Wales RWC 2019 Thread

[Guest]

First topic message reminder :

WALES’ 2019 RWC SQUAD:

Forwards: Jake Ball, Adam Beard, Rhys Carre, James Davies, Elliot Dee, Ryan Elias, Tomas Francis, Cory Hill, Alun Wyn Jones, Wyn Jones, Dillon Lewis, Ross Moriarty, Josh Navidi, Ken Owens, Aaron Shingler, Nicky Smith, Justin Tipuric, Aaron Wainwright.

Backs: Josh Adams, Hallam Amos, Dan Biggar, Aled Davies, Gareth Davies, Jonathan Davies, Leigh Halfpenny, George North, Hadleigh Parkes, Rhys Patchell, Owen Watkin, Liam Williams, Tomos Williams.

[mikey_dragon]

Anscombe isn’t world class and some were unsure if he was even our best. Biggar is better. Evans has greater potential and was able to keep Anscombe out of the 10 jersey.

[Pie]

Even if its an Ancome-less Wales?

Anscombe has been a key figure for a season or so but its not forget that prior to that 75 plus cap bigger was the go to guy and it was Biggar who engineered a rather famous win in 2015. His kicking game is superb and defensively he is better than Anscombe.

Biggar has been shutting the door in teams faces as a replacement for Anscombe, no reason why he cant do that as a starter

[Pie]

Some fans might be concerned but it seems Gatland isn’t in the slightest. It would be surprising if there wasn’t a response this weekend. When you consider the players to come back in against a Sexton-less Ireland things will be going well, but I think that’s reliant on a win this weekend.

English fans seem very concerned

[TightHEAD]

My only concerned is that the English lads may eat a dodgy Welsh cake pre-game.

[SecretFly]

Anscombe isn’t world class and some were unsure if he was even our best.

Downright unforgivable negligence from a side that only has to win their game at the weekend to become Number 1 ranked side in the world.

Anscombe, the chancer!  Luckily Gats spotted the fraud before Wales got on the plane to Japan.

[RiscaGame]

Never fear Fly. We are losing every warm up game, as Gats wants us back under the radar. He has pulled some stunts before, but this is the best one yet. Lose four in a row and then turn it around, against the Georgians and not lose another game. Man is a genius.

[mikey_dragon]

What channel is this on? I thought it was on 4.

[No 7&1/2]

Channel 4 or sky. Your preference.

[Pie]

My only concerned is that the English lads may eat a dodgy Welsh cake pre-game.

mmm, maybe thats what they ate when Teo and Brown started to beat the carp out of each other

[BigTrevsbigmac]

Channel 4 or sky. Your preference.

I like the C4 lineup Ugo ( top bloke), Sam Warburton (excellent & unbiased), Flats (excellent analysis & very witty).

Sky & Barnes - meh!

I know their not showing it but....


BBC coverage is just rank bad - JD embarrassing, Guscott (loves anything Welsh),Moore, Butler, the one exception is Andy Nichol

[mikey_dragon]

Two things I’ve noticed;
We still look tired.
Wainright is playing himself onto the plane.

[mikey_dragon]

Aled Davies, liability as usual.

[Pie]

By absolutely brutal did Eddie mean injure as many Wales players as possible

[mikey_dragon]

Aled Davies, liability as usual.

After I post this he throws an intercept.

[RiscaGame]

Andy Nicol is atrocious, in my opinion.

Anyway, just watched the first half. Wales are undoubtedly playing on heavy legs at the minute. As it was said, there’s still five weeks or whatever until the tournament starts.

I love Wainwright, but he has fallen off a couple of tackles the past couple of weeks.

[SecretFly]

Kind of a rope-a-dope game by both sides. Looks like they were all carrying lead vests under their kit. Lots of effort, lots of sweat.... but only a pretend game in the end.

[Guest]

It would be interesting to know more of what is going on behind the scenes. These days it’s all about mimicking the conditions and situations they might face. Gats has had players training in the heat. Eddie Jones commented that having to play players out of position yesterday was good practice for it inevitably happening in the World Cup. One other scenario they’ll all face is the quick turn around and playing under fatigue. I therefore wonder if, given the heavy legged look of a lot of the Wales players in the last two games, whether they’ve done some sort of pre-game fatigue or mid week full intensity practice match, or something similar, in order to mimic what will happen in the group stages. They certainly looked pretty stodgy in the running department.

[maestegmafia]

This is only just half way through the squad training for the World Cup and we have had two tests, a fortnight up a mountain above a mountain as well as a few weeks at the vale... The lads still have Turkey conditioning and two tests agains the Irish to get some practice in.

