Wales vs France - Friday 21st Feb 8pm KO.

First topic message reminder :

Wales vs France - Friday 21st Feb 8pm KO.
 
Thought I'd start a thread seeing as our Welsh posters are few and far between this week.
 
 
Big, Massive, Huge game for both teams, how do you see it going?

1. Jenkins
2. Hibbard
3. Rhodri Jones
4. AWJ (c)
5. Coombes
6. Warburton
7. Tipuric
8. Faletau
9. Webb
10. Biggar
11. North
12. Roberts
13. Hook
14. Cuthbert
15. Halfpenny

16. James
17. Owens
18. A.Jones
19. Ball
20. Lydiate
21. Priestland
22. Phillips
23. Li Williams

 
 
News
 
- Wales centre Scott Williams has been ruled out of the rest of the Six Nations after injuring his shoulder in the 26-3 defeat by Ireland. (lesson to be learnt there for Mr Williams)
 
- Warburton and Gethin released to play for the Blues this weekend (Please note I used Warburton not WRUburton!)
 
- Guscott - "Wales should 'think about dropping Mike Phillips"
 
- "It's probably one of the worst performances that we've had since I've been involved," said Gatland.
 
- Wales scrum-half Mike Phillips has challenged One Direction's Niall Horan to train with the Welsh squad after the singer criticised him on Twitter.
 
- Ospreys duo Ashley Beck and Dan Baker called up for Wales training.
 
- Centre Jonathan Davies has been ruled out of Wales' Six Nations clash against France on Friday after failing to recover from a pectoral injury.  Osprey Ashley Beck, has also been ruled out.

maestegmafia wrote:

wales606 wrote:
I still don't see why Preistland starts over Biggar

Tough call...! I think Priestland is more affective at getting the backline moving. Biggar's natural reaction is to kick, Priestlands to run.

The competition for the shirt is important, Biggar put in a great performance against Treviso last weekend and is in great shape. I guess that the coaches want continuity, though i would be tempted to pick either dependant on the opposition and the game plan.

Priestland put in a very good shift defensively, but again he missed a penalty touch-finder, which is unbelievable at this level.

Risca Rev wrote:

wales606 wrote:Much needed win,

Warburton was very impressive (not quite sure how Gethin got MOTM)

Performance wasn't superb, but we kept chipping away until France broke (similar to the England game)

Ball and Webb did very well for their first starts,

Roberts is the best i've seen since 2009

Bench made an impact, particularly Paul James who really put his hand up in my book,

I still don't see why Preistland starts over Biggar

Think Roberts has been good in both home games. I didn't get to see the Ireland game, but to be fair to Doc he's always a gain line threat and doesn't usually let us down

Roberts was fortunate that French try was disallowed because he totally missed his man. France had a couple of other threatening breaks that they managed to screw up too.

We won this one up front, just as we lost the Ireland game there. Webb was a big improvement - his box-kicking much better than Mike's - but we didn't create much in the backs.

samuraidragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

wales606 wrote:
I still don't see why Preistland starts over Biggar

Tough call...! I think Priestland is more affective at getting the backline moving. Biggar's natural reaction is to kick, Priestlands to run.

The competition for the shirt is important, Biggar put in a great performance against Treviso last weekend and is in great shape. I guess that the coaches want continuity, though i would be tempted to pick either dependant on the opposition and the game plan.

Priestland put in a very good shift defensively, but again he missed a penalty touch-finder, which is unbelievable at this level.

He missed it by inches, it would be ridiculous to hold that against him.

[quote="maestegmafia"]

samuraidragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

wales606 wrote:
I still don't see why Preistland starts over Biggar

Tough call...! I think Priestland is more affective at getting the backline moving. Biggar's natural reaction is to kick, Priestlands to run.

The competition for the shirt is important, Biggar put in a great performance against Treviso last weekend and is in great shape. I guess that the coaches want continuity, though i would be tempted to pick either dependant on the opposition and the game plan.

Priestland put in a very good shift defensively, but again he missed a penalty touch-finder, which is unbelievable at this level.

