Wales Likely To Call Up No10 Cover

The Saint wrote:What front-row combo would you try for Fiji? As I knew before yesterday then seen it with my own eyes, Jenkins Hibbard (or Baldwin I guess) and Lee are the best when it comes to scrum time. Would you give them more game time together? Or rest them and start the guys we'd expect to be in the squad for SA?

The Saint wrote:Anyway, I think it will be either Owen Williams or Rhys Patchell. It would depend on Williams' availability. Remember Patchell can still play the play-maker role well, even from 15, so reverting back to 10 will be no problem.

Seagultaf wrote:Could be Hookeys last chance chance saloon. His style of running across the pitch and playing off the cuff unstructured rugby, does not fit well into the modern game. From the statement issued, he is probably now behind Patchell and Anscombe is also likely to be ahead of him at 10. Halfpenny, Sangay and now Prydie and Amos are ahead of him at 15.

I would have liked to see Williams get a chance, but Hook has been a regular with the squad so will probably fit in quicker. Being without Biggar and Halfpenny significantly weakens Wales goal kicking, Priestland has been inconsistent again this season and Hook has not been kicking for Gloucester.

The Saint wrote:We can't have Hook 10 rest of the series because he plays in England. He would only be capable of playing there if he had Gavin Henson, Owen Williams or Rhys Patchell at 12.

Jhamer25 wrote:With Bigger out we are in a very tricky situation but i think deep down we all know that Priestland will be starting for the rest of the series.
I think we need to start breeding 2 new 10's which doesn't mean hook and Priestland. One of those 10 should be Owen Williams and the other patchell. Im also praying that Anscombe comes over hear and lives up to the hype that has been set around him.
However for the rest of the autumn series hook has to be 10. Priesltand consistency has been anonymous with scarlet's and it wont change with wales.
Would like to see a mixture against fiji of starting player who need to proves themselves and some young boys.

1. Nicky Smith - Showed Saturday that Gethin Jenkins is our best all round loosehead and yes that means scrummaging. Paul James is a good club player but he has never shone when he has started. Yes he gave us a stable scrum but thats all he will ever give us and didn't offer anything around the park. I think it's time we start to look past Paul and look at the younger looseheads like smith Rob Evans and gill.
2. Scott Baldwin - looks a good prospect and we need cover for hibbard and ken
3. Samson Lee - best he has played all season, hasn't had a great season so far with the Scarlets
4. Luke Charteris - I see Jake Ball and Alyn Wyn as the way forward. Let Bradley and Charteris fight it out for the bench spot
5. Bradley Davies - above
6. Dan Lydiate - thought he played awesome Saturday and i don't think anyone else has said but he started to challenge more at the beakdown which would be great for him to adapt for his all round game
7. Justin Tipuric - deserves the chance to prove himself but again i thought Sam was awesome and will be rested.
8. Dan Baker - has so much to offer and deserves the shot like tipuric
9. Rhys Webb -  yes good and bad points but e should stick with him and let him get to grips with the step up to international rugby
10. James Hook - I would stick with him for the rest of the series and this could give him the chance to prove himself
11. Alex Cuthbert - no one else to put there and i wouldn't risk north. Just don;t rate him personally
12. Scott Williams - need to rest Roberts because i thought he was our best player saturday and i wouldn't risk him
13. Johnathan Davies - was close to playing Saturday as we have been told and could do with a game as NZ approaches
14. Hallam Amos - rest north give him a chnace to show what he can do but again very short on good wing options.
15. Liam Williams - thought he played ok against Australia didn't do anything wrong but didn't shine either. With Halfpenny looking to be he needs to step up

gavstar wrote:Oh dear no !!! Hook a  chance to prove himself!!!! He has proved he cant do 10 everywhere hes been
15 at perpignan, and hes no 15 either!!!
He is not playing well at gloucester and
not even the kicker.To be benched and
may not even come will be worse for
hook than not making the squad and
quietly finishing his career. Also theres
a  chance if he comes on and loses us
the game by missing a kick or turned over and gifting one his game could slide even further at his club, as it did after that bog rwc he had

gavstar wrote:Not a bad player true.but there are better at 10 12 and 15 .also has howley said in the press " we are looking at james getting the best out of others"  
and he wants the half backs to play within the team model.gats wants hook
to play square not lateral.so , for a guy
on 70+caps its a bit late in the day to
now come up with changing the way he
plays. Have they tried and failed witj him in the past, like other coaches. hook cant help going off plan. In todays game riightly or wrongly you stick to the script.

