Scarlets 2016/17 Season Thread

[ScarletSpiderman]

First topic message reminder :

Scarlets pre-season friendlies 2016/17    
Sat 13th Aug 15:00 Exeter vs Scarlets Sandy Park, Exeter  
Sat 20th Aug TBC Scarlets vs Bath Parc Eirias, Colwyn Bay  
     
Fixture List      
Sat 3rd Sep 15:00 Scarlets vs Munster Parc-y-Scarlets, Llanelli Sky
Fri 9th Sep 19:35 Edinburgh vs Scarlets Murrayfield, Edinburgh BBC Alba
Fri 16th Sep 19:05 Ulster vs Scarlets Kingspan Stadium, Belfast BBC2W
Sat 24th Sep 19:35 Scarlets vs ConnachtParc-y-Scarlets, Llanelli S4C
Sat 1st Oct 19:05 Treviso vs Scarlets Stadio Comunale di Monigo, Treviso  
Sat 8th Oct 19:35 Scarlets vs Dragons Parc-y-Scarlets, Llanelli S4C
Oct 14th - 16th  Europe 1    
Oct 21st - 23th  Europe 2    
Fri 28th Oct 19:35 Cardiff vs Scarlets BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff BBC2W
Sat 5th Nov 19:35 Scarlets vs Glasgow Parc-y-Scarlets, Llanelli S4C
Nov 5th  TBC Anglo-Welsh 1    
Nov 12th  Anglo-Welsh 2    
Fri 25th Nov 19:35 Scarlets vs Leinster Parc-y-Scarlets, Llanelli BBC2W
Sat 3rd Dec 14:05 Zebre vs Scarlets Stadio XXV Aprile, Parma  
Dec 9th - 11th  Europe 3    
Dec 16th - 18th  Europe 4    
Tue 27th Dec 15:00 Ospreys vs Scarlets Liberty Stadium, Swansea Sky/S4C
Sun 1st Jan 15:00 Scarlets vs Cardiff Parc-y-Scarlets, Llanelli Sky/S4C
Fri 6th Jan 19:35 Scarlets vs Ulster Parc-y-Scarlets, Llanelli BBC2W
Jan 13th - 15th  Europe 5    
Jan 20th - 22nd  Europe 6    
Jan 27th - 29th  Anglo-Welsh 3    
Feb 3rd - 5th  Anglo-Welsh 4    
Feb 10th - 11th   Glasgow vs Scarlets Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow  
Feb 17th - 18th  Scarlets vs Zebre Parc-y-Scarlets, Llanelli  
Feb 24th - 25th  Munster vs Scarlets TBC  
Mar 3rd - 4th  Leinster vs Scarlets RDS Arena, Dublin  
Mar 24th - 25th  Scarlets vs Edinburgh Parc-y-Scarlets, Llanelli  
Apr 7th - 8th  Scarlets vs Treviso Parc-y-Scarlets, Llanelli  
Sat 15th Apr 17:15 Dragons vs Scarlets Principality Stadium, Cardiff Sky/S4C
Apr 28th - 29th  Connacht vs Scarlets Sportsground, Galway  
Sat 6th May 17:15 Scarlets vs Ospreys Parc-y-Scarlets, Llanelli  


Squad

Rob Evans Prop
Werner Kruger Prop
Samson Lee Prop Dual Contract
Peter Edwards  Prop
Will Taylor Prop
Dylan Evans Prop  
Taylor Davies Prop    
Wyn Jones Prop

Ken Owens Hooker
Emyr Phillips Hooker
Ryan Elias Hooker    
Dafydd Hughes Hooker
 
Jake Ball Lock Dual Contract  
David Bulbring Lock
Rynier Bernardo Lock
Tom Price Lock
Josh Helps Lock    
Tadhg Beirne Lock/Flanker
Lewis Rawlins Lock/Flanker  
 
John Barclay Flanker
Aaron Shingler Flanker
James Davies Flanker    
Will Boyde Flanker    
Josh MacLeod Flanker    
Tom Phillips Flanker    
Shaun Evans Flanker  
Morgan Allen Number 8  
Jack Condy Number 8  

Aled Davies Scrum-half  
Gareth Davies Scrum-half
Jonathan Evans Scrum-half    

Rhys Patchell Fly-half    
Aled Thomas Fly-half
Dan Jones Fly-half    

Scott Williams Centre  
Jonathan Davies Centre Dual Contract
Hadleigh Parkes Centre
Gareth Owen Centre
Steffan Hughes Centre    
Matthew Owen Centre  
 
DTH Van Der Merwe Wing
Tom Williams Wing  
Richard Smith Wing  
Johnny McNicholl Wing/ Fullback
Steffan Evans Wing / Fullback    
Liam Williams Fullback  
       
Coaches      
Wayne Pivac Head Coach  
Stephen Jones  Attack Coach    
Byron Hayward Defence Coach    
Garan Evans Team Manager    
Ioan Cunningham Set Piece Coach

[ScarletSpiderman]

Fair enough boss.

