agree perhaps AWJ should be looked at leading the side, but I have to say I have a lot of time for Warbs as a player.

Im not disagreeing with anything you say becuase you are right frankly. However i am just sick of making excuses, losing 9 game sin a row speaks for itself, they might be little era's but they are still era's tht we haven't learnt from. I mean any chance of taking 3 point against a team like Australia, you should take it.
It's wasn't really halfpenny in that games particular, it has been since he started at fullback, i mean he is the type of person to learn from his mistakes, go away then come back and do it to perfection. Look at his kicking, it's not long ago when Stephen Jones left and we were struggling for a good place kicker, Halfpenny stepped up to the plate and now look at him. It's the only area in his game where he needs to work on, look at the likes of O'Gara or Wilkinson; they kicked to perfection by making ground and pinning their opposition back into their own halfs. Biggar does it now and again but Halfpenny is the main culprit when it come sot just kicking the ball staight tot the oppositions hands.
I know on hi day Warburton can be one of the best out there, but he seems to lack consistency in his form; he is still very young at was getting a lot of criticism before when wales had a big losing streak and he wasn't standing out that much, one good game behind him and then he was back in form, then he seem to put his foot off the accelerator a bit. I just think that Alyn Wyn is a great leader and is consistently brilliant for Wales, Sam is a type of captain that captains his team by leading form the front therefore when he doesn't have a good game he gets criticised a lot (and rightfully so).