The Saint wrote:gavstar is right, from what I seen of him at Glaws he isn't playing that well. Twelvetrees is one of the main operators.

gavstar wrote: I'm yawning now guys/gals. We all know hook was a talent. Flashes have come and gone. BUT every  coaching set up he's been with can't be wrong. He loses a 10 shirt they give
him a 12 then hes a 15 disaster. Moved around yes, unfair
no. If he was good enough anywhere he would have kept
the shirt. His fans blame everyone who replaces him.the
stick biggar got taking the 10 at the ospreys was crazy.
The fan base for hook want the old game , and thats it, nostalgia,the way it used to be, rinky dink, oohs and ahs.but thats gone its about control , on and off the pitch. From grass roots up ......but thats another topic......

IronMike wrote:I actually think Hook would have made things worse to be honest, the game was chaotic enough as it was.

samuraidragon wrote:

gavstar wrote: I'm yawning now guys/gals. We all know hook was a talent. Flashes have come and gone. BUT every  coaching set up he's been with can't be wrong. He loses a 10 shirt they give
him a 12 then hes a 15 disaster. Moved around yes, unfair
no. If he was good enough anywhere he would have kept
the shirt. His fans blame everyone who replaces him.the
stick biggar got taking the 10 at the ospreys was crazy.
The fan base for hook want the old game , and thats it, nostalgia,the way it used to be, rinky dink, oohs and ahs.but thats gone its about control , on and off the pitch. From grass roots up ......but thats another topic......

It's a little more complex than you say. The complete 10 has both aspects to his game, guile and control. The All Blacks have three guys who can do it, Oz has a couple, and even the Boks have moved on from Morne Steyn, who was a Jenks type kicking machine.

Here in the northern hemisphere, Sexton is pretty close to the complete 10.  England have been persisting with the one-dimensional Farrell, but the guys coming up below  him have good running games.  It wouldn't be a surprise if Cipriani featured in the WC squad and Farrell got displaced. Even the Scots have more guile at half-back now, with the outstanding Hogg getting chosen  as fly-half cover for the Lions.

I would say that internationally Priestland has had far more chances @ 10  than Hook  and has also had worse form  for his club. Hook was chosen player of the year by Perp fans and captained the club on several occasions.  Don't forget Dan Biggar had to wait ages before displacing RP - if in fact he has! We don't know for sure. If RP gets the nod, it will be because he is better at following orders.  

The larger question is about Gatland's gameplan and overall strategy, as clearly revealed in recent comments from the coaching team about the requirements for the half-backs -  forget the fancy  stuff and ship it out to Jamie and George.  What happened to Halfpenny's running game?  Who's the ball-carrier in the backrow?

We know we can do a job on any team in the NH with this approach, but so far  we  have a worse record against the SH big 3 than Ireland, England and even Scotland. Coincidence? Surely not.

There is no argument that Wales are struggling at 10 at present, Biggar is one dimensional, Priestland blows hot and cold. Perhaps Anscombe or Patchell will come through. But Hook is not the answer. Yes he was player of the year at Perpignan, but his reward was that hey bought Camille Lopez who took his shirt, Hook eventually ended up 3rd choice at 10 behind Lopez and Tommy Allen.

Pristland had a curates egg of a game on Saturday setting up two trys but also throwing an interception pass and (one of many Welsh players) dropped the ball. As far as kicking for goal, it's not currently in Gatland's plan, that's 160mins of rugby now without a single penalty attempt.

The problem on saturday was that the forwards did not take the game to Fiji, leaving the backs attacking behind the gain line with a rush defence in their face. It was one of those games where virtually every Wales player had a mare (apart from Liam Williams), hopefully that will not happen too often.