He missed it by inches, it would be ridiculous to hold that against him.[/quote

He's a professional, for god's sake. If a place-kicker missed a kick from in front of the post by inches, would we hold it against him? Yes we would!

samuraidragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

samuraidragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

wales606 wrote:
I still don't see why Preistland starts over Biggar

Tough call...! I think Priestland is more affective at getting the backline moving. Biggar's natural reaction is to kick, Priestlands to run.

The competition for the shirt is important, Biggar put in a great performance against Treviso last weekend and is in great shape. I guess that the coaches want continuity, though i would be tempted to pick either dependant on the opposition and the game plan.

Priestland put in a very good shift defensively, but again he missed a penalty touch-finder, which is unbelievable at this level.

He missed it by inches, it would be ridiculous to hold that against him.[/quote

He's a professional, for god's sake.  If a place-kicker  missed a kick from in front of the post by inches, would we hold it against him? Yes we would!

So you should be twice as critical of Halfpenny who missed a sitter and another at goal.

maestegmafia wrote:

samuraidragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

samuraidragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

wales606 wrote:
I still don't see why Preistland starts over Biggar

Tough call...! I think Priestland is more affective at getting the backline moving. Biggar's natural reaction is to kick, Priestlands to run.

The competition for the shirt is important, Biggar put in a great performance against Treviso last weekend and is in great shape. I guess that the coaches want continuity, though i would be tempted to pick either dependant on the opposition and the game plan.

Priestland put in a very good shift defensively, but again he missed a penalty touch-finder, which is unbelievable at this level.

He missed it by inches, it would be ridiculous to hold that against him.[/quote

He's a professional, for god's sake.  If a place-kicker  missed a kick from in front of the post by inches, would we hold it against him? Yes we would!

So you should be twice as critical of Halfpenny who missed a sitter and another at goal.

For most top-class 10s, the percentage for penalty touch-finders is 100% or as near as dammit. RP is a repeat offender.

Halfpenny has one of the best percentages for goal-kicking around and is probably 100% for kicks in front of the posts. . There is simply no comparison.

samuraidragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

samuraidragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

samuraidragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

wales606 wrote:
I still don't see why Preistland starts over Biggar

Tough call...! I think Priestland is more affective at getting the backline moving. Biggar's natural reaction is to kick, Priestlands to run.

The competition for the shirt is important, Biggar put in a great performance against Treviso last weekend and is in great shape. I guess that the coaches want continuity, though i would be tempted to pick either dependant on the opposition and the game plan.

Priestland put in a very good shift defensively, but again he missed a penalty touch-finder, which is unbelievable at this level.

He missed it by inches, it would be ridiculous to hold that against him.[/quote

He's a professional, for god's sake.  If a place-kicker  missed a kick from in front of the post by inches, would we hold it against him? Yes we would!

So you should be twice as critical of Halfpenny who missed a sitter and another at goal.

For most top-class 10s, the percentage for penalty touch-finders is 100% or as near as dammit. RP is a repeat offender.

Halfpenny has one of the best percentages for goal-kicking around and is probably 100% for kicks in front of the posts. . There is simply no comparison.  

You completely contradict your point. Halfpenny was off target twice as much as Priestland.


I think the constant and incorrect slating of Priestland is pathetic on these pages. He does little wrong, this one missed touch finder being a great example, and is massively derided for it.


Give the guy a break, he played well as did the team as a whole.

maestegmafia wrote:

samuraidragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

samuraidragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

samuraidragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

wales606 wrote:
I still don't see why Preistland starts over Biggar

Tough call...! I think Priestland is more affective at getting the backline moving. Biggar's natural reaction is to kick, Priestlands to run.

The competition for the shirt is important, Biggar put in a great performance against Treviso last weekend and is in great shape. I guess that the coaches want continuity, though i would be tempted to pick either dependant on the opposition and the game plan.

Priestland put in a very good shift defensively, but again he missed a penalty touch-finder, which is unbelievable at this level.

