Six Nations 2016 Wales vs Scotland

First topic message reminder :

Wales v Scotland

4:50pm - Saturday the 13th of February 2016

Principality Stadium, Cardiff

Teams

Wales
15 Liam Williams
14 George North
13 Jonathan Davies
12 Jamie Roberts
11 Tom James
10 Dan Biggar
9 Gareth Davies
1 Rob Evans
2 Scott Baldwin
3 Samson Lee
4 Luke Charteris
5 Alun Wyn Jones
6 Sam Warburton (c)
7 Justin Tipuric
8 Taulupe Faletau

Reps: Ken Owens, Gethin Jenkins, Tomas Francis, Bradley Davies, Dan Lydiate, Lloyd Williams, Rhys Priestland, Gareth Anscombe

Scotland

15. Stuart Hogg
14. Sean Maitland
13. Mark Bennett
12. Dunc Taylor
11. Tommy Seymour
10. Finn Russell
09. Greig Laidlaw (c)

01. Alasdair Dickinson
02. Ross Ford
03. Willem Nel
04. Richie Gray
05. Jonny Gray
06. John Barclay
07. John Hardie
08. David Denton

Reps: McInally, Reid, Fagerson, Swinson, Cowan, Hidalgo-Clyne, Weir, Lamont



Referee is unfortunately George Clancy (IRFU) which ruins the game generally.

Touch judges: John Lacey (IRFU) & Federico Anselmi (UAR)

TMO: Graham Hughes (RFU)

funnyExiledScot wrote:I'm pretty pleased with the continuity from Cotter, and I fully understand why Taylor is in there opposite Jamie Roberts. Scott is a fine player but he's not the most robust in defence and we absolutely have to stop the Welsh carriers in their tracks for the full 80 minutes. Taylor, in short, is a better and more physical tackler than Scott.

Prediction time: Wales by 15.

He also picked up a quad injury in training apparently. Which probably isn't working in his favour.

Great omen for Saturday, Wales have never won at the Principality stadium...

Oh heck. That's true

Scotland are unbeaten at the Principality Stadium - definitely a good omen!

EWT Spoons wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:I'm pretty pleased with the continuity from Cotter, and I fully understand why Taylor is in there opposite Jamie Roberts. Scott is a fine player but he's not the most robust in defence and we absolutely have to stop the Welsh carriers in their tracks for the full 80 minutes. Taylor, in short, is a better and more physical tackler than Scott.

Prediction time: Wales by 15.

He also picked up a quad injury in training apparently.  Which probably isn't working in his favour.

I suspect he would have been starting if he wasn't injured.

Scotland are unbeaten at the Principality Stadium - definitely a good omen!

RDW_Scotland wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:I'm pretty pleased with the continuity from Cotter, and I fully understand why Taylor is in there opposite Jamie Roberts. Scott is a fine player but he's not the most robust in defence and we absolutely have to stop the Welsh carriers in their tracks for the full 80 minutes. Taylor, in short, is a better and more physical tackler than Scott.

Prediction time: Wales by 15.

He also picked up a quad injury in training apparently.  Which probably isn't working in his favour.

I suspect he would have been starting if he wasn't injured.

Agreed. Pretty depressing the only fit player deemed capable of coming in to cover centre is Lamont.

Anyone else want to make the joke about being unbeaten at the Principality stadium??

Unbeaten against Wales this year.

Duncan Taylor is beaten Wales every time he has played them.

Pretty decent side picked by Wales, no wingers on the bench though.

I actually think this game is make or brake for Scotland, lose this one and it will be o from 2 and all the old doubts will be back and the euphoria of supposedly decent WC will be all but gone, it could end up as a wooden spoon for them this year. 

On the opposite side of the coin though, win this and you go into your next game on a high, with added euphoria to the supposedly decent WC and show more than the glimpses of improvement that have been shown and finish the 6N on a high, and have a decent 6N, and rugby is cool again in Scotland.

No wingers ? There's Brynmor Jnr mun !!

True. No 9 cover is more accurate

Lol when there was a winger on the bench last week everyone moaned about there being a winger on the bench!!!

I can't believe Biggar's playing, came out of his moon boot yesterday and hasn't trained all week...although typifies how little depth there is a fly half behind him as we all know

Amos should be on the bench, along with scrum half, and flyhalf cover.

