Jonathan Davies

With the England game being a couple of weeks away, just wondered if anybody had any updates on Jonathan Davies return from injury, noticed he wasn't picked for scarlets today?

The original diagnosis was he would be back towards the end of tournament possibly the England and Scotland game.

Personally I wouldn't risk him now, I know he is class but he will be so far off match fitness.

My impression was that he's made a recovery but the coaches assessed that he was best not risked against Ireland and France. Another two weeks and for all I know he might be fit enough to be drafted back in. That said, the time we've spent without him hasn't been a disaster and he should be made to earn back his place after such a long lay-off.

It's a shame Liam Williams doesn't look like a viable long term wing option or I'd be open to giving North more game time in the centre.

I'd be tempted maybe to put him on the bench for th English game if he's ready with a view to starting him against Scotland.

Yep, just think we miss some flair when he's not around, dont get me wrong some good options but look a little too one dimensional when attacking

Our attack in the autumn internationals was at it best for the 20 minutes he played vs South Africa, we seriously underestimate how much he brings to the Welsh attack.

15. Halfpenny
14. Cuthbert
13. Davies
12. Roberts
11. North
10. Biggar/Priestland
9. Webb

Is our strongest backline, and we should aim to field it.

From an English point of view Davies is definitely someone I'd be wary of coming back in time for our game. He really makes the Welsh midfield tick.

Fine player.

Agree with IronMike that the breaks against SA (before he got injured) were very impressive. Welsh attack in general faded after that.

bedfordwelsh wrote:The original diagnosis was he would be back towards the end of tournament possibly the England and Scotland game.

Personally I wouldn't risk him now, I know he is class but he will be so far off match fitness.

I don't think a pectoral injury looses fitness. We need more creativity in attack and he gives us an edge.

You always lose match fitness Maes and match toughness, no amount of gym work can make up for that.

No one is taking anything away from his creativity, some just feel it wouldn't be a good idea to let him walk back into the starting side without having honestly earned back his place. Surely he has the capacity to do so without undue allowance from the selectors?

In any case, JD's and, for that matter, anyone's attacking ability is wasted in a side that doesn't set the right platform. The forwards need to carry on in the vein of last night, prior to that we'd gotten too comfortable with relying on the individual flair of players like Davies, North, Cuthbert etc from far out when we needed to be structuring and complimenting that flair with pressure from the pack.

maestegmafia wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:The original diagnosis was he would be back towards the end of tournament possibly the England and Scotland game.

Personally I wouldn't risk him now, I know he is class but he will be so far off match fitness.

I don't think a pectoral injury looses fitness. We need more creativity in attack and he gives us an edge.

You wouldn't be moving your arm freely so i would imagine you would lose strength in those parts.

IronMike wrote:Our attack in the autumn internationals was at it best for the 20 minutes he played vs South Africa, we seriously underestimate how much he brings to the Welsh attack.

15. Halfpenny
14. Cuthbert
13. Davies
12. Roberts
11. North
10. Biggar/Priestland
9. Webb

Is our strongest backline, and we should aim to field it.

IM,

Totally agree but its always a fine line between rushing him back and looking after player welfare/playing longevity. We seen time and time again players rushed back then out longer again after nit being quite ready

Hopefully John will play next weekend.
George North had an ok game but if we had lost he would have come under a lot more criticism than he has now. He missed quite a few tackles which in my eye's wasn't good enough.
Hopefully John can play for the Scarlets and come back in, with North back where he belongs.

But i can't see many changes being made, i don't think the English have a bog threat on attack out wide anyway. Maybe if they bring Tuilagi in it will be the same risk we take with John. Wait and see I quess.

If available then for me he'd be on the bench in place of Hook. The other bench changes would be AWJ for Coombs (sorry Coombsy) and Lee for Rh.Jones.

