On another topic… where are all the decent centres in the Northern Hemisphere? Granted most of the Welsh are broken, Manu is fairly reasonable and BOD ages exponentially but there seem as many world class 12’s and 13’s as there are 10’s in the NH. Is it fair to say the best centres in the NH are French at the moment?
Talk also lately that Ian Evans may be off to Toulon joining the Welsh exiles. Good to see Coombes back in the Welsh starting line up as he had a great 6N
I wonder who is in contention to usurp Tom Youngs as our replacement hooker, unless he improves his accuracy I don’t want to see him the 6N..
Me neither. The next in line is Rob Webber of B***. He put in some great performances in Argentina over the summer. Good player.
I see Ireland are bidding for to host the RWC. Bloody good luck to them, I really hope they get it (I doubt the aussie management want it to happen though 😀 )
speak for yourself Wales have quite a few good centres and a number of young prospects, its just that most of them are broken. Ireland would be better off with Marshall at 12 and Bowe at 13 IMO
Wales: Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues); George North (Northampton Saints), Owen Williams (Cardiff Blues), Ashley Beck (Ospreys), Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons); James Hook (Perpignan), Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues); Paul James (Bath), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Luke Charteris (Perpignan), Ian Evans (Ospreys), Andrew Coombs (Dragons), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Ryan Jones (Ospreys – CAPT).
Replacements: Emyr Phillips (Scarlets), Ryan Bevington (Ospreys), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Dan Lydiate (Racing Metro), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues), Rhodri Williams (Scarlets), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Jordan Williams (Scarlets).
Be nice to see J Williams get a cap. Cant see the sense in playing 1/2p in this game. I would have thought a run out for Liam Williams at 15 would be on the cards. Same goes for North, if he is released for the aus game why play him this week. Surprised Lydiate isnt starting, is he released for the Aus game? Centre pairing looks a nice blend but is it too soon for O Williams?
Bowe isn’t good enough defensively to play 13 and he’s badly off form at the minute. The long term replacement appears to be Payne once he’s Irish qualified next summer. Our best prospect for 13 however was young Nevin Spence sadly
So the world class NH centres are Welsh and broken, Manu and broken or French 😀 Sounds about right. Just seems that a lack of flow in the midfield has been a bit of a theme for the home nations in this November series.
Even BOD is getting a hard time in the Irish press
I don’t think many players were spared in that piece 😀 Wasn’t the Aus game BOD’s fourth game of the season or something similar? He seemed somewhat anonymous at the weekend and I guess it’s no surprise really.
Cant see the sense in playing 1/2p in this game. I would have thought a run out for Liam Williams at 15 would be on the cards. Same goes for North
Completely agree! When I saw 1/2p starting my first thought was why bother risk such a potential blow against such a physical side with so little reward for a win
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I hope he has the balls to make the changes which are so obviously required. Game time for the incomers should be given during the 6N so that they’re tested and ready for the RWC.
It is actually getting pretty close to the world cup. You would want the likes of Wade to play at least five proper internationals to see if he’s up to it before then.
Yep. And a few more than Wade too. Yardie needs game time and players like Burns, Watson and Burrell too.
This is why (regardless of the scores) I think that Wales overall will benefit from the next two AIs; the larger squad getting a good run out. A successful RWC needs more than a good match day 23.
Indeed, there isn’t much game time between now and then.
We have 2 x 6n, 1 x summer internationals/tours, 1 x autumn internationals and I assume in 2015 instead of summer ints we will have world cup warm up games?
edit to add to my fixture list for 2015:
August 15 – England v France QBE International
August 22 – France v England
September 5 – England v Ireland QBE International
Professor Lorne Crerar, the International Rugby Board-appointed judicial officer, ruled that Kuridrani’s offence warranted an eight-week ban.
He added a ninth week as a deterrent for this type of tackle – but then took four weeks off to reflect Kuridrani’s previously good disciplinary record and other mitigating factors.
