Judgement Day III-bigger crowd than European Champions Cup final- Thread

[LordDowlais]

First topic message reminder :

Oh well, nobody has started a thread on this yet so I might as well do one, is anybody going ? At £10 per person for two games it's a bargain, over 35,000 tickets sold so far,so I have been told, not bad, I will be there.

http://www.wru.co.uk/eng/news/32450.php#.VTS-adJVhHw

Anyway back to the games, everyone has had a weeks rest, except Dragons, I wonder if this will affect them, wins for the two West Wales sides on Saturday, soory to Blues and Dragons fans, I expect to see all the Welsh internationals that are not injured playing as well, I cannot wait. Wales boss Warren Gatland has said that this weekends matches will go a long way to him deciding his WC squad.

The Kiwi coach has identified the Millennium Stadium regional double-header later this month as a perfect opportunity for players to force the way into his plans.

Cardiff Blues take on the play-off chasing Ospreys in the first game of the day on Saturday, April 25, with the Dragons then facing Champions Cup hopefuls the Scarlets.

There will be a host of Wales contenders on duty and Gatland says watching them pit their wits against each other will inform his decision-making when it comes to picking his initial World Cup group.

On June 7, he names a 45-strong training squad, which will embark on a series of camps before playing warm-up fixtures against Ireland and Italy, with the group to be whittled down to a final 31 for this autumn’s global tournament.

So he says the selectors’ eyes will be firmly on Judgement Day III, which is on course for a record attendance, with more than 32,000 tickets having already been sold.

“We have been planning in earnest for this World Cup for some time now, but there are some things you can not plan for,” said Gatland.

“The clubs are approaching the business end of the season and when we name our preliminary RWC squad in June, form is going to be a major factor in our decision-making process.

“All of the national squad coaches will be watching even more closely on Judgement Day this year.

“There is nothing like a derby match to put players under pressure to perform and with the added extra factor of being played out at the Millennium Stadium it should be a revealing day from a coach’s point of view.

“We have a good idea of what our best team is at the moment and we have been really happy with the players in the Six Nations and particularly with the performance against Italy in that final weekend when they did everything that was asked of them.

“But there are always players that time it right and come into consideration at World Cup time when form becomes an incredibly important factor.

“You only have to look at the Sam Warburton who was named captain ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup after Matthew Rees missed out through injury and the partnership formed with Dan Lydiate and Toby Faletau in the back row, to see that.

“The door is open for someone to not only play themselves into the squad, but even into the starting line-up and all eyes will be on Judgement Day in April to see if someone can put their hands up.”

This will be the third year for the Pro12 Welsh derby double-header, which drew crowds of 36,174 and 30,411 in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

“Judgment Day is a great concept and a hugely popular event with the fans, but in a World Cup year it is just the kind of event which the coaches need to help inform the decision making process,” said Gatland.

Tickets are available for £10 from www.wru.wales/tickets, the WRU ticket office on Westgate Street, each of the four clubs, at local Tesco stores or by calling ticketmaster on 0844 847 1881.


http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/judgement-day-iii-wales-boss-9004568

[Guest]

How did Anscombe go against Bigggar?

Anscombe was okay, not helped by being on the back foot a lot and not happing much support outside him,

Biggar was fantastic, he's become the complete 10, his running, kicking and passing game was first class.

Nothing I watched of Anscombe yesterday changed my mind that he's been over hyped and not seen anything to see why he has been fast tracked onto a DC.

He was one of the Blues best backline players around December/January but has not improved since then, he doesn't really offer anything that the other Welsh 10's don't, I'd like to see Patchell get a run of games at 10 as I think he has more potential if he can sort his defense out.

[bedfordwelsh]

How did Anscombe go against Bigggar?

Anscombe was okay, not helped by being on the back foot a lot and not happing much support outside him,

Biggar was fantastic, he's become the complete 10, his running, kicking and passing game was first class.

Nothing I watched of Anscombe yesterday changed my mind that he's been over hyped and not seen anything to see why he has been fast tracked onto a DC.

He was one of the Blues best backline players around December/January but has not improved since then, he doesn't really offer anything that the other Welsh 10's don't, I'd like to see Patchell get a run of games at 10 as I think he has more potential if he can sort his defense out.

