Wales thread continued - 2017/18 season

[mikey_dragon]

First topic message reminder :

2017/2018 season results (full fixture list posted below).

Wales 21 - 29 Australia
Wales 13 - 6 Georgia
Wales 18 - 33 New Zealand
Wales 24 - 22 South Africa

Wales 2018 6N Squad:
Forwards: Rob Evans (Scarlets), Wyn Jones (Scarlets), Nicky Smith (Ospreys), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Elliot Dee (Dragons), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Blues), Adam Beard (Ospreys), Bradley Davies (Ospreys), Seb Davies (Cardiff Blues), Cory Hill (Dragons), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys, capt), James Davies (Scarlets), Taulupe Faletau (Bath), Ellis Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Ross Moriarty (Gloucester), Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues), Aaron Shingler (Scarlets), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys).

Backs: Aled Davies (Scarlets), Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Patchell (Scarlets), Rhys Priestland (Bath), Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets), Owen Watkin (Ospreys), Owen Williams (Gloucester), Scott Williams (Scarlets), Josh Adams (Worcester Warriors), Hallam Amos (Dragons), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Steff Evans (Scarlets), Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets), George North (Northampton Saints), Liam Williams (Saracens).

Faletau, Biggar expected to be available later on in the tournament. Amos, L Williams perhaps a little sooner.

Call-ups to cover injuries, etc.
Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


I thought we'd start with the Autumn series. Gatland the Great is set to return and shake things up after another disappointing season underneath the Howler and his pal McBryde. The fixtures for this series are as follows:

November 2017
Sat 11th Nov 17 17:15
Wales   v   Australia  
Sat 18th Nov 17 14:30
Wales   v   Georgia
Sat 25th Nov 17 17:15
Wales   v   New Zealand
December 2017
Sat 2nd Dec 17 14:30
Wales   v   South Africa

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well there's no time like now so why not. Last year was a bit disappointing, topped off with an unsuccessful tour to NZ (as expected). Whilst I'm hoping for better this season my expectations are low as we have Howler and some other amateurs in charge who got the job because they were mates with Gatland and others in the WRU.

AI's
Wales V Australia 05/11/2016
8 - 32
Wales V Argentina 12/11/2016
24 - 20
Wales V Japan 19/11/2016
33 - 30
Wales V South Africa 26/11/2016
27 - 13

6 Nations
Italy V Wales 05/02/2017
7 - 33
Wales V England 11/02/2017
16 - 21
Scotland V Wales 25/02/2017
29 - 13
Wales V Ireland 10/03/2017
22 - 9
France V Wales 18/03/2017
20 -18

Very tough AI series but a kind start in the 6N. So far this season Blues and Ospreys look good, but how many of their players will be starters for Wales? Cuthbert is starting to look like his old self and if this continues he could come back into the team. Tomos Williams looks like a good player and if he also continues in this vein then might he take advantage of Gareth Davies' supposed rustiness? It's still early days but going by what I've seen and the reports I've read I would like to see a new centre partnership and also perhaps see our old back 3 of North, Cuthbert and Halfpenny reinstated - although a lot could happen between now and November. With Faletau out I think we can all guess who the wildcards will be, but who does that leave to play at No.8 - possibly Warburton with Ellis Jenkins at 7? What changes (if any) would you like to see? Keep it sensible please.