[BuzzScarlet]

I know this is probably the bite your after, but he'll I'll go for it.  How bad were the Scarlets really in the league last season?  We were camped in the top four for the bulk of the season, we missed out on the play offs, but still made the RCC for this season.

No I'm not after a bite - just opinionated. Dai seems to think it's okay for him to give his views on the Pro12 and on Irish threads, but when I post here with a different point of view he shows off like a child.

To answer your question, I thought Scarlets were fairly decent. Their good start however, I feel, was due to them having a good second string team, better than most others in the league. Connacht were in the same position but rotated all season and maintained their good position, eventually winning the Pro12. It didn't take Glasgow or Leinster long to catch up either, and when all was at stake Scarlets ended up soundly beaten by Munster. Good on you making the RCC, you were better than the other Welsh teams  last season but they're not good and probably won't be much better this season. I do think Ospreys will improve the most though. I'd like for Scarelts to be up there like some of their previous teams have been but I think they're a good match day squad that's going to be held back by some poor coaches, again. Come to think of it, look what Hurricanes did when Pivac left... You're not the only Welsh team I think will be poor, as I think my Dregs will be too so don't feel that I'm singling your team out .

You are aware that Pivac never coached the Hurricanes, right? Anyway, Bath may not be the force they once were but still a significant enough step up for a certain Mr Faletau to up and leave the Dragons for, mind you most teams would be step up from them! So don't worry to much about the Scarlets prospects this season just sit there with your fingers crossed the your beloved dregs don't serve up the same old dross they do every season

[mikey_dragon]

My mistake, so he couldn't get the top job then. Wish one of us could do a Glasgow when it comes coaches.

Lol really? Trying to berate me because Faletau went over to bath for money after he first turned them down in 2013? That's the worst attempt I've ever seen . I'll have fingers crossed as usual, but I think most if not all Welsh teams will be serving up dross, including Scarlets who in spite of their internationals had great difficulty scoring tries last season. I'll be around to comment later on, which is too bad for one-eyed Turks as somebody will be giving an unbiased view .

[Dai Llewod]

I sniggered at the attempt to talk them up as if it was perfectly fine to lose to them - Just how I view it of course.

Have you got an opinion on the various squads of the Scarlets and Bath? The strength in depth? How much it cost to put the squads together? The calibre of the respective coaching teams?

Just the two teams on the day which for this match is the ONLY thing relevant. Both have Kiwi honcho's too.

So to be clear on this, you think the Scarlets should have beaten Bath yes? And not lost by 10 points (you also called being beaten by 10 points "a stuffing". I'm not sure I agree.)

[BuzzScarlet]

Ahh, so it was all about money? Nothing to do with needing a change from competing with Zebre and Treviso as the worst Pro 12 side? As for our trouble scoring despite our internationals, you mean the internationals that were either injured or called up by Wales for the majority of the season? Not that you'd know what international call ups are being a Dragons supporter! As for an unbiased view, most Turk fans will agree we have a strong first 23 but wil struggle beyond that and most beleive our backs will improve with Patchell, foxy and mcnicholl coming in and hopefull Liam and Scott fully fit! As usual will struggle against a big, powerful pack content with a rolling maul and with our poor exit strategy from our own 22! Now I know my sides limitations but have to laugh when supporters of lesser teams feel the need to continually highlight those limitations when they're own team are significantly weaker in all departments and are usually one the worst teams in the league year on year! As for the coach, I'd take Pivac over any of the shambles that have coached the dragons over years! So, in a nutshell Mikey/Saint, worry about your own region and how you can avoid being the lowest placed Welsh region again and I'll hopefully be seeing the Scarlets go one better and secure a play off spot this season

[mikey_dragon]

I sniggered at the attempt to talk them up as if it was perfectly fine to lose to them - Just how I view it of course.

