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I can’t imagine POM conciously went into that ruck with the intention of smashing his shoulder into Francis’ head.
Er...why not? (Tho I thought it was his forearm not shoulder)
AA I’m surprised you have even bothered, thought you’d be a rugby league convert by now……
Going to watch that ^^ at lunchtime. In the meantime, England team for Italy:
15. Elliot Daly
14. Anthony Watson
13. Henry Slade
12. Owen Farrell
11. Jonny May
10. George Ford
9. Ben Youngs
1. Mako Vunipola
2. Luke Cowan-Dickie
3. Kyle Sinckler
4. Maro Itoje
5. Jonny Hill (Exeter Chiefs, 5 caps)
6. Courtney Lawes
7. Tom Curry
8. Billy Vunipola
FINISHERS
16. Jamie George
17. Ellis Genge
18. Will Stuart
19. Charlie Ewels
20. Ben Earl
21. Jack Willis
22. Dan Robson
23. Max Malins
Wilson & Laurence have paid the ultimate price, Jamie George's admission of being off the pace has cost him and the next thing to penalising Farrell has happened moving him to 12. On paper we should be racking up a score against Italy, and they need to as we're in the PD game now.
I thought Lawrence looked ok that 1time they passed him the ball.
Johnny Hill is a mystery to me when Lawes is available. Surely England have a decent 6 somewhere.
Let's hop Billy V has been on the stairmaster all week and May has had some catching lessons!
This would have been the game to send the message to those players who clearly underperformed that they can be dropped, given where we are in a WC cycle surely Jones and co must start to test different combinations and expose potential England players to the pressure etc.
FINISHERS
FFS.
Dan Robson? He is comically useless at that level, surely a younger prospect could be found?
Get Care back in for the rest of the 6N with a young SH in the wider squad for experience, several Quinns surely must be on the radar at the moment. Unless he's planning on using a possible summer tour to test players out like the one to Argentina.
Navidi broken too??!?!? Edit Achilles apparently, then MacLeod was to be picked but he broke too!!
Wales team to face Scotland
1. Wyn Jones (31 Caps)
2. Ken Owens (78 Caps)
3. Tomas Francis (53 Caps)
4. Adam Beard (22 Caps)
5. Alun Wyn Jones (CAPT) (144 Caps)
6. Aaron Wainwright (27 Caps)
7. Justin Tipuric (81 Caps)
8. Taulupe Faletau (82 Caps)
9. Gareth Davies (58 Caps)
10. Dan Biggar (88 Caps)
11. Liam Williams (67 Caps)
12. Nick Tompkins (9 Caps)
13. Owen Watkin (26 Caps)
14. Louis Rees-Zammit (5 Caps)
15. Leigh Halfpenny (94 Caps)
Replacements:
16. Elliot Dee (33 Caps)
17. Rhodri Jones (18 Caps)
18. Leon Brown (13 Caps)
19. Will Rowlands (6 Caps)
20. James Botham (3 Caps)
21. Kieran Hardy (2 Caps)
22. Callum Sheedy (5 Caps)
23. Willis Halaholo (*Uncapped)
15. Stuart Hogg CAPTAIN (Exeter Chiefs) – 81 caps
14. Darcy Graham (Edinburgh) – 15 caps
13. Chris Harris (Gloucester) – 24 caps
12. James Lang (Harlequins) – 5 caps
11. Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh) – 6 caps
10. Finn Russell VICE CAPTAIN (Racing 92) – 52 caps
9. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) – 38 caps
1. Rory Sutherland (Edinburgh) – 12 caps
2. George Turner (Glasgow Warriors) – 13 caps
3. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 35 caps
4. Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors) – 18 caps
5. Jonny Gray VICE CAPTAIN (Exeter Chiefs) – 62 caps
6. Blade Thomson (Scarlets) – 9 caps
7. Hamish Watson (Edinburgh – 37 caps
8. Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 10 caps
Substitutes:
16. David Cherry (Edinburgh) – 1 cap
17. Oli Kebble (Glasgow Warriors) – 6 caps
18. WP Nel (Edinburgh) – 41 caps
19. Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 66 caps
20. Gary Graham (Newcastle Falcons) – 3 caps
21. Scott Steele (Harlequins) – 2 caps
22. Jaco van der Walt (Edinburgh) – 1 cap
23. Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) – 27 caps
Get Care back in for the rest of the 6N
I suspect his continuing critique of Eddie & the team in the press will prevent that.
You guys don't pick form players though, so he should crack on. Why Smith and Simmonds the larger can't get near your squad even is an absolute mystery to me.
Agreed Duckman, it's baffling.
Prediction for Scotland vs Wales?
I'm going for Wales by at least a converted try..
Prediction for Scotland vs Wales?
I’m going for Wales by at least a converted try..