WALES 2016 UNDER ARMOUR SERIES SQUAD
Prop Scott Andrews (Cardiff Blues) (12 Caps) Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs) (14 Caps) Rhys Gill (Cardiff Blues) (6 Caps) Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues) (126 Caps) Samson Lee (Scarlets) (28 Caps) Nicky Smith (Ospreys) (3 Caps)
Hooker Scott Baldwin (Ospreys) (24 Caps) Kristian Dacey (Cardiff Blues) (3 Caps) Ken Owens (Scarlets) (42 Caps)
Second Row Jake Ball (Scarlets) (20 Caps) Luke Charteris (Bath Rugby) (68 Caps) Bradley Davies (Ospreys) (56 Caps) Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys) (102 Caps) Rory Thornton (Ospreys) (UNCAPPED)
Back Row Dan Baker (Ospreys) (3 Caps) Taulupe Faletau* (Bath Rugby) (61 Caps) James King (Ospreys) (8 Caps) Dan Lydiate (Ospreys) (57 Caps) Ross Moriarty (Gloucester) (9 Caps) Justin Tipuric (Ospreys) (43 Caps) Sam Warburton (CAPT) (Cardiff Blues) (67 Caps)
Scrum Half Gareth Davies (Scarlets) (17 Caps) Rhys Webb (Ospreys) (22 Caps) Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues) (27 Caps)
Fly Half Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues) (8 Caps) Dan Biggar (Ospreys) (48 Caps) Sam Davies (Ospreys) (UNCAPPED)
Centre Jonathan Davies (Scarlets) (56 Caps) Tyler Morgan (Newport Gwent Dragons) (3 Caps) Jamie Roberts* (Harlequins) (83 Caps) Scott Williams (Scarlets) (38 Caps)
Wing/Full Back Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons) (10 Caps) Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues) (42 Caps) Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon) (62 Caps) George North* (Northampton Saints) (62 Caps) Liam Williams (Scarlets) (35 Caps) * Denotes Senior Player Selection Policy wildcard selection.
Ospreys wing Keelan Giles, Cardiff Blues full-back Rhun Williams and Dragons pair Leon Brown and Harrison Keddie will train with the Wales squad.  

June summer tour
Tonga 6 - 24 Wales
Samoa 17 - 19 Wales

[munkian]

Tyler Morgan released to Dragons from Wales squad with injury, Scot Williams called up.

[RiscaGame]

Shame for Tyler. He is pretty unlucky with his injuries.

Good for Scott Williams. Quite a few think he should never have been left out in the first place. I don't think he will play very often though.

[Gwlad]

Sounds to me as if Patchell is the man, big and able to pass. Just saw Cuthbert is in the mix, he must have pics of Gats naked with Howley

[munkian]

Sounds to me as if Patchell is the man, big and able to pass. Just saw Cuthbert is in the mix, he must have pics of Gats naked with Howley

He'd look daft if he abandoned his playmaker at 12 thing and went with SW.

Vintage Cuthbert was class but he wants taking behind the stable and shooting now.

[Gwlad]

Sounds to me as if Patchell is the man, big and able to pass. Just saw Cuthbert is in the mix, he must have pics of Gats naked with Howley

He'd look daft if he abandoned his playmaker at 12 thing and went with SW.

Vintage Cuthbert was class but he wants taking behind the stable and shooting now.

I'd prefer if he were put in the stable with the stallion with the big #####

[chris_501]

Sounds to me as if Patchell is the man, big and able to pass. Just saw Cuthbert is in the mix, he must have pics of Gats naked with Howley

He'd look daft if he abandoned his playmaker at 12 thing and went with SW.

Vintage Cuthbert was class but he wants taking behind the stable and shooting now.

I'm happier now that SW is there now, hopefully he has an opportunity to shine. He's been great regionally but not quite made the step up consistently at international level.

As for back 3, I would love to see a back 3 of Evans, Amos and Williams. All those guys are on good form, and look confident with the ball in hand.

[munkian]

Sounds to me as if Patchell is the man, big and able to pass. Just saw Cuthbert is in the mix, he must have pics of Gats naked with Howley

He'd look daft if he abandoned his playmaker at 12 thing and went with SW.

Vintage Cuthbert was class but he wants taking behind the stable and shooting now.

I'm happier now that SW is there now, hopefully he has an opportunity to shine. He's been great regionally but not quite made the step up consistently at international level.

As for back 3, I would love to see a back 3 of Evans, Amos and Williams. All those guys are on good form, and look confident with the ball in hand.

He hasn't really been inform 'regionally' most of the season though which is why I don't understand all the p*ss boiling from turk fans.

[RiscaGame]

He is also the only available for Australia player released back to the regions this weekend. As I thought, he won't get much opportunity to play for TW this autumn, even if some are now happy he's in the squad.

[munkian]

He is also the only available for Australia player released back to the regions this weekend. As I thought, he won't get much opportunity to play for TW this autumn, even if some are now happy he's in the squad.