See Gats is sticking with Warbs and Tipuric in the back row. Since combining superbly against England (2013) they haven't made as much an impact when played together as one would imagine. What I wouldn't give for their partnership to be as physical as Hooper and Pocock, the best example of two opensides in the back row.

If Biggar is in there and training today it surely means his ankle isn't in pain. The staff have ruled it a very minor sprain. Just hope it doesn't come back to haunt us during the game. If Biggar's aerial abilities, a huge asset when he's fit, are suppressed by it it's not worth having him in there. We need a better all-round kicking game than what we saw against Ireland.

Wing cover worries me greatly. No natural wingers in the squad besides the two starters. Who steps up if North and/or James pick up injuries? I'd have had Amos on the bench for that purpose.

Looks good enough - I like Gatlands loyalty in giving players the opportunity to play a little better this week and he has had a word with the main culprits which include Gareth Davies and Liam Williams. I'd want to see the likes of Patchell, Owen Williams, and Matthew Morgan in the future and I think the Scotland game would have been s perfect opportunity for Morgan to show his skills and break things up a bit. In Gatland we trust

To be fair Wales did ok the last time they had to play a 9 on the wing...

Knowsit17 wrote:See Gats is sticking with Warbs and Tipuric in the back row. Since combining superbly against England (2013) they haven't made as much an impact when played together as one would imagine. What I wouldn't give for their partnership to be as physical as Hooper and Pocock, the best example of two opensides in the back row.

If Biggar is in there and training today it surely means his ankle isn't in pain. The staff have ruled it a very minor sprain. Just hope it doesn't come back to haunt us during the game. If Biggar's aerial abilities, a huge asset when he's fit, are suppressed by it it's not worth having him in there. We need a better all-round kicking game than what we saw against Ireland.

Wing cover worries me greatly. No natural wingers in the squad besides the two starters. Who steps up if North and/or James pick up injuries? I'd have had Amos on the bench for that purpose.

Anscombe goes to FB Liam to wing - My concern with Biggar is his standing foot when kicking for goal -We have no other kickers in the starting XV!!!!!!!!!!!

Thought Biggar's sprain was high end, not minor?

If anything happens to one of our wingers, Liam would shift to the wing, Biggar will shift to fullback, and Preistland will replace the winger and play 10. I think......

RiscaGame wrote:Thought Biggar's sprain was high end, not minor?

A one legged Biggar or Priestland Risca

RubyGuby wrote:

RiscaGame wrote:Thought Biggar's sprain was high end, not minor?

A one legged Biggar or Priestland Risca

Well I know which I would choose. Seeing as there are two fly-halves on the bench, who do you think will come on if needs be? If the coach has any sense, it will be Anscombe.

RubyGuby wrote:

RiscaGame wrote:Thought Biggar's sprain was high end, not minor?

A one legged Biggar or Priestland Risca

Lol,the coaching must have viewed the game tape during the week

Haha. Shall I cancel your subscription to the RP fan club then Ruby?

LordDowlais wrote:If anything happens to one of our wingers, Liam would shift to the wing, Biggar will shift to fullback, and Preistland will replace the winger and play 10. I think......

I think Anscombe would come on as fullback and leave Biggar at flyhalf

True Raven wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:If anything happens to one of our wingers, Liam would shift to the wing, Biggar will shift to fullback, and Preistland will replace the winger and play 10. I think......

I think Anscombe would come on as fullback and leave Biggar at flyhalf

I would like to think so, but Gatland loves Preistland.

bedfordwelsh wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

BedfordWelsh wrote: Think I know which CV employers would see as the better one.
   

Are you sure Cotter coached the Crusaders? I thought Deans was their coach during all their years of dominance.

mikey,

I unashamedly copy and pasted off wikipedia so it could all be wrong lol.

Still think I know which CV most employers would prefer.

Forwards coach for two seasons? An understudy role isn't really up for comparison when we're looking at head coach credentials. It was Deans, that's how he was offered the Australia role (after NZ chose to stick with Henry for another cycle). Deans record in Super Rugby is very impressive, but on the whole his record/CV isn't as impressive as Gatland's - but not many are .

RiscaGame wrote:Haha. Shall I cancel your subscription to the RP fan club then Ruby?

