Dragons vs Blues QF ECC

First topic message reminder :

Thought I would start a thread on this.

I think this is a close call and our chances of success will depend largely on Boris Standovich's fitness.

My starting xv would be

15 Meyer
14 Prydie
13 Morgan
12 Dixon
11 Amos
10 Jones
9 Evans

8 Faletau
7 Griffiths
6 James Thomas
5 Coombes
4 Gough
3 Harris
2. TRT
1. Stankovich ( )

Could do with some sleep tonight though. Been like a bottle of pop all week.

Dragons 15Jason Tovey 14Tom Prydie 13Patrick Leach 12Jack Dixon 11Hallam Amos 10Dorian Jones 9Jonathan Evans; 1Phil Price 2T Rhys Thomas (capt) 3Brok Harris 4Andrew Coombs 5Cory Hill 6James Thomas 7James Benjamin 8Nick Crosswell
16Hugh Gustafson17Lloyd Fairbrother18Dan Way19Toby Faletau20Nic Cudd21Luc Jones22Tyler Morgan23Rhys Jones

Loss of Boris might not be so bad as Scott Andrews is strating TH for blues

I was told Boris was benching, so he must've pulled out late. Think Price can do a job on both of their tightheads though.

Massive advantage to the Blues (IMO), with our back row selection. I fear we don't have anybody who will get over the ball like they do.

Also, not picking Rees for the bench for a game of this magnitude is silly.

Benjamin need a big game to keep Warbs and Navidi quiet.

I am wondering whether we are bluffing a bit and Boris might bench? Maybe one of those "late withdrawal" things.

I would have also gone with Buckley on the bench but Gus has had a few good games in europe like against Newcastle away so not too bad. Dont get why Fairbrother is covering LH be better putting Owen Evans on the bench

Risca Rev wrote:I am wondering whether we are bluffing a bit and Boris might bench? Maybe one of those "late withdrawal" things.

We can only hope

We'd have a good impact off the bench then

Tbh this is another one of those games where the team selection baffles me. What do these guys see in Benjamin when we have Cudd, Matthews and Griffiths? Putting aside injuries that's nowhere near our best team, you wouldn't think this game was a European quarter final would you.

No you wouldn't. Lyn Jones has mentioned about a strong bench, but that's no good if you leave yourself too much work to do. Warburton starts getting turnovers tomorrow and he will be unplayable.

I was pretty confident until I saw that team. Now I am not.

Back row is one of the Blues' strengths, so I don't know why on earth we'd deliberately weaken our own. The only comfort is that the Blues have left Vosawai out of their match-day squad altogether.

I guess the thinking is that this XV had a bonus-point win last weekend and will be coherent and confident. I hope it works.

Why is Toby on the bench? Is it as Luckless says to keep the winning side from last week? If so, fair enough. But not a great way to encourage him to sign a DC, leaving him out of our biggest match in, well, ever.

Just for balance:

Cardiff Blues: Dan Fish; Alex Cuthbert, Joaquin Tuculet, Gavin Evans, Richard Smith; Gareth Anscombe, Lloyd Williams; Gethin Jenkins, Matthew Rees (c), Scott Andrews, Jarrad Hoeata, Lou Reed, Josh Turnbull, Sam Warburton, Josh Navidi.
Replacements: Kristian Dacey, Sam Hobbs, Adam Jones, Macauley Cook, Ellis Jenkins, Tavis Knoyle, Simon Humberstone, Gareth Davies.

Blues look fairly weak in the backs. If we had Boris against Andrews, I would be delighted. Their back row is where they will have a clear edge.

Risca Rev wrote:Blues look fairly weak in the backs. If we had Boris against Andrews, I would be delighted. Their back row is where they will have a clear edge.

You're being too kind.
Hope the Hazel terrace doesn't upset Alex Cuthbert too much and a good job he doesn't have to deal with the old Argus.

Haha. I'm sure he will be fine.

It's Navidi's parents we mustn't upset

Risca Rev wrote:Haha. I'm sure he will be fine.

It's Navidi's parents we mustn't upset

Eh?
Aye best not wind up Alex or he could do a Sweeney on you.

Griff wrote:Why is Toby on the bench?

Anybody know?

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Just for balance:

Cardiff Blues: Dan Fish; Alex Cuthbert, Joaquin Tuculet, Gavin Evans, Richard Smith; Gareth Anscombe, Lloyd Williams; Gethin Jenkins, Matthew Rees (c), Scott Andrews, Jarrad Hoeata, Lou Reed, Josh Turnbull, Sam Warburton, Josh Navidi.
Replacements: Kristian Dacey, Sam Hobbs, Adam Jones, Macauley Cook, Ellis Jenkins, Tavis Knoyle, Simon Humberstone, Gareth Davies.