He missed it by inches, it would be ridiculous to hold that against him.[/quote

He's a professional, for god's sake.  If a place-kicker  missed a kick from in front of the post by inches, would we hold it against him? Yes we would!

So you should be twice as critical of Halfpenny who missed a sitter and another at goal.

For most top-class 10s, the percentage for penalty touch-finders is 100% or as near as dammit. RP is a repeat offender.

Halfpenny has one of the best percentages for goal-kicking around and is probably 100% for kicks in front of the posts. . There is simply no comparison.  

You completely contradict your point. Halfpenny was off target twice as much as Priestland.


I think the constant and incorrect slating of Priestland is pathetic on these pages. He does little wrong, this one missed touch finder being a great example, and is massively derided for it.


Give the guy a break, he played well as did the team as a whole.

Look, you can't equate a goal-kick with a penalty touch-finder, where you've got the entire touch-line to aim at! that's why I specifically said a kick from in front of the posts. if Halfpenny, was in the habit of repeatedly missing those then, yes, he would be justly criticized.

Priestland had a good game overall, with good physicality in the tackle. But kicking out of hand remains a weakness. I would suggest letting somebody else take those too.

samuraidragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

samuraidragon wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

wales606 wrote:
I still don't see why Preistland starts over Biggar

Tough call...! I think Priestland is more affective at getting the backline moving. Biggar's natural reaction is to kick, Priestlands to run.

The competition for the shirt is important, Biggar put in a great performance against Treviso last weekend and is in great shape. I guess that the coaches want continuity, though i would be tempted to pick either dependant on the opposition and the game plan.

Priestland put in a very good shift defensively, but again he missed a penalty touch-finder, which is unbelievable at this level.

He missed it by inches, it would be ridiculous to hold that against him.[/quote

He's a professional, for god's sake.  If a place-kicker  missed a kick from in front of the post by inches, would we hold it against him? Yes we would!

That kick was almost a perfect attempt, and all the other areas of play was very good indeed (Roberts is a totally different animal when Priestland picks him out with some great flat distribution), unbelievable that you think that kick was unacceptable and yet halfpenny missed two relatively easy attempts between the posts, and out of hand he wasn't that hot on what three occasions.

A fresh Biggar and Hook came on the last 10 mins against a tired French and dispirited and if anything the game swung back into Les Bleus hands, with Hook getting turned over if I am correct twice in that short period, and Biggar not making one pass in the ten minutes.... Phillips by comparison got stuck in, making a telling contribution with three passes, two kicks, two tackles albeit his energy gave away a pen .

By the way he has probably been your most consistent defensive back over the last three 6Ns games something like 19 tackles made and about 3 missed, so its not just last night.

Yet you have still have a few Welsh posters stating his "flaky defence"

Risca Rev wrote:

Steffan wrote:Well done the boys. Did yourselves and the rest of Wales proud by BEATING France this year

Yeah, as we haven't done that for a while. Good hook that

You really dont have much else to do with your life do you than attack people on here

My post was saying great it is to BEAT France this year when other teams havnt

Anyway I shall just ignore you from now on 

Steffan wrote:Rev is not the brightest spark in the box to be fair

So what's this if not an attack? Personal too. Tut tut.

by Steffan Yesterday at 10:30 pm
Even though there are quite a few English posters on here tonight that are bitter as hell that the mighty world beaters England lost to the French but little ol' Wales did the number on them I still hope England beat Ireland at 'HQ' tomorrow

Have a jolly good game of ruggers and do Prince Harry proud all that chaps  

Your post about teams beating France was clearly a poor wum attempt, as was this one (quoted above) from the behaviour thread.

I accept your apology over your AWJ misunderstanding, by the way.

No9 wrote:

...Wales just are not a Friday night game team...

Well they dispelled that myth last night...

Still don't like Friday night games...

And Alain Dai Rolland had a decent game for his last as well... :-)

I missed the first few mins where Wales apparantly played all their rugby. To me a game lost by France rather than a step up by Wales to win - however they took their chances well even if somewhat lacking in creativity. France looked capable of scoring from anywhere anytime but simply failed to do so. How many points did they leave on the field?