Have you got an opinion on the various squads of the Scarlets and Bath? The strength in depth? How much it cost to put the squads together? The calibre of the respective coaching teams?

Just the two teams on the day which for this match is the ONLY thing relevant. Both have Kiwi honcho's too.

So to be clear on this, you think the Scarlets should have beaten Bath yes? And not lost by 10 points (you also called being beaten by 10 points "a stuffing". I'm not sure I agree.)

Dai I'm guessing you didn't see the score? Or in typical one-eyed Turk fashion have swept it under the rug? You lost at home 17-32 according to the match report, and reading that wrote-up you'd think Bath were NZ! I think you should have done a lot better than that with your internationals on the field.

When are you going to stop shifting? You must be a little embarrassing for good fans like SS.

[mikey_dragon]

Ahh, so it was all about money? Nothing to do with needing a change from competing with Zebre and Treviso as the worst Pro 12 side? As for our trouble scoring despite our internationals, you mean the internationals that were either injured or called up by Wales for the majority of the season? Not that you'd know what international call ups are being a Dragons supporter! As for an unbiased view, most Turk fans will agree we have a strong first 23 but wil struggle beyond that and most beleive our backs will improve with Patchell, foxy and mcnicholl coming in and hopefull Liam and Scott fully fit!  As usual will struggle against a big, powerful pack content with a rolling maul and with our poor exit strategy from our own 22! Now I know my sides limitations but have to laugh when supporters of lesser teams feel the need to continually highlight those limitations when they're own team are significantly weaker in all departments and are usually one the worst teams in the league year on year! As for the coach, I'd take Pivac over any of the shambles that have coached the dragons over years! So, in a nutshell Mikey/Saint, worry about your own region and how you can avoid being the lowest placed Welsh region again and I'll hopefully be seeing the Scarlets go one better and secure a play off spot this season

I imagine it was a number of reasons, including win silverware at club level which he won't do in Wales. Logistics too, earn a lot of money so close to home. I'm not sure why you keep doing a Dai though, moving the goal posts and talking about Dragons on a Scarlets thread? I think my fellow supporters are pretty grounded, and if our team had some of Scarlets internationals they'd do better than your team can. Just my opinion of course but moving on, this is a discussion forum where I'm entitled to comment on the rugby which I will do on the Scarlets thread, you seem to have an issue with that, which is rather odd when it's pretty clear that this is a discussion forum. You're really bitter aren't you? It's quite hilarious how angry you get when someone doesn't eat your teams' rear end the way a typical scarlet does. One-eyed Turks are still the worst fans in Wales, and what's worse is they still rate Priestland .

[BuzzScarlet]

So if your team had some of the Scarlets internationals theyd do better with you than us? How would that work? Would they be so wonderful under kingsley's immense coaching that they'd be be able to drag the shambles that's the dragons to the playoffs? Yeah.... Don't think so. As for being bitter, not at all, I wouldn't expect anyone to, as you put it 'eat me teams rear end' just like other regional supporter wouldn't expect me to wax lyrical about their sides! So crack on and comment and run the Scarlets down but just remember that for every deficiency we may or may not have in your opinion, then just remember that your own team is in a far worse state than ours! As for Priestland, never really rated him that highly but have defended him against a lot of unjust criticism but even if he's a bad as many say, he'd still be first choice at your region Mikey

[mikey_dragon]

Just my opinion, maybe I'm a little biased but obviously I'm not as biased as your typical turk... Not only do I think Dragons would do better if they had the Scarlets Welsh internationals I also think the other two welsh teams would do better with them in their team - Scarlets just don't same capable of doing it. I'm not sure I rate Kingsley all that highly yet. You know - if you wanted to discuss this you can do it on the Dragons thread? I think you're rather narrow-minded, which I often find with the turks I speak to. If somebody dares to highlight a deficiency it seems to be a case of "well at least we're better than you na-na" - when I read that it just confirms you're not getting the point. I can't see Priest getting in our team unless it was bench cover for 15, as we pretty much have a miniature version of him in AOB. I'll probably refrain from commenting in here for a while, perhaps everyone will be a little happier as a result of that.

