Welsh Post JWC Review...!

Well its over now and well done to all the competing nations, some great rugby was played, again Wales came up against a talented Fijian team that ended their dreams of placing a bit higher than seventh. Lets hope that is not a repeat story when we reach the RWC in September, where Fiji, and the lamentable Samoans stand shoulder to shoulder with South Africa, a team we have only beaten once, trying to prevent us reach the later knock out stages of the tournament.

So a retrospective review is in place to review why our under 20s failed so badly against the eventual winners from New Zealand. An incredibly talented New Zealand team, but shipping 90+ points to anyone as a major nation is a shock to the system and needs to be investigated.

Is our youth structure working?

Are we developing young players with the grounding to make themselves top internationals?

Does Junior Rugby matter?

These questions need answers.

Wales have some talented players, that mimicking their senior counterparts, they make stupid errors in defence and attack that result in a failure to pressure opposition when they have good ball or when they are trying to compete.

Posities were a decent lineout, skillfull attacking, good vision/spacial awareness by the halfbacks, a hardworking back row and a lot of pace in the backline. Negatives were missed tackles in the backs, a poor scrummage and an inability to play the right game plan at the right time, there are many more that I am sure you will mention.

Here is a list of who has progressed at this level from the Welsh JWC attempts over the last few years and what they have currently achieved.

We do seem to be blooding more young players than other top ten nations.

2007
Jamie Corsi (Toured Australia 2007, serious injury, now playing in NZ)
Bradley Davies (2008 - 22 Caps)
Tom James (2007 - 9 Caps)

2008
Dan Biggar (2008 - 6 Caps)
Jonathan Davies (2010 - 12 Caps)
Leigh Halfpenny (2008 - 19 Caps - Lions Tourist)
Sam Warburton (2009 - 5 Caps)

2009
Jason Tovey (Current World Cup Training Squad)
Scott Andrews (2011- 1 Cap)
Tavis Knoyle (2010 - 3 Caps)
Justin Tipuric ((Current World Cup Training Squad)
Rhys Ruddock (Ireland Cap 2010 - 1)

2010
Scott Williams (2011 - 1 Cap)
Kristian Phillips (Wales Squad member 2010)
Tom Prydie (2010 - 4 Caps)
Simon Gardiner (Wales Squad member 2011_
Toby Faletau (2011 - 1 Cap)

George North went straight from the 2009-10 Under 18s to the Senior Squad.

Missed out Ryan Bevington 2008-09 Under 20s and Lloyd Williams 2009 Under 20s, now in the 2011 Senior World Cup training Squad.

What do you mean when you say that you seem to be blooding more players than other top ten nations?
Surely each countries squad is limited to the same number of players???

aucklandlaurie wrote: What do you mean when you say that you seem to be blooding more players than other top ten nations?
Surely each countries squad is limited to the same number of players???

maestegmafia wrote:
We do seem to be blooding more young players than other top ten nations.

I meant exactly what I said, we seem to be blooding a lot of young players, more than other nations. A number of reasons positive and negative apply to that.

Positive we give experience at a higher level to young guys like North, Warburton, Halfpenny, Biggar, Prydie, Bradley Davies, Tavis Knoyle etc all 20 or under when first capped.

Negative is that there is a reason for it, they were capped because we had little other option but to give them a run out.

Wales as you all know has a small player pool to draw from and our national rugby hasn't been in its healthiest state for a very long time.

This may show that we have an infrastructure that is changing positively and increasing the number of young players that in time will produce seasoned professionals and hopefully improve our world ranking, our ability to beat better teams. But this also relies on the quality of coaching and rugby that these youngsters are playing and the quantity and quality of the games they are subjected too.

Maesteg
Just a suggestion,but perhaps you should be blooding more quality coaches (especially at U20 level) rather than worrying about the number of players......

maestegmafia wrote:the lamentable Samoans...

I wouldn't say that to their faces!

aucklandlaurie wrote: Maesteg
Just a suggestion,but perhaps you should be blooding more quality coaches (especially at U20 level) rather than worrying about the number of players......

We have been blooding too many coaches at that level. That could well be half the problem.

Dai Rees 2007-08
Patrtick Horgan 2008
Phill Davies 2009
Darren Edwards 2010 -11
Richard Webster post Six nations 2011

Lets be honest where we come in the U20 World Cup isn't that important really.
We could of easily taken the likes of Prydie (if fit) and North etc, but what would they learn seeing as they have already played for the National team?
The only real lesson Wales have learned is that our first choice team can smash Italy, Argentina and Ireland and our reserves are terrible against New Zealand and Fiji!

The best lesson Webster can learn is NOT to tell players how good other teams are and how much they need to front up and fight to avoid getting stuffed, because all he seemed to do by building New Zealand up so much in the eyes of the Welsh players is that they became terrified of them, and froze on the day. Though he has also said a few home truths which is a good thing because most of these players clearly aren't going to make it as professionals.

It's quite difficult to name a player of the tournament for Wales and if you did you'd have to say it was New Zealand centre Rhys Llewellyn! But other than him you could point to Matthew Morgan who has shown magnificent skills at times, he really gets the backs moving an makes so many breaks, he also takes the right attacking options. It's very important for Wales that he is coached properly and built up so he is physically capable of competing at International level.

There is a lot of talent amongst the Welsh backs but unless someone teaches them how to tackle Wales could be in real trouble in the future.

Alyn

I think it is important if we do it well. If the pool of players increases in the premiership, which it should do currently, and the quality of the premiership improves, which it should also do currently then the relevence of Junior rugby at International level increases.

IP see your argument for excluding youth players who have received full caps or plenty of regional rugby, but then again it would benefit players around them to have their input, as it should benefit the teams by having a few more big name players in the side.

I would like to see a more competitive Welsh under 20s team at the next JWC.

luckless_pedestrian wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:the lamentable Samoans...

I wouldn't say that to their faces!

I am sure they have heard worst

In what way are the Samoans lamentable?

SafeAsMilk wrote:In what way are the Samoans lamentable?

With our record against the samoans at the sport of rugby union any forthcoming match against them could easily see them as being a LAMENTABLE force we have to overcome.

Ah, I see. Thanks for putting it in a sentence. It's like a spelling bee