The game on Saturday was stoic, the team were under training conditions. We were trying things, trying players trying the patience of the fans a bit but i really felt we got a lot out of it.

Very happy with most of the pack in the loose, very improved in the line out, wainwright doing really well.

[mikey_dragon]

If Tomos Williams doesn’t recover I wonder if Webb will get the call.

[maestegmafia]

If Tomos Williams doesn’t recover I wonder if Webb will get the call.

I wonder if Aled Davies got injured whether Rhys Webb would get the call? Not putting ideas in anyone’s head or anything just asking for a friend...!

[LordDowlais]

I was glad to see Wales adopt different tactics over the two games. At Twickenham, I felt we tried to beat England at their own game, we tried to take their forwards on. In Cardiff, we put the ball in the air a lot more and made their big guys run around after it, totally negating their strength in the forwards.

It was refreshing to see that as a team, the Welsh squad are starting to show signs of maturity, not so long ago we were being called the village idiots of world rugby, always trying the same thing, over and over and hoping it would work, no plan b.

Now though, I saw two very distinct approaches over the two games, we are adapting to teams, I think Wales have taken more out of these two fixtures than England have. It will be interesting to see how we approach Ireland.

[SecretFly]

I think when Biggar is playing you know the ball is going into the air quite a bit.

[SecretFly]

It will be interesting to see how we approach Ireland.  

Send in your 3rd string. Believe me, it'll be enough.....

[Luckless Pedestrian]

This is only just half way through the squad training for the World Cup and we have had two tests, a fortnight up a mountain above a mountain as well as a few weeks at the vale... The lads still have Turkey conditioning and two tests agains the Irish to get some practice in.

I normally wait until December for that.

[SecretFly]

A soapy massage by a big hairy fat man?

Oh well, if that's how they like to prepare their turkeys in Wales, so be it. I prefer boringly traditional stuffing.

[LondonTiger]

[mikey_dragon]

I was just thinking that we’re doing pretty well lately, considering that Evans, Lee, Hill, Faletau, Tipuric, Webb, Anscombe and L Williams were missing. Shingler and Navidi were also out up until the 2nd half of this most recent game.

[LordDowlais]

Oh well, uncle Eddie has made Wales favourites for the Rugby World cup now.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/49381812

If he says it, then it must be true.

[mikey_dragon]

Yeah plus we beat his team with all those guys missing. I’ve no idea why so much was made of England’s rotation, and not of our guys missing.

[Cyril]

Don’t forget that England won on aggregate over the two games #kingsofthewarmups

[Poorfour]

Yeah plus we beat his team with all those guys missing. I’ve no idea why so much was made of England’s rotation, and not of our guys missing.

I think the point is that many of the players missing for Wales will not be going to the RWC - most notably Anscombe and Faletau - so this was far closer to the side that you will be fielding at the pointy end of the tournament than England's was.

Of the England starting XV, arguably only the locks, Daly and Billy would be clear first choices, whereas 10 or 11 of the Wales XV would.

Wales put in a great defensive performance and exploited the extra space from being two men up to create their try, but for a home game it wasn't totally convincing. Gatland probably has more to mull over than Eddie at this point.

Well done for cementing the #1 spot, though.

[Gooseberry]

 It will be interesting to see how we approach Ireland.  

Head west you cant miss it.

[chris_501]

Yeah plus we beat his team with all those guys missing. I’ve no idea why so much was made of England’s rotation, and not of our guys missing.

I think the point is that many of the players missing for Wales will not be going to the RWC - most notably Anscombe and Faletau - so this was far closer to the side that you will be fielding at the pointy end of the tournament than England's was.

Of the England starting XV, arguably only the locks, Daly and Billy would be clear first choices, whereas 10 or 11 of the Wales XV would.

Wales put in a great defensive performance and exploited the extra space from being two men up to create their try, but for a home game it wasn't totally convincing. Gatland probably has more to mull over than Eddie at this point.

Well done for cementing the #1 spot, though.

I'm not sure about this. We know our strongest team, the tough decisions are who make up the minor places in the squad. We know that our game will be based around a strong defence and force penalties.

I'm not sure Eddie knows who a third of his starting XV will be. Lots of players with small injuries, who will be in the backrow, the back 3 and more importantly the 10, 12, 13 axis.

World Cups aren't generally won by the most expansive team, but rather the team that can string together the most performances without a hiccup!

[LondonTiger]

I'm not sure Eddie knows who a third of his starting XV will be. Lots of players with small injuries, who will be in the backrow, the back 3 and more importantly the 10, 12, 13 axis.