[BuzzScarlet]

Ah, so the other Welsh regions, who have just as much welsh international players as the Scarlets already would suddenly be able to to better with our players despite the fact that they are underperforming with they own internationals? Again, I cant see it. I'm probably the most open minded Turk supporter you'll find and as I've stated before I know my own teams deficiencies and am living in hope more than expectation regarding a successful season so all this at least we're better than you crap was not my point as being better than the dragons year in year out is hardly anything to brag about. As for Priestland not getting in your team then that really does show your own narrow mindedness or perhaps your actual lack of rugby knowledge.

[international198]

Which Scarlets players do you expect to go on the Lions tour in 2017?

I would expect Jonathan Davies, Scott Williams, Samson Lee, Ken Owens, Liam Williams, Rob Evans, Jake Ball, James Davies, Gareth Davies and Rhys Patchell to all go.

[ScarletSpiderman]

John Barclay too. Oh and Johnny McNicholl if he gets capped by Scotland in the 6Ns. But realistically, I think half the lads on your list are unlikely to be in starting positions for Wales so can't see them going with the Lions. Would probably say Foxy, Sanjay and Samson have a chance if they can play the majority of the season, and stay (once they get fit) injury free, but even then the odds of any of them being in the test side are not great.

[international198]

Scarletsmad_87 says on scarlet fever that Jonathan Davies and DTH Van Der Merwe will feature for the Scarlets against Munster on Saturday. PritchytheScarlet says this will give us a huge boost to our chances.

http://www.scarletfever.org/forum/starting-15_topic42601.html

[international198]

http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/8203-the-jonathan-davies-interview-coming-home-title-chances-and-one-of-his-best-moments-in-rugby/story-29668778-detail/story.html#SSXdHD16mckV6BAO.99

[ScarletSpiderman]

First time this season, the sides for Saturday

Scarlets:
Liam Williams;
DTH van der Merwe,
Scott Williams,
Hadleigh Parkes,
Steff Evans;
Rhys Patchell,
Gareth Davies;

Dylan Evans,
Ken Owens (capt),
Werner Kruger,
Jake Ball,
Lewis Rawlins,
Aaron Shingler,
John Barclay,
Josh Macleod.

Replacements: Ryan Elias, Wyn Jones, Peter Edwards, David Bulbring, Tadhg Beirne, Jonathan Evans, Dan Jones, Jonathan Davies.

Munster:
Simon Zebo;
Darren Sweetnam,
Dan Goggin,
Rory Scannell,
Ronan O'Mahony;
Tyler Bleyendaal,
Duncan Williams;

James Cronin,
Niall Scannell,
John Ryan,
Dave Foley,
Billy Holland (capt)
Dave O'Callaghan,
Tommy O'Donnell,
Jack O'Donoghue.

Replacements: Kevin O'Byrne, Dave Kilcoyne, Brian Scott, Jean Kleyn, Donnacha Ryan, Tomás O'Leary, Ian Keatley, Cian Bohane.

Referee: Lloyd Linton (SRU)
Assistant referees: Sam Grove-White (SRU), Wayne Davies (WRU)
Citing commissioner: Ray Wilton (WRU)
TMO: Jim Yuille (SRU)

[LordDowlais]

Are you doing a match thread SS ?

[LordDowlais]

Iv'e done one SS.

[ScarletSpiderman]

Cool, I got to be honest I'm going to try to steer clear of match threads if I can. Especially against the provinces.

[international198]

The Scarlets have the best back line in Europe but the forwards are not giving the backs good ball to play with. It's a shame that we didn't buy Bradley Davies and Nick Williams this summer. Can we not afford these players or are we just being miserly?

[Stone Motif]

The Scarlets have the best back line in Europe

[mikey_dragon]

I think Cardiff might have a thing or two to say about that, as would Toulon, Racing Metro, Wasps, Saracens, Leinster, Ulster, Etc.

[international198]

If it's any consolation, things cannot possibly go worse than this. A home defeat to Munster will be the worst result of the season for the Scarlets, IMO. There's only one way from here and that way is up. A bonus point win against Edinburgh on Friday will set our season back on track and we will still be champions come the end of the season.

[international198]

The Scarlets have signed Wales U20 prop Luke Garrett on loan from the Dragons until December 2016. Not sure who he is but he must be a top quality player because the Scarlets sign only the best.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/37275825

[international198]

We underachieved massively on Saturday. It's not like us to lose against Munster at home but we have more than enough character to bounce back and claim 5 points against Edinburgh. Rhys Patchell will work on his goal kicking and improve. Also, Ken Owens will improve his throwing into the line out. There can only be one result next Friday and that's a win for the Scarlets. Edinburgh have no chance.