He's a great fella Risca but for me he lost it a while back and he remains a disaster waiting to happen - we have far more accomplished players IMO and the fact he's just done a U Turn for me illustrates he remains vulnerable - He's also having a shoite season with Bath

Having looked at the two teams, I'm going to say Wales by 15-20. We just don't have anywhere near the firepower to bring on from the bench. I think it's a huge mistake not having Strauss or Toolis as part of the reserves to provide some ballast in the last quarter.

One player who has really impressed me in the WC and last week is Faletau. Correct me if i'm wrong, but has he become more physical and is carrying some more muscle these days? He has always had the skills, but he looks a lot more aggresive than he has done in the past.

Agree on Faletau EST he was immense last week and almost got no mention after the game. One of his best for Wales

RubyGuby wrote:Agree on Faletau EST he was immense last week and almost got no mention after the game. One of his best for Wales

It's because that's his usual performance. We expect that quality and he delivers it time after time

True Raven wrote:

RubyGuby wrote:Agree on Faletau EST he was immense last week and almost got no mention after the game. One of his best for Wales

It's because that's his usual performance.  We expect that quality and he delivers it time after time

Yep. Been a Lions player and has every other honour there is, yet he'll need to go to another team to improve as a player .

RubyGuby wrote:

Knowsit17 wrote:See Gats is sticking with Warbs and Tipuric in the back row. Since combining superbly against England (2013) they haven't made as much an impact when played together as one would imagine. What I wouldn't give for their partnership to be as physical as Hooper and Pocock, the best example of two opensides in the back row.

If Biggar is in there and training today it surely means his ankle isn't in pain. The staff have ruled it a very minor sprain. Just hope it doesn't come back to haunt us during the game. If Biggar's aerial abilities, a huge asset when he's fit, are suppressed by it it's not worth having him in there. We need a better all-round kicking game than what we saw against Ireland.

Wing cover worries me greatly. No natural wingers in the squad besides the two starters. Who steps up if North and/or James pick up injuries? I'd have had Amos on the bench for that purpose.

Anscombe goes to FB Liam to wing - My concern with Biggar is his standing foot when kicking for goal -We have no other kickers in the starting XV!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't worry. String a few phases together and you'll just score in multiples of 5 instead.

True Raven wrote:Lol when there was a winger on the bench last week everyone moaned about there being a winger on the bench!!!

I can't believe Biggar's playing, came out of his moon boot yesterday and hasn't trained all week...although typifies how little depth there is a fly half behind him as we all know

Dan's fit I wouldn't worry, they wouldn't risk him if he wasn't. IF there was any kind of risk they'd rest him. Hopefully we can get him through this game then he can have a rest as there is a week between the games.

I feel I should make a few points here...

1) For all the Roberts talk last week, Falatua was a class above anyone else on the park IMO, he does the job of an 8 top draw but also has the breakdown nous of a 7, carried plenty of hard yards as well as out wider, if Falatau goes down injured watch 3 million Welsh people look at each other and say 'Well what now?'!!!

2) I don't like this Scottish negativity returning, it makes me nervous! The positivity before the England game was warranted, and a rusty hit out against a decent team shouldn't dampen that. The heavier favourites Wales are the more dangerous Scotland will be!

3) Wales backline play has become so one dimensional, Williams butchered so many opportunities last week, and by 60 mins it was up to AWJ to try to play link man at 13, if Wales backline attack this way against Scotland it'll come down to a kicking battle, when Wales are clearly stronger out wide.

I think if Wales play the way they did against Ireland, come the last 15 mins they should pull clear, as he packs are equal but Wales forward play just gets stronger as the game goes on, including Warburtons presence. If they start like they did against Ireland and give Scotland points early on it'll be a long day!

I think Wales by 1-3 points, and i'm nervous

Shifty wrote:

True Raven wrote:Lol when there was a winger on the bench last week everyone moaned about there being a winger on the bench!!!

I can't believe Biggar's playing, came out of his moon boot yesterday and hasn't trained all week...although typifies how little depth there is a fly half behind him as we all know

Dan's fit I wouldn't worry, they wouldn't risk him if he wasn't.  IF there was any kind of risk they'd rest him.  Hopefully we can get him through this game then he can have a rest as there is a week between the games.  

I agree they wouldn't risk him, they have a lot more faith in Priestland than any poster on here does, they wouldn't have seen picking RP ahead of Biggar as as big a risk as the fans would have.

If they're that confident, why did they wait twenty one minutes to sub a clearly limping Biggar?