Not really relevant for here, but responding to this anyway, Eddie pretty much knows his starting XV even if England fans will quibble over it. Pretty much his only decision is at 6 and he probably knows what he wants. Injuries could impact upon this, but most of the guys who have been rested due to injury could have played if these last two games results were actually important. 10,12,13 for big games will be Farrell, Manu, Slade. here injuries have caused an issue (Slade) and potential issue (Manu) but eddie knows what he wants.

[Poorfour]

I'm not sure Eddie knows who a third of his starting XV will be. Lots of players with small injuries, who will be in the backrow, the back 3 and more importantly the 10, 12, 13 axis.

Not really relevant for here, but responding to this anyway, Eddie pretty much knows his starting XV even if England fans will quibble over it. Pretty much his only decision is at 6 and he probably knows what he wants. Injuries could impact upon this, but most of the guys who have been rested due to injury could have played if these last two games results were actually important. 10,12,13 for big games will be Farrell, Manu, Slade. here injuries have caused an issue (Slade) and potential issue (Manu) but eddie knows what he wants.

Agreed. Eddie has said that his selection process was to pick the first XXIII, then the last 4 or 5 who brought something different to the squad and that the tricky bit was working out the second string between those two groups. He's very clearly used the first two warm up games to see how the backup players cope with challenges.

I think, with a couple of quibbles, most fans would guess that his preferred XXIII is:
Mako George Sinckler
Itoje Kruis
Wilson Billy Curry
Youngs Farrell
Manu Slade
May Daly Nowell

Marler Cowan-Dickie Cole
Lawes Underhill
Heinz Ford Watson

You could make a case for starting Marler, swapping the locks (and Launchbury) around, putting Francis over Ford and for JJ or Cokanasiga as the final bench spot. Many of those are horses for courses type choices; the core of the team is pretty clear.

As I see it, he's only got a handful of selection problems left:
- How many of his flankers will actually be fit at any point in time.
- Who is the backup to Billy at 8 (by default it's Wilson - but that puts a huge load on a guy who will be playing a lot)
- Getting a proper fullback out of the players he's picked.

The last is probably the main point of disagreement that fans have with Eddie's selections. Daly does not look convincing at fullback defensively, and England have repeatedly been exposed because of it.

[maestegmafia]

So who we expecting to see in the team vs Ireland?

[maestegmafia]

Carre Elyas Lee
Hill Davies
Cubby nalvidi Shingler
Tomas Jarrod
Scott Owen
Owen 1/2p Hallam

[Pie]

No point playing Davies Maes

Hill Beard for me

Otherwise I agree though I would play Holmes on the wing and Hallam at FB resting Half or subbing him for Lane who replaces Watlin at centre on 40 mins. Need to put max pressure on Evans kicking and all.

[TightHEAD]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/49434027

[RiscaGame]

A little moot now, but at least it further highlights that Wales did nothing wrong in scoring their try.

[TightHEAD]

I agree with that had it been a QF, Semi or Final and it was all on the line vs the All Blacks or Saffers, but during a warm up game against a experimental team????

[LordDowlais]

So what point are trying to make ? Do you want the score overturned and the game stricken from history and for Wales to go back to 2nd in the world rankings ?

[TightHEAD]

No not at all, you have earned the No1 tag, have it and enjoy it.

But the try should go to Ken and the Ref should only be used in the Pool stages of the RWC.

[LordDowlais]

But the ref did nothing wrong, why should he be punished ?

and

Who's Ken ?

[TightHEAD]

Who's Ken!!!!!

Sportsmanship, rule change says otherwise.

[LordDowlais]

Who's Ken!!!!!

I don't know, you mentioned him in your post above:-

But the try should go to Ken and the Ref should only be used in the Pool stages of the RWC.

[LordDowlais]

Sportsmanship, rule change says otherwise.

It would now. But when it happened it was fine.

[TightHEAD]

If it was fine then there would be no need to change the gentleman's agreement/unwritten rule, not in the spirit of the game. Didn't see England trying to stump Smith when he was rolling around in pain at the cricket.

I find it hard to believe a Welshman doesn't know who Ken is!

[LordDowlais]

If it was fine then there would be no need to change the gentleman's agreement/unwritten rule, not in the spirit of the game. Didn't see England trying to stump Smith when he was rolling around in pain at the cricket.

I find it hard to believe a Welshman doesn't know who Ken is!

Your kidding, right ?

All players have a history of the opposite. Even English ones. So go cry me a river.

[maestegmafia]

TightHEAD stop trolling LD stop reacting

I would like to see this thread get back to rugby discussion with no further BS from you two

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