Warburton was immense I thought - the player of the weekend

REv - wind your neck in and enjoy the victory - stop looking for offence where there is none. Tiresome at least.

TJ wrote:REv - wind your neck in and enjoy the victory - stop looking for offence where there is none.  Tiresome at least.

Sorry? Why should I not stick up for myself when falsely accused of taking pleasure in AWJ's injury? I'd like to think you wouldn't stand for it, nor would anybody else.

TJ, I'm not sure it's within house rules to tell someone to 'wind their neck in'. Seems a bit aggressive. And excessive. And off topic. And attacking the poster and not the post.

I don't see the need for it really. The thread had moved on

Because I am tired of posters who dish it out but can't take it and look for ridiculous imagined offence. its tiresome and it spoils the boards. Thats why I posted it to show that some of us don't approve of this.

Risca Rev wrote:

Taffineastbourne wrote:Wyn Jones to score first try 40/1!Get in there!

Unlucky   

AWJ ruled out by the looks. Ball starting.

At least I got my stake back!Pretty sure Ladbrokes nobbled him to avoid a ruinously huge payout  

I can take it just fine. Thanks for the concern though. Please show the imagined offence though, as I'm interested to see what you're on about.

Taffineastbourne wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:

Taffineastbourne wrote:Wyn Jones to score first try 40/1!Get in there!

Unlucky   

AWJ ruled out by the looks. Ball starting.

At least I got my stake back!Pretty sure Ladbrokes nobbled him to avoid a ruinously huge payout  

I thought some bookies would do that. Fair play then.

TJ wrote:Because I am tired of posters who dish it out but can't take it and look for ridiculous imagined offence.  its tiresome and it spoils the boards.  Thats why I posted it to show that some of us don't approve of this.

Who dished what out? Or have you just waded in, as usual?

Griff wrote:

TJ wrote:Because I am tired of posters who dish it out but can't take it and look for ridiculous imagined offence.  its tiresome and it spoils the boards.  Thats why I posted it to show that some of us don't approve of this.

Who dished what out? Or have you just waded in, as usual?

Of course he has. Still, at least we have the self appointed saviour of the board around to help clean every thread up.

Wind yer neck in rev, or else!   

Beg your pardon    

Watched the game over and there were a lot of positives such as the set pieces, Rhys Webb, J Ball, L Charteris, the front row turned up and the defence.

The negatives include kicking the ball out on the full, missing touch with penalty that put Wales under pressure, slow pass that almost lead to a try, bad pass to North slamming into his chest, poor cross field kicking and that was just Preistland. Wales must step it up for the England game but dropping Priestland, yes he did tackle very well in this game but his game is supposed to get the back line going, again it did not happen. Wales have scored 4 tries so far two were defensive mistakes the other two Preistland was not involved. so where is his creative play in any of the games??????

Not sure if Doc is playing well because of Priestland though. Regardless, I think he won't be dropped and if Foxy is fit, also think Biggar will make way from the 23.

glamorganalun wrote:Watched the game over and there were a lot of positives such as the set pieces, Rhys Webb, J Ball, L Charteris, the front row turned up and the defence.

The negatives include kicking the ball out on the full, missing touch with penalty that put Wales under pressure, slow pass that almost lead to a try, bad pass to North slamming into his chest, poor cross field kicking and that was just Preistland. Wales must step it up for the England game but dropping Priestland, yes he did tackle very well in this game but his game is supposed to get the back line going, again it did not happen. Wales have scored 4 tries so far two were defensive mistakes the other two Preistland was not involved. so where is his creative play in any of the games??????

Who did you think passed to North to start the first try off  

Priestland kicked the ball in total six times and only the kicking it out on the full happened as you said and even that was almost inch perfect.

He is under instructions to firstly control the game, then create controlled offensive opportunities. He did both pretty well.

Risca Rev wrote:

Griff wrote:

TJ wrote:Because I am tired of posters who dish it out but can't take it and look for ridiculous imagined offence.  its tiresome and it spoils the boards.  Thats why I posted it to show that some of us don't approve of this.