The Saint wrote:If available then for me he'd be on the bench in place of Hook. The other bench changes would be AWJ for Coombs (sorry Coombsy) and Lee for Rh.Jones.

spot on Saint

The Saint wrote:If available then for me he'd be on the bench in place of Hook. The other bench changes would be AWJ for Coombs (sorry Coombsy) and Lee for Rh.Jones.

Whilst I totally agree I think if JD comes onto bench it will be at the expense of Biggar not Hook, AWJ will come straight back in with either Ball or Charteris dropping to the bench and Lee hasn't been involved yet so can't see that changing.

bedfordwelsh wrote:

The Saint wrote:If available then for me he'd be on the bench in place of Hook. The other bench changes would be AWJ for Coombs (sorry Coombsy) and Lee for Rh.Jones.

Whilst I totally agree I think if JD comes onto bench it will be at the expense of Biggar not Hook, AWJ will come straight back in with either Ball or Charteris dropping to the bench and Lee hasn't been involved yet so can't see that changing.

Bedford, you may very well be right as Gatland has his favourites, but I think that Saint's team is far better. AWJ or Ball (depending on fitness) with whoever does not play on the bench. Hook is just not good enough any more, Liam Williams and Priestland can cover fullback, Biggar can cover 10 and JD2 can cover centre and wing, all better than Hook. Finally Wales need a scrumaging prop to cover Adam and that's not Rhodri Jones, so for me Lee should come in.

Hopefully he stays working as a pundit on the Beeb!

Scrumpy wrote:Hopefully he stays working as a pundit on the Beeb!

Sorry you have lost me????

Seagultaf wrote:

Scrumpy wrote:Hopefully he stays working as a pundit on the Beeb!

Sorry you have lost me????

He's referring to the title.

Witty as ever scrump  

We are lucky in Wales to have the best outside centre in the Northern Hemisphere. Sadly though we also have the best outside half in the Northern Hemisphere but Gatland wont pick him

Steffan wrote:We are lucky in Wales to have the best outside centre in the Northern Hemisphere. Sadly though we also have the best outside half in the Northern Hemisphere but Gatland wont pick him

Please please pleaseeeeeeeee don't say you are referring to Hook in that last statement, he's not even 1st choice for Perpignan FFS and has never consistently been 1st choice in his previous 70 odd caps.

Sexton plays for Ireland...

Hook is the man at the number 10 for Wales

If completely fit then the logical selection si to replace Hook with Davies. North has been very effective at centre and with England's narrow attack he can cause havoc in their midield.

why would you pick a guy at 10 for wales who plays 15 for his club side, after being demoted to third choice 10 at that club side and is now third choice or worse in every position he is covering on the bench for wales ? steffan stop the wind up. hooky is on the way to the door, sooner the better , then we can have genuine bench replacements who can be brought on with a purpose, instead of not using the bench ( how many times this 6 nations and previously has he been either the only one or one of two not to come on ) the bench should be part of the tactics where possible. hook is being used as an emergency cover all. and he's taking his 25grand per game and smiling. he is not the now or the future for wales. I think it was cas who said hook is sucking the life from genuine replacements. spot on. political peoples so called choice. western fail headline seller. I bet gats wishes he could get rid of this monkey on our backs..........its political populist appeasement .
3 headlines last week stated time for change, hook is waiting etc, and when you read the articles non of them actually suggested a definite position for him, in fact stuart davies in the evening post headlined "time to call on hook mr gatland" and in his article he says put biggar at ten and possibly hook at centre !!!!!!!! no mention of biggar in the headline!!! and biggar was called at 10 by barry john,but who made the headline......hook. " he must play somewhere"
for fssake this is now an embarrassment, just to sell papers. he did come on for 10 mins last week....turned over twice !!!!!!! c'mon guys you can't be serious !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The question is whether you actually need JD2 to beat England. There's an argument that you do, as George (understandably) cannot make the same offloads or run the same midfield lines (yet). It's not fatal to your campaign if he doesn't play though as the backs did well against the French.

Depends how bad the injury is. Gats has been wary about risking players on 50:50 calls in the past.