I've seen better. Or to put it another way, I haven't seen worse. Add in Ponty and Pop plus no head coach and it doesn't make great reading.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:Haha. I'm sure he will be fine.

It's Navidi's parents we mustn't upset

Eh?
Aye best not wind up Alex or he could do a Sweeney on you.

Navidi was interviewed saying his parents basically said us Dave Parade crowd are horrible

Risca Rev wrote:No you wouldn't. Lyn Jones has mentioned about a strong bench, but that's no good if you leave yourself too much work to do. Warburton starts getting turnovers tomorrow and he will be unplayable.

I was pretty confident until I saw that team. Now I am not.

Rev,

That's my worry to. I understand the theory of sticking win a winning side then using the big players of the bench but I just hope by that time the Blues aren't in too strong a position.

Risca Rev wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:Haha. I'm sure he will be fine.

It's Navidi's parents we mustn't upset

Eh?
Aye best not wind up Alex or he could do a Sweeney on you.

Navidi was interviewed saying his parents basically said us Dave Parade crowd are horrible

Now i'm with you. I saw the tweet, but didn't read the rest. Over enthusiastic supporters everywhere with colourful language to go and their bark is mostly always worse than their bite.

bedfordwelsh wrote:

Risca Rev wrote:No you wouldn't. Lyn Jones has mentioned about a strong bench, but that's no good if you leave yourself too much work to do. Warburton starts getting turnovers tomorrow and he will be unplayable.

I was pretty confident until I saw that team. Now I am not.

Rev,

That's my worry to.  I understand the theory of sticking win a winning side then using the big players of the bench but I just hope by that time the Blues aren't in too strong a position.

Worried are you? Excellent!

Oh I'm worried too. Would've been anyway, but now it's different. I'm calming down a bit (as I've known about the team since Thursday lunchtime), as I vaguely remember Lyn doing similar in a game earlier in the season, getting panned online and it worked out ok.

Dave,

Would have been very silly not to have been worried it's not as if we have a great record against you boys but yeah little bit more now having seen the side.

That said if the players selected can raise their game and give our backs the ball then we have the edge there over you lot I feel.

Seems strange that County played at home last night ahead of big european game lets hope pitch holds up.

Tuculet at 13 is an interesting one, I don't know if he's played there before but I'm pretty sure he hasn't since he's been at the Blues. That could lead to confusion in defence for them and it's something we should target. On the other hand, he'll get his hands on the ball more in attack and we need to keep an eye on him.

In the New Year's Day game, Phil Price won plenty of penalties (rightly or wrongly) against Filise and then Adam Jones, although that blydi Ian Davies found it impossible to go to his pocket for repeated infringement. If he can have similar success against Scott Andrews, that could be crucial.

We need Tom Prydie to have his kicking boots on today.

Tavis Knoyle is playing inside centre after Tuclet late withdrawal

Blues - are the fans ever going to stand up to the monkeys running the team and say "no more"? Makes you realise what a good job Dai Young did building those teams.

Great to see some clean scrummaging, makes for a nice change.

Blues looking like the better team so far, Anscombe really has some great steps.

Spoke too soon lol, Anscombe is having an absolute howler.

Wow, completely got the timing of this match wrong and missed the game... Anyone got their verdicts?

congrats Dragons

The Saint wrote:Wow, completely got the timing of this match wrong and missed the game... Anyone got their verdicts?

Really up and down game, Blues started well then faded away, some will question Anscombe's management of the game. Dragons had to play with Croswell in the 2nd row after injuries to Coombs and Thomas and did well but Blues really should have won this if they had subbed Andrews for Adam Jones earlier.

I thought the ref had a decent game if a bit quick to blow his whistle at times.

Well done Drags. Go and win it now. You'll need a scrum though.

bedfordwelsh wrote:Dave,

Would have been very silly not to have been worried it's not as if we have a great record against you boys but yeah little bit more now having seen the side.

That said if the players selected can raise their game and give our backs the ball then we have the edge there over you lot I feel.

Seems strange that County played at home last night ahead of big european game lets hope pitch holds up.

Bet you were worried at the end there.

The Saint wrote:Blues - are the fans ever going to stand up to the monkeys running the team and say "no more"? Makes you realise what a good job Dai Young did building those teams.