Who dished what out? Or have you just waded in, as usual?

Of course he has. Still, at least we have the self appointed saviour of the board around to help clean every thread up.

He wades in with childish posts all the time and starts bickering. I don't know why he continues to get away with it when others don't. It leads us to believe that there are favourites on V2 that can do what they want.

flyhalffactory wrote:

Who did you think passed to North to start the first try off  

Priestland kicked the ball in total six times and only the kicking it out on the full happened as you said and even that was almost inch perfect.

He is under instructions to firstly control the game, then create controlled offensive opportunities. He did both pretty well.

He sure did play really well, and was a candidate for MOTM along with a few others. The mistakes he makes when punting seem to be a re-occurrence though. That's not what you would expect from a fly-half. Thought Webb had a stormer in the first half, he was making all the tackles that Mike would usually make too.

TJ wrote:I missed the first few mins where Wales apparantly played all their rugby.  To me a game lost by France rather than a step up by Wales to win - however they took their chances well even if somewhat lacking in creativity.  France looked capable of scoring from anywhere anytime but simply failed to do so.  How many points did they leave on the field?


Warburton was immense I thought - the player of the weekend

How these two bit's of writing genius made me laugh. Brain cells are a bit scarce.  

I think Priestland is starting to be more like marmite than Phillips. Thought he had a cery good game one missed kick aside.

I doubt there will be many changes for HQ, AWJ in at the expense of Ball or Charteris with the unlucky one dropping to the bench at the expense of Coombs and JD maybe onto the bench at the expense of Biggar.

I think Priesland did a great job yesterday in all fairness. My problem with him is he occasionally loses his head and does crazy things at the wrong time. Prime example vs Australia, when we had to keep ball in hand and play through the phases he kicks the ball for Cuthbert he misses game over. There were a few other occasions where he has tried the same thing and was usually very poor at the execution.

I hope he as learned his lesson and knuckles down to solid reliable decisions, if he does he will become very good. The great thing is knowing we have Biggar in the shadows waiting to play:)

rainbow-warrior wrote:I think Priesland did a great job yesterday in all fairness.  My problem with him is he occasionally loses his head and does crazy things at the wrong time.  Prime example vs Australia, when we had to keep ball in hand and play through the phases he kicks the ball for Cuthbert he misses game over.  There were a few other occasions where he has tried the same thing and was usually very poor at the execution.

I hope he as learned his lesson and knuckles down to solid reliable decisions, if he does he will become very good.  The great thing is knowing we have Biggar in the shadows waiting to play:)

Agree with that. I've been a big critic of RP and am still far from convinced. That said, he put in a demonic defensive performance versus France, which we haven't seen before. His kicking out of hand, though, is very inconsistent. I thought he benefitted from Webb's generally faster service, also Webb's box-kicking was better than Mike's. We need to kick higher (1/2P too).

flyhalffactory wrote:

glamorganalun wrote:Watched the game over and there were a lot of positives such as the set pieces, Rhys Webb, J Ball, L Charteris, the front row turned up and the defence.

The negatives include kicking the ball out on the full, missing touch with penalty that put Wales under pressure, slow pass that almost lead to a try, bad pass to North slamming into his chest, poor cross field kicking and that was just Preistland. Wales must step it up for the England game but dropping Priestland, yes he did tackle very well in this game but his game is supposed to get the back line going, again it did not happen. Wales have scored 4 tries so far two were defensive mistakes the other two Preistland was not involved. so where is his creative play in any of the games??????

Who did you think passed to North to start the first try off  

Priestland kicked the ball in total six times and only the kicking it out on the full happened as you said and even that was almost inch perfect.

He is under instructions to firstly control the game, then create controlled offensive opportunities. He did both pretty well.

OK he caught and passed the ball under no pressure, he did not do so well when a second row almost created a try from his lack of ability to ship on a perfect pass under pressure. I don't want him for the England game as I remember the mess he made the last time at HQ charged down in front of the posts and he got yellow cards and Wales were better with him off the field.