That's not saying a lot in the current Blues side. What got my goat from the off is the way he was fast tracked, given DC brought into Welsh squad etc etc. I not got a problem if he did eventually play for Wales but let him prove it first give a full season or two let him prove what he can do.

I know some say he proved it in the SH but again if you read some reports from there he was nothing special and if he was the surely they would have tried to keep hold of him.

[Guest]

I agree for now, the jury is still out as far as I'm concerned as to whether he can handle the game at test level. I will say in his defense that he is usually on the back foot more often than not.

[wayne]

My take on yesterday, the only downside was the useless Train situation, after getting soaked last year when forced to queue OUTSIDE when it was .ISSING DOWN, we decided to leave early, there was a local train on the platform in which people were packed in like sardines, this left and we were then informed that the next train would NOT be in for over 50 minutes, 3 different company trains came in with no extension to the service, there must have been massive queues outside of the station, luckily the weather was dry.
The rest of the day was excellent, fantastic atmosphere and some great banter with other fans.
As for our game, the first half was so error riddled it was unbelievable, the Blues really pressurised us into uncharacteristic mistakes fair play to them, yet to me it was only delaying the inevitable, once we got into our rhythm I was confident of the win, and just to say although we made many errors in that first half our defence was excellent. The second half was totally different some of our back moves were sublime, Gruff Rees has to take special mention, although Dan Biggs was rightly awarded MOTM, Ben John could have solved our O/C problem he again had a very good game, why move him to the wing? Spratt should have gone there, I just hope we can keep this momentum going.

[bedfordwelsh]

The trains are always a problem, in fact public service transport in and around the Vale is an utter disgrace.

John looked really good yesterday.

[Coleman]

Really enjoyed JDIII. Navidi continues to be a team on his own. I really hope he makes the WC squad. Biggar was very good. You'd hope Anscombe takes a look at the level he needs to reach to be worthy of that DC. Liam Williams, class. Ken Owens, class. 

One thing i learnt from the day is Westies can, will and do travel. Might have been where i was but we were surrounded by Scarlets. Thankfully they were behind the Blues. Congrats to the O's. Really hope they get that home semi now. Well done to the organisers. 52k. Amazing.

[Chunky Norwich]

Atmosphere was frankly terrible. Can't fault the organisers really, unless they start allocating seating areas for the 4 teams.

In the last 20 minutes, there were more people throwing paper aeroplanes than watching the rugby.

[LordDowlais]

John looked really good yesterday.

I agree, he looked big and strong on Saturday, and was always looking for work, solid in defence, looks as though Ospreys have unearthed a gem there.

[bedfordwelsh]

Things is no matter how many tickets they sell (same at Twickenham) you will never get the full amount in the ground at same time as a lot of fans only go for their game.

Ban those blydi air horns PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[The Saint]

John looked really good yesterday.

I agree, he looked big and strong on Saturday, and was always looking for work, solid in defence, looks as though Ospreys have unearthed a gem there.

He's been there for years and that was like his only decent game, so how could they have unearthed a gem? I really hope people don't start touting him for world cup squad on the back of this game...

[bedfordwelsh]

He was loaned to us at the Dragons last season but he has come through quite well for them now.

He won't make world cup squad as being a centre he is behind the likes of Roberts, JD, Sc Williams, Allen (if fit) and Morgan.

[LordDowlais]

He was loaned to us at the Dragons last season but he has come through quite well for them now.

He won't make world cup squad as being a centre he is behind the likes of Roberts, JD, Sc Williams, Allen (if fit) and Morgan.

Yes he still has a way to go before he is front of any of them, I would say that the the two young guys at Dragons are in front as well at the moment, Dixon and Tyler Morgan.

[The Saint]

He was loaned to us at the Dragons last season but he has come through quite well for them now.

He won't make world cup squad as being a centre he is behind the likes of Roberts, JD, Sc Williams, Allen (if fit) and Morgan.

Wasn't that this season? There won't be any changes to the first 3 picks unless a major injury keeps one of them out. It'll probably Allen or Morgan.

[bedfordwelsh]

Back end of last season wasn't it Saint I think?

[Luckless Pedestrian]

It was early this season - seems a long time ago.

[bedfordwelsh]

It was early this season - seems a long time ago.

God yeah it does seem a while back.

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