STW 2014/15 Rugby Thread

He’s basically the Welsh Chris Ashton when it comes to finishing prowess.

Please tell me thats trolling!!!

It has to be no body could make such a dumb statement 😆

Its such rancid bait its actually funny. I’ll give it a go Ashton is basically an English Kristian Phillips.

😆 Not quite the sense of humour fail I was hoping for from the Welshies but a reasonable effort nonetheless.

Did you see Phillips packing down at 8 last night. It was like watching an ant try and push an elephant!!

One of the Bath backs did it against Wasps the other week! Funny stuff, I’d have though Spike was about as good a bet as any back to do it….he’s built like a back row! In a reverse scenario I can remember seeing Andy Powell spend a decent portion of a game at outside centre a few years ago 🙂 How’s he getting on at Dragons?

He’s doing alright, second choice 8 behind Faletau but still running around like an oversized big dumb puppy you’ve got to love him! Wont be getting back in the Wales squad anytime soon though.

but still running around like an oversized big dumb puppy you’ve got to love him!

🙂 Yep, he’s ace! Shame when he left Sale, he’d really started to establish himself as a key player along with Ritchie Vernon (who went the whole hog in converting from back row to centre full time!)

Christ the ref in the Quinns Wasps match has been awful!

Not watching. Hows Bradley Davies going?

Alright, came off reasonably early (before the hour mark maybe?) and looked a bit miffed about it. Quinns pack were reasonably dominant in the scrum and there number 4 was man of the match though.

I’m far from an expert, but Brad Davis and Launchbury don’t seem like the most settled of pairings, I guess that it’s early days though. Quinns won 23-16 in the end, some entertaining passages but plenty of errors. Marland Yarde had 3 or 4 handling error by the end.

Bradley has been injured a lot I think. Hasnt been the same since that dirty kiwi sparked him with the sly punch. Had injury after injury. Would add much needed bulk to wales though if playing well.

Wales have a few injury concerns, Jake Ball pulled out before kick off yesterday, Scott Williams did a hammy and Jon Davies went off injured for Clermont too. North might be shifted to 13 again with Liam Williams on wing.

Yeah I’m a big fan of Brad, I always remember the game very early on in his career when his mum had died a few days before and there was a minutes silence for her pre game-I thought he handled himself remarkably well and played well too as I remember. Was it Hore that pumched him or was he the stampy one?

Hore

Just dont mention the irish fella he dropped headfirst!

I see that Ewers and Slade from Exeter have been called up for England. Both good players. I think Slade could be very good indeed.

After Talebula’s try against London Welsh last weekend I checked him out on YouTube.

What a player! Seems like he can pretty much do it all. He’s at 14, 15, 13 and 10 in the clips.

Lydiate returning to Wales in the Autumn

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/29829607

Wonder where he’ll go. Quality player good luck to him.

Anyone just seen the NFL quarterback style lineout throw from the Barbarians?!

Go BA BAs , love the novel ideas. A competitive BB side for a change. Great fun so far…..

It’s a great atmosphere here, and always an extra treat to see the shackle draggers getting knocked about. First trip to Twickenham for my daughter!

Poor girl 😆

🙂 it’s alright, she’s loving it. And she’s going shopping later with Grandma so I can go on the piss.

Sat in the pub after Sale V Wasps in the LV Cup. Good game actually, 8 tries, 4 apiece and few penalty kicks. Really enjoyed that!

Lucky lucky Australia

Some breath taking skills here

Wales team to lose for the 240 000 time to australia

Wales: Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), George North (Northampton Saints), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro), Liam Williams (Scarlets), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Paul James (Bath), Richard Hibbard (Gloucester), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Unattached), Sam Warburton (Capt), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).
Replacements: Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Bradley Davies (London Wasps), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Mike Phillips (Racing Metro), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Cory Allen (Cardiff Blues).

about as good as expected, North will have to improve his defence at 13. Could be a big scrummaging team, and with Gethin, bradley, phillips and Tips to come off the bench we might just hold on to a lead this time…who am I kidding, it will be either a 20 point loss or a final min shocker to lose as usual. Most likely the former as Aus are match sharp and wales are not.

Can’t believe this hasn’t been done yet!

OK, so he missed, but it wasn’t a bad shot!

Not bad that team above. Still going to lose, mind you, but not too bad.

Just WTF does Hook have to do to get a game, though?

Just WTF does Hook have to do to get a game, though?

Play 12 or 13 on a regular basis. But even then he’s not as good a 10 as Biggar, and not as good a 15 as 1/2p, he’s also not as good a 12 as Roberts or 13 as Davies. I’d have him over flakey Priestland though.

@CFH, excellent hadn’t seen that, not a bad effort. He probably thought it was a better option that an attempted run and side-step

Laugh out loud at Jones! Reminds me of the prop Matt Dunning knocking one over a few years ago and then apologising to his team mates straight after

Anyone feel that England are in for a pasting this weekend? I can’t help thinking it’ll be an enthusiastic start from the home team, only to be unlocked by Savea and co before HT, with the AB’s going on to win by 15 points.

With this being the first game and an altered team, I can’t see it being sharp enough against them TBH.

No no no no no Wales will win, my eternal blind optimism will not be dimmed.

england to cop a real beating, AB’s look so sharp. They hate the english as much as we do 😆

@Kryton – hard to call I think, we put up a pretty decent show with half a team on the tour. Wasn’t expecting much back in 2012 and we gave them a good hiding. It will be a fierce match ahead of the RWC, NZ will be looking to make a mark at Twickenham. You are right we could have done with a match to warm up but I think we’ll be ready.

EDIT: probably be the last time I see McCraw live so he’ll get a decent round of applause from me.

There’s something deliciously infectious about the smile on Adam’s face sometimes. Bit like when Thomas Castagneide used to play, he seemed to really enjoy his rugby at times.

It will be a fierce match ahead of the RWC, NZ will be looking to make a mark at Twickenham. You are right we could have done with a match to warm up but I think we’ll be ready.

Indeed. I’m keen to see the centre pairing and am worried that Barrat and Twelvetrees may get in on a “defensive” basis. SA and we and most recently Aus have show the AB’s get rattled if you come at them hard and they go down by 10 or so, do I’d say the best kind of defense is attack. But I still think their back three outclasses us massively and that’s where going to get hit for six

The weather has it pissing down during game time, which could help nullify that a little, or more likely we’ll get drawn in.

Oddly, I reckon Morgan and Yarde could feature heavily, not sure why, just an instinct.

The ABs are even more awesome in bad conditions, no matter the weather at Twickenham it won’t be like Duneadon. Our kicking game needs to be good (the ABs are consistently excellent in this department) in order to control field position , we cannot give the ball away to their backs as you say. Never possible to be confident against the ABs but we have a decent chance. Game on !

Some good optimism there, and much as I’d like to think we are in with a good chance I think our tight five is going to struggle. So many frontline players injured. Without wanting to sound like a stuck-in-the-groove rugby pundit I think without that foundation its going to be an uphill slog – struggling to get clean ball, feeding off scraps etc. I hope I’m wrong 🙂

SA and we and most recently Aus have show the AB’s get rattled if you come at them hard and they go down by 10 or so, do I’d say the best kind of defense is attack.

This. Ireland were 22-7 up at half time last year by having a go at them. 2nd half we tried to defend the lead and NZ scored 17 unanswered points.

We have a lot of injuries and not much of a front row which isn’t a great start to facing the boks. Unfortunately I think we will get hammered.