[quote="samuraidragon

We need to kick higher (1/2P too).


We need to bloody chase a damn sight better to when we do kick.



[/quote]

[quote="Risca Rev"]

Norfolklass wrote:

Steffan wrote:Rev is not the brightest spark in the box to be fair

The news about AWJ not playing if true really hampers Wales chances of winning

Its the self regarding conceit that amuses me.

Go Jake Ball !

Care to explain? If you can't understand why I laughed at the post I quoted, then more fool you. I'll accept your apology though, no worries.

I'll even do you a favour and save you a post.

[quote="Norfolklass"]Sorry Rev, it was blatantly obvious that you laughed at the fact somebody had posted AWJ was going to score and was ruled out. I can't find anywhere where you wished an injury on AWJ, nor posted anything other than fact in the post I stupidly took issue with and have been quite daft getting on my high horse again, without any reason to.

what are you talking about? Why would you wish an injury on AWJ? I found out about his injury from your post and enquired whether it was true or a hoax to wind up whoever placed the bet. The conceit thing was a general observation. Your most recent howler was saying that everyone was ignorant about Dragons players including Gatland when I suggested that Jake Ball should leapfrog Coombs. Coombs is a fine player but it should be obvious even to you that Ball is the real deal

glamorganalun wrote:

flyhalffactory wrote:

glamorganalun wrote:Watched the game over and there were a lot of positives such as the set pieces, Rhys Webb, J Ball, L Charteris, the front row turned up and the defence.

The negatives include kicking the ball out on the full, missing touch with penalty that put Wales under pressure, slow pass that almost lead to a try, bad pass to North slamming into his chest, poor cross field kicking and that was just Preistland. Wales must step it up for the England game but dropping Priestland, yes he did tackle very well in this game but his game is supposed to get the back line going, again it did not happen. Wales have scored 4 tries so far two were defensive mistakes the other two Preistland was not involved. so where is his creative play in any of the games??????

Who did you think passed to North to start the first try off  

Priestland kicked the ball in total six times and only the kicking it out on the full happened as you said and even that was almost inch perfect.

He is under instructions to firstly control the game, then create controlled offensive opportunities. He did both pretty well.

OK he caught and passed the ball under no pressure, he did not do so well when a second row almost created a try from his lack of ability to ship on a perfect pass under pressure. I don't want him for the England game as I remember the mess he made the last time at HQ charged down in front of the posts and he got yellow cards and Wales were better with him off the field.

So basically you are ignoring his form this 6Ns and his close on MOTM performance against France (I know not in your eyes but lets just say in what... 99% of people eyes who watched RPs overall performance), and going back to a few errors in a past event to justify your stance on dropping Priestland altogether   .

So would you drop Halfpenny due to his out of hand kicking (missed touches, straight to the opponents), and his wayward passing, and pretty poor positional play in the first two games performance over the last three games?

I don't dispute jake ball was on form Norfolk, but to say he's the real deal based on regional form? Coombs was one of the few who fronted up v Ireland, so to drop him was harsh considering others got a chance to prove themselves again. Also Coombs is in good form too at regional level (including today even) and was man of the match v Scarlets in Sept. So tell me why it's so absurd to think it's harsh to drop Coombs?

Also for your snipe about the Dragons (who I doubt you see too much in Norfolk), I don't suggest many players, bar deserving ones like say Richie Rees (motm today). Nice try though

flyhalffactory wrote:

glamorganalun wrote:

flyhalffactory wrote:

glamorganalun wrote:Watched the game over and there were a lot of positives such as the set pieces, Rhys Webb, J Ball, L Charteris, the front row turned up and the defence.

The negatives include kicking the ball out on the full, missing touch with penalty that put Wales under pressure, slow pass that almost lead to a try, bad pass to North slamming into his chest, poor cross field kicking and that was just Preistland. Wales must step it up for the England game but dropping Priestland, yes he did tackle very well in this game but his game is supposed to get the back line going, again it did not happen. Wales have scored 4 tries so far two were defensive mistakes the other two Preistland was not involved. so where is his creative play in any of the games??????