[international198]

It was massively disappointing to not get a losing bonus point against Munster last Saturday. Rhys Patchell needs to improve his goal kicking. If his goal kicking was better we would have had at least a losing bonus point. Maybe we can sign Leigh Halfpenny for next season. He would improve our success % of kicks at goal.

[international198]

We are the best team in Europe. We have no excuse to lose against Munster at home.

[Guest]

No I'm not after a bite - just opinionated.

All opinions are equal, but some are more equal than others.

I'd call the constant personal insults of a fanbase (in this case, it's the Scarlets, seemingly your least favourite region in Wales, but there's always English or Irish fans for you to attack when flying the Welsh flag) looking for and relishing in the 'biting'. Let's call it what it really is though, 'bite' gives you too much credit by far; it's people responding to your insults who are beyond tired of your boring, pointless posts on this forum, and why so many decent posters have either left, or come on here far less frequently than they used to.

We get it. We've heard your ill informed 'opinion' many, many times. That's great. Evidently few people agree. Stop looking for validation online, or at the very least on this site, and in the manner you are currently adopting. I'm bored of wading through threads that are 50% childish retorts involving you. You're the common denominator. You're not a maverick with controversial 'opinions', you're just a WUM who spends too much time on this forum.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

[Guest]

Back to the Scarlets, that was a desperately poor first performance. Looked like they picked up with the form they finished last season with. No real belief or conviction was the main problem, and of course Munster hardly had to play to win the game quite comfortably, so fair play to them. Could be a long season if there isn't some fire put into them. There's little wrong with the personnel, the team looks as good as it probably could be within the constraints of where regional/Pro12 rugby is in relation to the rest of Europe, so it's an issue of application. Let's not forget how different last season could have looked had all those narrow and last minute victories been defeats.

I'm bored of the trend of players looking to 'set up rucks', i.e. happily going to ground so that it makes it easier to retain the ball. That's all the Scarlets did at the weekend, so much posession, all side to side, with no actual threat- other than Liam Williams- that they would ever break the line. The tour to NZ highlighted just how differently coached, or at least the mentality is, relative to the NH. The strange thing is, by actually looking to keep your feet/driving on a few extra yards, that's surely more instinctive than going to ground? In which case, this is a coaching issue, one whereby teams are playing it safe, but for no real reason. It's far more natural to just look to play, to have a pack that would rather smash their opposition up a bit, rather than not draw them in because youve made little or no ground, and they don't feel the need to contest the ruck.

Another part of the problem is that the English Premiership has left that style behind (as well as streaking away from the Pro12 in standard and as a viewing product), and the English Test team is benefiting as a result. It's one of the things Wales really struggled with in the 2016 6N, English players refusing to die with the ball once a semi-effective grapple was made. I understand the logic behind it; you cannot score points without the ball. But what is the point in 'safe', retained possession, if you don't do anything with it? I would much rather teams, and specifically Scarlets here, look to really run at and through teams, and if that results in 5 more turnovers a game because runners that make ground get isolated, so be it. The benefit is that it should result in 10 or so more linebreaks in a game, and that is absolutely key for a team like the Scarlets which will rely on their running backs to get them points when running at an unsettled defence where mismatches should appear. Not only am I bored of the over-coached trend of ball retention with no risk, but it is absolute in the interests of teams like the Scarlets who cannot pick and go their way up the pitch and win games with their set-piece and goal-kicker.

I understand there's a time and a place for 'safe' carries, but I do no want it to be the de facto attacking option of any team I support. I was bored long before the final whistle went at the weekend, and that's worrying for the first game of the season. Less 'structure', more excitement, more tries. The sad thing is, it's perhaps not in a coach's interest to play that way, particularly if the rest of the league plays similarly, but by failing to grasp the 4 try bonus point in several games last season- most notably Treviso- Scarlets missed out on the play offs, so I fail to see the benefit of just treading water, other than people keeping their jobs for being 'adequate' (this is in no way advocating getting rid of Pivac or any of the coaching team, we're only one game into the season after all, but I really hope for a change in mentality to more attacking rugby, one that means more than just going side to side across the pitch.)