It's a long running saga. For me, the guy at the top should hand over the reins.
Dai was given the ammunition, eventually, except a TH. Then you know what happened and he bailed.

IronMike wrote:Tavis Knoyle is playing inside centre after Tuclet late withdrawal

Thought it was a late April fool's joke at first.
Let's face it, we're in a pickle and i'm surprised it was so close in the end considering the line-ups. Could've nicked it at the death. Can't comment on the whole game as I only caught about 30 mins in total.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

The Saint wrote:Blues - are the fans ever going to stand up to the monkeys running the team and say "no more"? Makes you realise what a good job Dai Young did building those teams.

It's a long running saga. For me, the guy at the top should hand over the reins.
Dai was given the ammunition, eventually, except a TH. Then you know what happened and he bailed.

Yeah not necessarily referring to the coaches, and I thought Hammett was the right man. It's more to do with the guys at the top bringing in these players and coaches, and then there was that decision to move to the CCS... Because of them I think Blues have been the worst run team in Wales for some years. Dai did well considering his hands were often tied throughout his reign. He just about got out at the right time - in his final season you were still turning over decent teams.

I hope we can do well in this competition. We'll need Stanko and Landman back though. Can't comment on today's game through missing it, but I've always thought Leach and Morgan would be our best centre partnership.

The Saint wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

The Saint wrote:Blues - are the fans ever going to stand up to the monkeys running the team and say "no more"? Makes you realise what a good job Dai Young did building those teams.

It's a long running saga. For me, the guy at the top should hand over the reins.
Dai was given the ammunition, eventually, except a TH. Then you know what happened and he bailed.

Yeah not necessarily referring to the coaches, and I thought Hammett was the right man. It's more to do with the guys at the top bringing in these players and coaches, and then there was that decision to move to the CCS... Because of them I think Blues have been the worst run team in Wales for some years. Dai did well considering his hands were often tied throughout his reign. He just about got out at the right time - in his final season you were still turning over decent teams.

I hope we can do well in this competition. We'll need Stanko and Landman back though. Can't comment on today's game through missing it, but I've always thought Leach and Morgan would be our best centre partnership.

Don't start me off as I could rant all night about Cardiff Greens and nobody on here would want that. Nor me either.
I thought Hammett was the right guy too. What happened there I wonder? The coaches we have now are cheap and cheerful. CCS was a predicted disaster. Dai was player coach to start with. Thrown in the deep end as it were. Done ok eventually.
Need a new bloke at the top of the tree. Too much water under the bridge and imho PT hasn't got his eye on the ball.

Eerily quiet on here. The Drags lot must still be celebrating I guess.

Cardiff Dave wrote:

IronMike wrote:

And then the Blues started making terrible signings like Sam Norton Knight and Dan Parks

................. Think he made one line break during his stay and I reckon that was accidental.
.

More than he ever did playing in Scotland :-)

Cardiff Dave wrote:Eerily quiet on here. The Drags lot must still be celebrating I guess.

Must be taking advantage of that beer tent while it lasts. I'd love for it to be there every week again. Back then, Rodney Parade was a great day out. It would surely bring in more groups of people.

The Saint wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:Eerily quiet on here. The Drags lot must still be celebrating I guess.

Must be taking advantage of that "warm beer" tent while it lasts. I'd love for it to be there every week again. Back then, Rodney Parade was a great day out. It would surely bring in more groups of people.

That's how I remember it. Canned beer and I doubt the fridges were even plugged in.

We don't need a scrum. We need a ref that will ping tightheads for illegally binding. Never mind no arms tackles and deliberate knock ons too.

Who cares though

Cardiff Dave wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:Dave,

Would have been very silly not to have been worried it's not as if we have a great record against you boys but yeah little bit more now having seen the side.

That said if the players selected can raise their game and give our backs the ball then we have the edge there over you lot I feel.

Seems strange that County played at home last night ahead of big european game lets hope pitch holds up.

Bet you were worried at the end there.

Was def twitchy bum time at the end but we held on and that's good enough for me and what an absolutely cracking atmosphere.

bedfordwelsh wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:Dave,

Would have been very silly not to have been worried it's not as if we have a great record against you boys but yeah little bit more now having seen the side.

That said if the players selected can raise their game and give our backs the ball then we have the edge there over you lot I feel.

Seems strange that County played at home last night ahead of big european game lets hope pitch holds up.

Bet you were worried at the end there.

Was def twitchy bum time at the end but we held on and that's good enough for me and what an absolutely cracking atmosphere.

Yep.
Anyway enjoy the rest of the adventure and do the Jocks.