Who did you think passed to North to start the first try off  

Priestland kicked the ball in total six times and only the kicking it out on the full happened as you said and even that was almost inch perfect.

He is under instructions to firstly control the game, then create controlled offensive opportunities. He did both pretty well.

OK he caught and passed the ball under no pressure, he did not do so well when a second row almost created a try from his lack of ability to ship on a perfect pass under pressure. I don't want him for the England game as I remember the mess he made the last time at HQ charged down in front of the posts and he got yellow cards and Wales were better with him off the field.

So basically you are ignoring his form this 6Ns and his close on MOTM performance against France (I know not in your eyes but lets just say in what... 99% of people eyes who watched RPs overall performance), and going back to a few errors in a past event to justify your stance on dropping Priestland altogether   .

So would you drop Halfpenny due to his out of hand kicking (missed touches, straight to the opponents), and his wayward passing, and pretty poor positional play in the first two games performance over the last three games?

99%, I don't think so, most of my friends and relatives don't trust him with his wayward kicks, he seems to miss touch from a penalty in virtually every game and it is strange even he was one of the guys booted up the backside from the Ireland match along with much of the pack and Phillips. RP has had no from since the RWC his best game was against Ireland two years ago, the one aspect he has massively improved is his tackling even if they are half tackles.

You say I should not refer to two years ago in the very ground Wales will be playing at in two weeks time I think it is applicable, he will be under the same pressure which he cracked. While I at it you don't do the same with Hook and 1/2Penny and go further back?

Anyway at least Scotland got the win dispite Hogg have an off day, Lamont had one of his great games easily MOTM.

Alun
Why don't we go back to a young debutant who might have been on the bench to cove the back, when with only 15 mins he was being told he was playing 10 in a pre WC warm up against England and at their HQ.............

One of the best displays by a player in that situation ever.

Or perhaps all your friends (Ospreys perhaps) don't want to go that far back.

So tell me would you drop 1/2p after his three performances in the 6Ns

And I agree Hogg was pretty gash, while Schlong was immense and easily MOTM

To be fair, I didnt think we'd beat France by 21. We pulled an 'ireland' so to speak.

We cut them off at source, the scrum was strong and going forward everytime and we were smart at the breakdown. We didnt make as many errors as in the Irish game and the kicking game was better. France generally were poor, bu I think a lot of that was down to the ferocity of the welsh defence and France failing to vary their tactics (this is all sounding very familiar.....).

Jenkins - very good game, James too when he came on, that 10 minute sinbin for both props was telling, the difference in the replacements scrummaging skills......
Hibbard - a lot better, not all out action but better!
Adam Jones - a machine in the scrum, dominant.
Ball - very, VERY pleased with him, everything we needed from him he delivered, controlled aggression, threw his weight around (again controlled), added to the scrum and lineout and his work at the breakdown was powerful. Did not look like a first test starter!! Lets hope he gets more gametime next weekend.
Charteris - his size is so useful to our lineout even if we're not throwing to him.
Backrow - all were very good, Warburton immense above the other 2 and I think they were helped a lot at the breakdown by the Jenkins/Hibbard/Ball.
Webb - sniped, quick and accurate pasing, box-kicking was good. a very good debut and hopefully he has showed us Phillips is done as a starter.
Priestland- defensively sublime, I've never seen him like that before, the touch finder is unnacceptable though (the person comparing the missed touchfinder to missed penalty kicks at goal is a clown).
Roberts - did what we ask of him, its this simple, tell him to run the inside shoulder, give the backs/a backrower decoy runs off him and get the 9/10 to play a nice flat pass as he's hitting the line, HE WILL GET PASSED THE GAINLINE - its only ever a question of by how much?!
North - Exciting going froward, vulnerable in defense, looked like a relative newbie to the 13 shirt in the technicalities of the positioning.
Cuthbert/Williams - meh?
Halfpenny - Kicking at goal was good, everything else was average.

just started rambling on, but those are my thoughts on the game.