Thats what I thought about Scotlands last game... 🙁
I have to believe Scotland can win it by a try or two. Then either I'm proved right and we win or I have my hopes dashed in a way every Scottish fan is very used to.
[quote="akira"]
I have to believe Scotland can win it by a try or two. Then either I’m proved right and we win or I have my hopes dashed in a way every Scottish fan is very used to.
this
Akira you are playing it all wrong, they way to manage expectation is to expect the worst, so as Scotland fan expect to lose badly, then you are either smug and correct, or an incorrect winner.
Scotland are rightly favourites. Its a hard position for us.
Following Saturday’s matches I thought Scotland would win by 5 to 13 pts, with Wales having a glimmer of hope in pulling something out of the bag. But, now with all these extra injuries I can see no hope for Wales. None.
I faintly remember the Scotland v Wales game of 1971, a repeat of that would have been fantastic. Alas, not this year. Scotland by 8 to 21.
It'll either be a shit fest with Scotland choking and a 50:50 result or an easy win for Scotland. I'm backing the later.
too big a hill for wales to climb with all the injuries and replacement young players / untried combos. and as much as i like wainwright he's no replacement for navidi. and that's even before you get to our shonky line out, improvements needed at the break down, penalty count, unforced errors and general on field decision making (looking at you gareth). god know what happens if we get any more injuries. it's like the 2015 world cup all over again! i think we'll be lucky to get a losing bonus point. still you never know LRZ and Halaholo could be our youthful saviours!
Halaholo is 30 I think and has had one game back since a year out with an ACL injury.....Wainwright is a good player and will help the lineout.....still think we are ****ed though.
Tompkins is shit and Watkin is a ok 12 but lacks the pace for 13. 1/2p is about 4 years past his best, Liam had a long injury break played once and got a red card so has had no rugby. Zammit looks promising but is more likely to catch hypothermia at Murray field than passes.
It’ll either be a shit fest with Scotland choking and a 50:50 result or an easy win for Scotland. I’m backing the later.
ever the optimist
ever the optimist
Backrow aside Scotland look to have the edge in most areas and the backrow isn't clear cut. Blade isn't as good as Wainwright, Faletau edges Fagerson on paper but not current form and Watson v Tips is a coin toss, very different players so hard to judge.
I think your front row will be competitive,build on that and who knows? Not Welsh this weekend any more, want Jiffy to be commentating.
I think your front row will be competitive
Scrum went well v Ireland, lineout was shit. I predict the line out improving and scrum going to shit this time!
And you have one of the best players in the world in Tipuric. That guy is a freak.
Wales are wracked with injuries and low in confidence. It's at home Scotland are playing well and should have enough to win by 2 tries.
But it's at an empty stadium Scotland don't have that much experience of being favourites so I'll take a win of any kind, one point will do
And you have one of the best players in the world in Tipuric. That guy is a freak.
Best centre in the Northern Hemisphere, probably!
Also yes, he's not like the other kids. He's very, very special.
Best centre in the Northern Hemisphere, probably
Err, Tips is open side flanker. If only we had equally talented centres playing on Saturday I’d be feeling more confident
I think that’s the point! He’d make a world class centre - he could play there on sat and rip it up if he was asked.
At least the scrums will be quicker this week. It really affected the flow of the game waiting for the harbour pilot to direct the two tugs maneuvering Billy V into the back of the scrum.
At least the scrums will be quicker this week. It really affected the flow of the game waiting for the harbour pilot to direct the two tugs maneuvering Billy V into the back of the scrum.
😆😆😆😆😆😆
Navidi has to be the unluckiest man in rugby, ruptured achillies.
England have a coach that takes about utility players but there is already one out there who is seamless in forwards or backs.
I’ve watched him a lot more closely lately and I’m amazed he isn’t spoken about as one of the all time great players not just for wales either.
Ellis Jenkins makes a return today after 2 years out with a knee injury, really hope it goes well for him.
I think that’s the point! He’d make a world class centre – he could play there on sat and rip it up if he was asked
and one i clearly missed! doh
Navidi has to be the unluckiest man in rugby, ruptured achillies.
bad news indeed, what a shame for him
Navidi has to be the unluckiest man in rugby, ruptured achillies.
I think it's MacLeod with the achilies, Navidi has neck injury and should be ok in a week or so.
Damn...trusted the guardian to report accurately on a rough sport.
So predictions for the weekend? I'm going England by 20 points but Italy bothering them throughout, Scotland by 10 points but bit of a messy game and France by 10 but once again a bit all over the place.
Scotland have a habit of imploding though. We play a "our plan" game followed by a your plan. I think that was shown in autumn internationals a few years ago when we nearly took NZ by playing our plan. Then got into an arm wrestle with SA
Looks like Jigglepan Sexpumps is out of the game on Sunday.
With Ntamack back for France, that's ominous.