I hoped more players would have been released, that's the region's next round in the league bollixed.

[LordDowlais]

So Wales start their AI campaign in 6 days time. Are we using this thread to discuss it ?

Or are we going to do match threads ?

[munkian]

So Wales start their AI campaign in 6 days time. Are we using this thread to discuss it ?

Or are we going to do match threads ?

Players club games related to their International games 'shocker'

[RiscaGame]

He is also the only available for Australia player released back to the regions this weekend. As I thought, he won't get much opportunity to play for TW this autumn, even if some are now happy he's in the squad.

I hoped more players would have been released, that's the region's next round in the league bollixed.

Missed this sorry. Yes, more should’ve been released really. Maybe we wouldn’t have wanted ours, seeing as Munster away wasn’t really our bag, but I suspect a few others would’ve fancied some Team Wales fringe players. Certainly Ospreys for a start.

[cascough]

Sounds to me as if Patchell is the man, big and able to pass. Just saw Cuthbert is in the mix, he must have pics of Gats naked with Howley

He'd look daft if he abandoned his playmaker at 12 thing and went with SW.

Vintage Cuthbert was class but he wants taking behind the stable and shooting now.

I'm happier now that SW is there now, hopefully he has an opportunity to shine. He's been great regionally but not quite made the step up consistently at international level.

As for back 3, I would love to see a back 3 of Evans, Amos and Williams. All those guys are on good form, and look confident with the ball in hand.

I only found this out recently, and I was pretty surprised. Scott Williams has 48 caps! I'd have thought 48 caps was enough to see if he was going to make the grade. I think the change of direction was a sensible one.

[LordDowlais]

So Wales start their AI campaign in 6 days time. Are we using this thread to discuss it ?

Or are we going to do match threads ?

Players  club games related to their International games 'shocker'

[chris_501]

The biggest debate seems to be who will play at 12.

Owen Williams seems to be the favourite, however he has not played much for Glos there.

Maybe Patchell out of position?

[Cardiff Dave]

He is also the only available for Australia player released back to the regions this weekend. As I thought, he won't get much opportunity to play for TW this autumn, even if some are now happy he's in the squad.

I hoped more players would have been released, that's the region's next round in the league bollixed.

Plus Europe kicks off again, 6 days after the Wales v S Africa game.
No doubt there'll be a few missing following the Autumn bash.

[munkian]

Webb and Tipuric injury doubts for Saturday.

Navidi at 7 against Hooper is going to be real horror show.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Nah, it'll be fine. If Navidi's struggling, we'll just bring Sam Cross off the bench.

[mikey_dragon]

I can't picture Navidi struggling, and if we're playing expansively then it suits his style of play as it does Shingler's. I can't recall when we've had so many injuries at 7, now our depth here really gets tested.

[mikey_dragon]

So Wales start their AI campaign in 6 days time. Are we using this thread to discuss it ?

Or are we going to do match threads ?

This is more of a season discussion thread, so it wouldn't be any bother to have a match thread for each game.

[carpet baboon]

Evening Welsh folk.

What are you looking for in the autumn internationals?
What would you see as successful?
Any new players you have high hopes for?
And have I heard that TW are looking to play a more open fast game ?

And also good luck.

[RiscaGame]

I actually wouldn’t be surprised to see Gatland start Cross. He clearly isn’t Navidi’s biggest fan.

[munkian]

Evening Welsh folk.

What are you looking for in the autumn internationals?
What would you see as successful?
Any new players you have high hopes for?
And have I heard that TW are looking to play a more open fast game ?

And also good luck.

Morning.

I'd like us to play with some style and confidence - high risk high reward stuff.

I'd see 3 out of 4 wins as 'successful' but 2 out of 4 as realistic. I'd be more confident if we didn't have so many back row injuries.

I hope Elliot Dee gets a fair bit of match time at hooker and Brown gets a run. I'm hoping for big things for them in the years to come.

Gatland etc have said they want to have a play maker at 10 and 12 - Its hardly revolutionary stuff and was fairly standard before we liked huge centres and backs.

[chris_501]

I guess the big centres coincided with Roberts and JD2 being by far our best two centres.