[LordDowlais]

I could not agree more with what you have written there miaow. To say Saturday's performance was disappointing is an understatement. Scarlets have the best starting 15 in Wales in my opinion, and they do not have bad cover on the bench either.

A team with the following players, should be doing a lot better than they did on Saturday:-

Liam Williams; DTH van der Merwe, Scott Williams, Hadleigh Parkes, Steff Evans; Rhys Patchell, Gareth Davies; Dylan Evans, Ken Owens (capt), Werner Kruger, Jake Ball, Lewis Rawlins, Aaron Shingler, John Barclay, Josh Macleod.

Replacements: Ryan Elias, Wyn Jones, Peter Edwards, David Bulbring, Tadhg Beirne, Jonathan Evans, Dan Jones, Jonathan Davies.

There are 7 Welsh internationals in that team along with some decent SH players. Hopefully it will be the kick up the behind Scarlets need. I am hoping it was just early season rustiness. They should be doing better.

[Guest]

Also, as anticipated, I don't really feel like Patchell is a massive grade up on Shingler. At his best, he's a better player, perhaps by a fair bit, but I think he is at least as, if not moreso, inconsistent than Shingler. I'm not sure that's a luxury you can have in your first choice 10 at this level if you don't want to throw points away, as they did at the end with those missed kicks. The goal-kicking is symbolic I think of his deficiencies; can nail the difficult conversion from the touchline on the wrong side, but misses two relateively easy kicks, one a pressure kick to give them a LBP.

The Blues got the better deal I think; in Shingler they have a decent Pro12 outside half, and with Anscombe they have someone who is starting to look genuinely talented and acclimatised to the NH game, whether at 15 or 10, and someone who will probably be in and around the Welsh squad for a number of years to come. I can only hope Stephen Jones can work some magic on Patchell, and that Dan Jones can kick on and really push him to be a better player. I hope it works, and that the risk- in that Patchell is currently a 'raw talent'- is proven to be worth it when he gets a consistent run at 10, but he's not fresh out of the academy, he does have a few seasons under his belt, and I remain sceptical about just how good he can become. I hope I'm wrong.

[international198]

We miss Rhys Preistland and George North.

[LordDowlais]

We miss Rhys Preistland and George North.

And Scott Quinell, Simon Easterby, Duncan Hodge, Selesi Finau ...........

[LordDowlais]

.........Martin Madden......

[international198]

The players you've mentioned are retired. They're not good enough to play for the Scarlets anymore. Both Rhys Preistland and George North are not retired and both are good enough to play for the Scarlets.

[international198]

Sam Jones is one to watch from RGC1404. He scored two tries on the weekend against Bridgend. RGC1404 is the Scarlets' new feeder team in the Welsh Premiership this season. I wonder how many RGC1404 players will go on to play for the Scarlets and then for Wales.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Well not Rhun Williams, for one. He's gone from RGC1404 to the Blues.

[international198]

He's a massive loss to the Scarlets region. Blues have signed a fantastic player there.

[international198]

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/wales-scarlets-suffer-hammer-blow-11843727

[Breadvan]

A series of superb posts miaow..

[George Carlin]

Booyah:
https://www.606v2.com/t63948-edinburgh-v-scarlets-9-september

[international198]

It may look bad that the Scarlets lost to Munster but we must not forget that the Scarlets also won on the weekend. Scarlets women were playing Dragons women and they won 17-15.

http://www.wru.wales/eng/news/37131.php

[wayne]

It may look bad that the Scarlets lost to Munster but we must not forget that the Scarlets also won on the weekend. Scarlets women were playing Dragons women and they won 17-15.

http://www.wru.wales/eng/news/37131.php

International 198, this is for you Scarlet Spiderman and Buzz Scarlet in particular, you can imagine there is some gloating on our Forum about last weekends result, let me just say I'm not in the numbers gloating, but what got to me there is a contributor with the pseudonym Once a Monkey who is a Scarlet fan who fairly regularly contributes to our Forum. Well today he came on and said you've lost 15 of the last 23 games, and taking out the Dragons and the Italians that number changes to 15 of the last 19 and he has said he's had enough of this regime for a while now and if things don't take an upward turn in the next 3 matches he should go.

What are your thoughts?

[ScarletSpiderman]

Wayne, there is a thread on our forum calling for Pivac's head, and numerous calls for everyone below him's head too. I think OAM is one of the posters who is out at PYS with his pitch fork and flaming torch.

