Wales vs France - Round 3 “Redemption”

First topic message reminder :

Getting your backside kicked and realising your faults can make you a far better and stronger team. Should you go on for a lengthy period without teams finding the flaws in your game you are likely to get a big surprise one day when said period ends..!

Ireland played really well last Saturday, they found flaws in wales defence and attack. I think we all knew our set piece hasn’t been world class but that has been the case for a long time.

Next we face the French, now one of only two teams who can claim a grandslam should their winning run continue and they look pretty handy. They neither look like the french teams of old, Sella, Penaud, Blanco and St Andre nor do they look like the recent sides of Vahmina, Basteraud and an endless stream of different flyhalfs.

Both teams are new to their coaches, both teams are looking to push on from their past and polish their game. France look better than this time last year, Wales maybe not so much...!

Sure going to be a great game.

Wales:

15. Leigh Halfpenny (87 Caps)
14. George North (93 Caps)
13. Nick Tompkins (2 Caps)
12. Hadleigh Parkes (27 Caps)
11. Josh Adams (23 Caps)
10. Dan Biggar (81 Caps)
9. Gareth Davies (52 Caps)

1. Wyn Jones (24 Caps)
2. Ken Owens (75 Caps)
3. Dillon Lewis (24 Caps)
4. Jake Ball (44 Caps)
5. Alun Wyn Jones (C) (136 Caps)
6. Ross Moriarty (43 Caps)
7. Justin Tipuric (74 Caps)
8. Taulupe Faletau (74 Caps)

Replacements:
16. Ryan Elias (11 Caps)
17. Rob Evans (37 Caps)
18. Leon Brown (8 Caps)
19. Will Rowlands (Uncapped)
20. Aaron Wainwright (20 Caps)
21. Tomos Williams (18 Caps)
22. Jarrod Evans (5 Caps)
23. Johnny McNicholl (2 Caps)


France

15. Anthony Bouthier (Montpellier)
14. Teddy Thomas (Racing 92)
13. Virimi Vakatawa (Racing 92)
12. Arthur Vincent (Montpellier)
11. Gaël Fickou (Stade Français)
10. Romain Ntamack (Toulouse)
9. Antoine Dupont (Toulouse)

1. Cyril Baille (Toulouse)
2. Julien Marchand (Toulouse)
3. Mohamed Haouas (Montpellier)
4. Bernard Le Roux (Racing 92)
5. Paul Willemse (Montpellier)
6. François Cros (Toulouse)
7. Charles Ollivon (Toulon) (c)
8. Grégory Alldritt (La Rochelle)

Replacements:
16. Camille Chat (Racing 92)
17. Jean-Baptiste Gros (Toulon)
18. Demba Bamba (Lyon)
19. Romain Taofifenua (Toulon)
20. Dylan Cretin (Lyon)
21. Baptiste Serin (Toulon)
22. Matthieu Jalibert (Bordeaux-Bègles)
23. Thomas Ramos (Toulouse)

formerly known as Sam wrote:Pie, Parkes is 32 and 33 later this year, JD2 is about to turn 32. Wales do need to look at the next generation of options. Thompkins has just turned 25. Get him at 12 which is his preferred position with JD2 at 13 and I think Wales will have a better midfield. Settle Thompkins in and he'll do well for Wales.

Accepted however there is a balance here between results and development. Parkes has been solid and less prone to injury that crocks him than much younger players. He isn't a Henson but he is safe. Tompkins at 12 I just dont see it. He is too small. You have to have a carrier at 12. And ye JD2 also old but I'd take an old fit JD2 over anyone at the moment. For me Watkin is the guy to develop. He carries well and is better defensively than any of the options, even perhaps JD2.

im not dismissing Tompkins entirely I just think he is 2/3rd tier at the moment and his stature worries me for a centre.

Pie wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Pie, Parkes is 32 and 33 later this year, JD2 is about to turn 32. Wales do need to look at the next generation of options. Thompkins has just turned 25. Get him at 12 which is his preferred position with JD2 at 13 and I think Wales will have a better midfield. Settle Thompkins in and he'll do well for Wales.

Parkes has been solid and less prone to injury that crocks him than much younger players. He isn't a Henson but he is safe.

Parkes couldn't open a tin of beans. He's... as you say..... 'safe'. But not much else.

Parkes appeared a great white hope at one point for Wales - dynamic aggression.
But that capacity appears a little clouded now. He'll go on and get a hatrick of tries now against England.....

The first thing to do is to congratulate France. They've suffered a long run of defeats in Cardiff and it must have been very sweet to finally get the win. It should give them a huge boost.

For Wales, it's not a disaster that we've lost at home to France. I think we've been spoilt by the Gatland-Edwards era, and have come to expect home wins against them; but for most of my life France have been contenders for the Five / Six Nations title, so the win on Saturday brought us back to reality a bit. It's unusual to have an unbeaten home run like that against a traditionally very strong rugby-playing nation.

I thought we weren't respectful enough of the referee on Saturday. There was far too much quibbling, which really isn't acceptable. The referee should have marched us back ten early on to nip it in the bud. We're not the only side that does it, but that's no excuse.

The final thing I want to say is that I hate us giving the impression of being bad losers. Yes, you can say that the players are competitive, but all players are competitive, and yet you don't see scenes like this in many matches. Sometimes you just have to take your medicine.

Damn fine post, Luckless

I wish I hadn't edited it now! 

[quote="Khouli]

Parkes couldn't open a tin of bean.[/quote]

See how he gets on with Heinz

Gooseberry wrote:

\"Khouli wrote:

Parkes couldn't open a tin of bean.

See how he gets on with Heinz

He'll use Biggar's teeth.

So Adams is seemingly out for the Six Nations now. Looking increasingly likely we will have to give LRZ his debut v England. If only we had a game available to us, where we could’ve capped him sooner. Like say a home game against a team that generally get whitewashed every tournament.

Yep, not very wise by Pivac. Liam might be available for us though, depends how he goes on the weekend.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:The first thing to do is to congratulate France. They've suffered a long run of defeats in Cardiff and it must have been very sweet to finally get the win. It should give them a huge boost.

For Wales, it's not a disaster that we've lost at home to France. I think we've been spoilt by the Gatland-Edwards era, and have come to expect home wins against them; but for most of my life France have been contenders for the Five / Six Nations title, so the win on Saturday brought us back to reality a bit. It's unusual to have an unbeaten home run like that against a traditionally very strong rugby-playing nation.

I thought we weren't respectful enough of the referee on Saturday. There was far too much quibbling, which really isn't acceptable. The referee should have marched us back ten early on to nip it in the bud. We're not the only side that does it, but that's no excuse.

The final thing I want to say is that I hate us giving the impression of being bad losers. Yes, you can say that the players are competitive, but all players are competitive, and yet you don't see scenes like this in many matches. Sometimes you just have to take your medicine.

Couldn’t have put it better. Kudos