The resulting suspension of five weeks can only be served during Kuridrani’s playing schedule, meaning it will not expire until mid-February.
We added a week to annoy him and then took a few off because he had shined his shoes properly and said sorry FFS
Do Scotland have a chance as:
Adam Ashley-Cooper, Nick Cummins, Liam Gill, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Benn Robinson and Paddy Ryan will not face Scotland.
Anyay earlier in the thread I was bemoaning the English butchering chances by not drawing defenders have a look at this… even captain Sam can see where Hook should have gone
bah I must be going blind, thats a bit small for me to recognise hook or warbs. Is hook the 22? From what I can see the 22 should have run inside the no 5 and passed to the bloke in space on his right? Looks like 1/2p with the scrumcap on his inside? I need this in HD..
yer I think I managed to unpick it. I watch all this shit on my big tv with lots of rewind.
Anyway I can see it now, warbs has a ruddy great 7 on his back.
I can see your frustration anyway, from the angle shown it looks like hook was just ruddy blind, he could of stepped inside, caught up with Warbs, offload and bosh Leekeaters Glory!
Anyway, try not to be too dissapointed, it appears no20 looked like he saw the gap and would probs have easily outpaced Warbs 😥 (edit actually I dunno as at first I thought it was Habana, but I dunno who that 20 is)
it appears no20 looked like he saw the gap and would probs have easily outpaced Warbs (edit actually I dunno as at first I thought it was Habana, but I dunno who that 20 is)
looks like JP Peiterson but I thought he started?
Hook would have had choices outside as well as Warbs inside though. Warbs had 1/2p steaming up on the outside too and no one would catch him.
Compare and contrast this with what SA did with Habana going outside Hibbard and scoring a try. This is where the Northern Hemisphere teams lose out. Even though SA play a structured bosh game, when its on they go for it and flood the area with support runners. Warbs and 1/2p saw the gap but the guy with the ball didn’t, he didn’t even fix the 5 before passing.
Yeah I saw 1/2p, you are right Hook did have options, and yes woeful offload he could have drawn 5. Looks like he was a bit fearful??
This is basic stuff even my schoolboy rugby would have this covered..
Anyway take heart in the fact that only one of your players was a der brain, a good few others were doing the right thing. Looks like an easy fix to me.
If that were England on the other hand, we would have crashed into the tackle and got pinged for holding on. Offloads are a mystery to us.
looks like JP Peiterson but I thought he started?
Would he have been quicker than warbs? That would have been good to see though, the 20 tackling Warbs, and he offloads to 1/2p. Bingo! Pints of Brains and Welsh Rarebit on the lawn for all concerned!
Ok will hunt. Cheers.
According to my reliable source (that guardian article) Amos is a bit of a utility player. Could be a handy bloke to have on the bench.
Backs not confirmed would like to see Bennett get a game at centre. Pack looks strong must be going after the OZ scrum
Scotland team to face OZ: (Backs from) S Maitland, M Evans, T Seymour, M Bennett, N De Luca, D Taylor, S Lamont, R Jackson, D Weir, G Laidlaw, C Cusiter.
Forwards: R Grant, R Ford, M Low, T Swinson, J Hamilton, Beattie, Denton, Brown (captain).
Replacements: P MacArthur, A Dickinson, E Murray, G Gilchrist, K Low, TBC, TBC, TBC.
Not injured, Johnson said before the start of the tests he wants to give as many players as possible game time, try combinations etc with a view to increasing the player pool with international experience prior to the RWC, it is why Brown was not playing last match.
Unfortuantely injuries have got in the way to an extent i think Dunbar/Scott or Bennnett/Scott in the centre would have been good but both Scott and Dunbar are injured now, Ross Rennie is only just back for Edinburgh, Hogg and Visser injured among others.
Trying new combinations is arguably what England should have done with the backline especially when the pack were going so well it would have given any new backs a good platform as a start point.
Posted 10 years ago
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