Personally, I am not to sure what to think. I can understand the calls for his head, but at the same time, a number of those calls are also from people who have pretty much called for everyones head since Gyppo left us in '06, whilst saying we need to have some form of continuity of coaching. I think I would give Pivac and Co up until the 6Ns to see if things improve, or if we have reached the end of the line, whilst probably keeping an eye out to see who else is/may be available come the end of the season. I'm not into this ditch coaches mid season, because truth is who do you replace them with. Any decent coach worth his salt is already employed, so we would end up in the same situation the Blues have since Dai Young left (bar last season), playing woeful, ditching a coach, having a little improvement under a caretaker (or not) and then starting over from square one again.

Also there right noises seem be getting made by those in charge at PYS. I believe that Pivac has said something along the lines of 'yes we need to add to our pack, and we have certain players we are going to try an bring in, however they were not out of contract during the summer, but they will be at the end of the season. we will not just sign a forward for the sake of it, we will sign players that will have a positive effect, not just filler. this summer it there were some high class backs available and we have got them. the coming summer it will be forwards'.

[wayne]

Wayne, there is a thread on our forum calling for Pivac's head, and numerous calls for everyone below him's head too.  I think OAM is one of the posters who is out at PYS with his pitch fork and flaming torch.

Personally, I am not to sure what to think.  I can understand the calls for his head, but at the same time, a number of those calls are also from people who have pretty much called for everyones head since Gyppo left us in '06, whilst saying we need to have some form of continuity of coaching.  I think I would give Pivac and Co up until the 6Ns to see if things improve, or if we have reached the end of the line, whilst probably keeping an eye out to see who else is/may be available come the end of the season.  I'm not into this ditch coaches mid season, because truth is who do you replace them with.  Any decent coach worth his salt is already employed, so we would end up in the same situation the Blues have since Dai Young left (bar last season), playing woeful, ditching a coach, having a little improvement under a caretaker (or not) and then starting over from square one again.

Also there right noises seem be getting made by those in charge at PYS.  I believe that Pivac has said something along the lines of 'yes we need to add to our pack, and we have certain players we are going to try an bring in, however they were not out of contract during the summer, but they will be at the end of the season.  we will not just sign a forward for the sake of it, we will sign players that will have a positive effect, not just filler.  this summer it there were some high class backs available and we have got them.  the coming summer it will be forwards'.

SS, OAM normally comes across as pretty level headed on our board, but those statistics shocked me, he reminded a few on our forum including the normal gang leader that he and some others were calling for Tandys head last season and previously when his record was much better than Pivac's
Yes I entirely agree about replacing somebody mid season, not an easy job.
Thanks for the reply

[LordDowlais]

Also there right noises seem be getting made by those in charge at PYS. I believe that Pivac has said something along the lines of 'yes we need to add to our pack, and we have certain players we are going to try an bring in, however they were not out of contract during the summer, but they will be at the end of the season. we will not just sign a forward for the sake of it, we will sign players that will have a positive effect, not just filler. this summer it there were some high class backs available and we have got them. the coming summer it will be forwards'.

If that was the case, then why were they not fighting it out with Cardiff Blues for Rhys Gill ?

[ScarletSpiderman]

At a guess it because we have Rob Evans, Dylan Evans and Wyn Jones in the squad already, and two of the Wales under 20s squad in that position already, and as good as Gill is he is starting to get on in years.

Also not sure if many people pay much attention to the Welsh prem, but Llanelli RFC started Simon Gardener at the weekend, so I'd assume he may get some regional action if anything were to happen to Werner or The Meat.

[ScarletSpiderman]

Wayne, I think I may be in a minority of Scarlets fans after Saturday though. Listening to some, it's almost a case of 'let's write this season off and get things in place for next season'.

[wayne]

Wayne, I think I may be in a minority of Scarlets fans after Saturday though.  Listening to some, it's almost a case of 'let's write this season off and get things in place for next season'.

SS, that last part is ludicrous IMO, look at our start to last season, and yet some of the teams above us had squeaky bum time around March and April.

[international198]

Wayne Pivac is the man to lead us forward. With the help of Stephen Jones we could finish in the top half of the Pro12 table again this season. Without Pivac, we would possibly be battling with the Dragons for the second last place Welsh region. Under Pivac's leadership we beat the Ospreys, yet we didn't just beat them, we beat them away as well, for the first time in who knows how many years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/35873236

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