England vs Wales - 06/08/2011 - RWC Warm Up

[cyRil]

So nothing like what some geezer posted on here as 'reliable' the other day? The one that had Gav and Roberts in the centre, and Hook and Williams at half-back? .... Some people, aye!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I always thought that Stoddarts defending style was to try and shepard the player into touch
Banahan is too stupid to try and get away from a tackler, he'll just plow straight into him

Glad to see Priestland getting decent game time though


God knows what's going to happen in this match - Banahan on the wing > Banahan in the centres - for all of his many many faults he's alright at finishing other peoples tries, so hopefully Flutey and Tuilagi are on form

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

So nothing like what some geezer posted on here as 'reliable' the other day? The one that had Gav and Roberts in the centre, and Hook and Williams at half-back? .... Some people, aye!

Friend of a friend, never reliable. And even then, I've disocvered that friend of a friend saw it on 606.

Hope Priestland can do a job at 15 and that Shane can spark something, as looking at the backline, I struggle to see where else it's going to come from.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

First post updated with teams

 

[Sixesandsevens]

Yeah I agree that I would have liked to see Wilkinson given ago with a better back 3, and that centre pairing, but I think its gonna be a cracking game, and I expect that Jonno will use these two games to decide his best xv and then against Ireland field his best 22 hopefully, we need to beat them and get that monkey off the back.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

On England's bench it's alright-ish
Thompson should be there for Mears, but I can understand why Mears is there (hasn't played for England in a while....though with good reason )
Wilson isn't that great, would've had Cole - especially now that we've got Stevens who can play both sides very well, and Corbisiero can play both sides well as well
Botha is better than Deacon
It was going to be between Robshaw and Wood for the flanker spot, gutted Robshaw isn't getting a run out, but Wood is great anyway
Would've preferred Simpson to W'worth, but W'worth's alright
I <3 Charlie Hodgson
I <3 Charlie Sharples

 

[Aout]

Where's James Hook ? Injured ?

 

[Draggs]

Where's James Hook ? Injured ?

Yes, neck injury.
Don't know how serious, but he seemed to be fine at the open training.

 

[psychic duck]

Wales players not considered

Gethin Jenkins - fit enough to play, but not 100%
Richie Hibbard - injured
Matthew Rees - fit enough to play, but not 100%
Adam Jones - injured
Rob McCusker - injured
Dwayne Peel - blocked by Premier Rugby
James Hook - injured
Jason Tovey - injured
Leigh Halfpenny - injured
Will Harries - injured
Tom Prydie - injured
Lee Byrne - injured

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Peel's actually free to play as of today

 

[cyRil]

Where's James Hook ? Injured ?

Yep neck injury apparently.

 

[ZeFrenchy]

Sad for Delve. He should be wearing 19 imo. Do you think this means he's off the plane? It seemed like a good game to see how he's doing...

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I reckon Delve'll start at 8 in the next match

 

[Me 1]

When I see Jon Davies do absolutely anything worthy of note in a Welsh top I might start to begin to see where you might be coming from.

Jonathan Davies has almost always been in a centre partnership with either Jamie Roberts or Andrew Bishop, two of Wales' most uncreative centres. Seeing as he's not very creative himself, you wouldn't expect him to do much.

Still....

skip to 8:11


skip to 6:45

 

[Thingimubob]

Not overly impressed with this team, Davies and Roberts = one dimensional, Phillips + Bennett = facepalm
Majority of these injuries have cropped up a bit out of nowhere, bit gutted we couldn't have a full strength front row, did alright in the 6 Nations so will see how it goes! Some pretty huge backline players gonna be lining up too, with Tuilagi, BananananananananananaBATMAN against Roberts Davies and North! Gonna be interesting, dunno if we'll win now, bit disapointed with the team selection tbh.

 

[TVH11]

When i saw the welsh team i felt so deflated... The 9/10/12/13 combo is very flat. Biggest problem is phillips, i just hope he learns how to pass. If not then that backline just aint gonna function ( seems lacking in spark really). Interested to see how Priestland gets on.
Gutted Gav aint there, but i guess Gats is keeping him for next weeks homecoming, crowd will be less hostile... I hope!!

Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

 

[Me 1]

15. Rhys Priestland (Need depth)
14. George North
13. Jonathan Davies
12. Jamie Roberts (Rather Gavin Henson or even Scott Williams, centre just isn't creative enough)
11. Shane Williams (Should be Aled Brew, Shane should be in bubble-wrap until the rwc)
10. Stephen Jones
9. Mike Phillips (Tavis Konoyle or Lloyd Williams, Phillips just isn't good enough any more)
1. Paul James (Shouldn't start Jenkins or Adam if not at full strength)
2. Huw Bennett (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
3. Craig Mitchell (See Paul James)
4. Bradley Davies
5. Alun Wyn Jones
6. Dan Lydiate
7. Sam Warburton
8. Toby Faletau (Not sure if it should be him or Delve)

 

[Draggs]

Delve was out with a knee injury from the S15 last I heard a few weeks back.
If Faletau does well enough I'd stick with him, and consider Delve at 19 like others have said.

I do think Davies and Roberts can work together, it will just take time, as it did with Hook and Roberts.
My biggest concern with Jonathan is his defence, which wasn't at its best v Barbarians.

Also, that bench will keep me up at night.

 

[gingergenius]

Teams don't really matter, interested to see how Stevens, Tuilagi etc. go. England's wing pairing is perhaps the slowest fielded in international rugby in the past decade.

 

[cyRil]

Jonathan Davies has almost always been in a centre partnership with either Jamie Roberts or Andrew Bishop, two of Wales' most uncreative centres. Seeing as he's not very creative himself, you wouldn't expect him to do much.

Am I supposed to have seen something impressive there...?