I imagine they waited to see if he could walk it off at the time. They subbed him as soon as he missed his first kick and it became clear the sprain was impeding him too much to be able to play to his strengths properly.

Knowsit17 wrote:See Gats is sticking with Warbs and Tipuric in the back row. Since combining superbly against England (2013) they haven't made as much an impact when played together as one would imagine. What I wouldn't give for their partnership to be as physical as Hooper and Pocock, the best example of two opensides in the back row.

If Biggar is in there and training today it surely means his ankle isn't in pain. The staff have ruled it a very minor sprain. Just hope it doesn't come back to haunt us during the game. If Biggar's aerial abilities, a huge asset when he's fit, are suppressed by it it's not worth having him in there. We need a better all-round kicking game than what we saw against Ireland.

Wing cover worries me greatly. No natural wingers in the squad besides the two starters. Who steps up if North and/or James pick up injuries? I'd have had Amos on the bench for that purpose.

I thought Lydiate would have come back in and I agree that the Warburton/Tipuric isn't as effective bar for that one game.

As for the wing I guess Anscombe would step into XV and Williams would move on to the wing.

Knowsit17 wrote:I imagine they waited to see if he could walk it off at the time. They subbed him as soon as he missed his first kick and it became clear the sprain was impeding him too much to be able to play to his strengths properly.

Id say you're about right there

I just hope for Biggar and for Wales that Biggar is fully fit.

if has only trained for 1 day this week, then surely he ( Biggar) would be better off comeing off the bench, rather than starting the game.

I would hate for Biggar to start get injured again...be brought off again but this time on a stretcher.


Seen it happen too many times with Wilkinson when he was playing.

Handy guide here for anyone off to the game on Saturday https://vine.co/v/inhbBVuF7gg

RiscaGame wrote:If they're that confident, why did they wait twenty one minutes to sub a clearly limping Biggar?

No news article to back this up (to an extent) so I don't think you'll get a reply.

mikey_dragon wrote:

RiscaGame wrote:If they're that confident, why did they wait twenty one minutes to sub a clearly limping Biggar?

No news article to back this up (to an extent) so I don't think you'll get a reply.

There's a reply above and I agreed with it rather than re-writing the same thing

11.02.2016 Come on Walessssss

RiscaGame wrote:True. No 9 cover is more accurate

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I haven't been selected  

LordDowlais wrote:If anything happens to one of our wingers, Liam would shift to the wing, Biggar will shift to fullback, and Preistland will replace the winger and play 10. I think......

You been on the funny fags...


As for Preistland... Why are you all still on his back. We have heard so many times he's a confidence player, yet all you do is knock his confidence. Last week he came on and did a GOOD, steady job. Lets not forget, he didn't miss a place kick and as such, brought us back into that game. Give him a break....

RubyGuby wrote:
Anscombe goes to FB Liam to wing - My concern with Biggar is his standing foot when kicking for goal -We have no other kickers in the starting XV!!!!!!!!!!!

How many sides start (England being the exception currently) with more than one accepted place kickers in the starting XV... And for that, Liam has been known to kick and JD could if required... BUT, if we needed a replacement kicker, then that assumes that Biggar has had to leave the field, which means he would be replaced with Priestland or Anscombe, both place kickers.... So apart from rambling, what point are you trying to make!!!


Guys, Gats have selected (IMO) a very good side with a good blend. And as for cover on the bench, I think its as good as it gets, with all positions covered by players who can comfortably play in positions other than they first choice. If Wales have learned one thing from our RWC injury crisis, its how to manage players to cover positions.

One thing I'm glad of, is Gatland is calling the shots, not any of you...

In the end whilst we are all armchair critics of tactics players and coaches but as far as Gatland is concerned his coaching CV is way more impressive than mine or I would guess most of the rest on here so we just have to trust he knows what he is doing.

As for the no other kicking option Priestland kick 11 last week and Anscombe is a kicker to, surprised someone hasn't mentioned Tipuric given the sun seems to shine out of his a**e for a lot on here as well.

He's come out saying we need to be 'more direct' against Scotland as we passed too much against Ireland...

Surely we just didnt pass accurately or cleverly enough - left a few tries on the pitch.

munkian wrote:He's come out saying we need to be 'more direct' against Scotland as we passed too much against Ireland...

Surely we just didnt pass accurately or cleverly  enough - left a few tries on the pitch.

Who's come out?