Roberts has slightly dropped off the level he was at so it now opens the door to whoever is the best 12, unfortunately it's not that apparent, but may be at the end of this set of AIs.

[Gwlad]

Apparently Gats has reinvented the wheel, Welsh rugby is now all about the offload. Funny that since he destroyed that natural instinct because it was based on our natural catch up rugby ability and he thought route 1 smash it up was more effective. But against SH teams we have always been better playing a wider game.

We just effectively wasted 9 years of rugby evolution.

[TightHEAD]

Lol, only 9 years?

[SecretFly]

Apparently Gats has reinvented the wheel, Welsh rugby is now all about the offload. Funny that since he destroyed that natural instinct because it was based on our natural catch up rugby ability and he thought route 1 smash it up was more effective. But against SH teams we have always been better playing a wider game.

We just effectively wasted 9 years of rugby evolution.

That's okay. Gats doesn't have a long memory or nothing ....so he'll have forgotten the 9 previous years already?

[TightHEAD]

Lets hope he doesn't forget about the Lions.

[chris_501]

We haven't had a good ball playing centre since Henson playing in any of the regions, so there hasn't been anyone really to select internationally.

[TightHEAD]

Ah, Henson.

[mikey_dragon]

HERSH is a fat and bald muppet - that much Gatland knows.

[munkian]

[LordDowlais]

So this is it then ?

We are using this thread as the match thread ?

[Luckless Pedestrian]

If you want to start a match thread, start a match thread!

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Wales haven't won their opening Autumn international since beating Romania in 2002.

Just thought I'd cheer everyone up with that.

[munkian]

If you want to start a match thread, start a match thread!

I did mun

[chris_501]

No Samson Lee is a bit of a shock.

Not much experience on that bench, I still don't get the Sam Cross decision.

[LordDowlais]

Ahem, match thread here please:-

https://www.606v2.com/t66750-wales-v-australia-11th-november

We will have no match talk on here thanks. Lets all jump onto munkians thread that he has put together.

[BamBam]

Looks a fairly settled side

Is much expected of the flankers? I know they're fairly experienced club players, but is it a case of real competition for Warburton/Tipuric or just to fill a gap while they're out

I thought the likes of Davies/Griffiths would have been close at 7

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Davies and Griffiths are both injured, as is Ellis Jenkins.

Thomas Young, on the other hand, is as fit as a fiddle, but Gatland decided to go with a journeyman and a Sevens specialist instead.

[BamBam]

Ah ok, that's a fair few out injured then, that explains it, thanks LP

Young is a good player for sure

[XR]

Josh Navidi is a journeyman?

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Journeyman (noun) - a worker or sports player who is reliable but not outstanding.

[BamBam]

Which game do you think is more of a priority this autumn .. Australia or SA?

[munkian]

Journeyman (noun) - a worker or sports player who is reliable but not outstanding.

Yup, solid club player, not international standard.

People often confuse the term with someone whose moved around a lot.

[RiscaGame]

No Samson Lee is a bit of a shock.

Not much experience on that bench, I still don't get the Sam Cross decision.

Lee has an Achilles problem.

[RiscaGame]

Clearly Australia will probably target the 10/12 channel and expect a bit of joy from Hooper.

Really hope Steff Evans gets a real opportunity to shine.

[munkian]

Clearly Australia will probably target the 10/12 channel and expect a bit of joy from Hooper.

Really hope Steff Evans gets a real opportunity to shine.

Hope Sanjay gets some ball too.

Really disappointed Biggar is still 10, he stands very deep.

[TightHEAD]

Can't see Wales getting anything out of this game apart from a bloody nose.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

Clearly Australia will probably target the 10/12 channel and expect a bit of joy from Hooper.

Really hope Steff Evans gets a real opportunity to shine.

Hope Sanjay gets some ball too.

Really disappointed Biggar is still 10, he stands very deep.

It's a bit of a fudge really - they say they want to play a more expansive game and then go with an outside half who, for all his qualities, has never been a footballer. And it's no good him just shipping it on to Owen Williams for him to make something happen, because he'll have even less time on the ball. You need an outside half who's a threat in his own right.

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