[2015 Six Nations] Wales

[Draggs]

But for me, a bigger concern for you guys is stopping the maul. It is going to be England's main weapon. I think Chateris' centre of gravity isn't low enough to help out much there comparative to Ball.

For as long as I can remember, the maul and lineout have been consistently our weakest areas. Until recently, we could at least make up for our weak lineout by having a powerful scrum, but if Lee goes down, there goes that advantage.

Purely on Wales performances, Ball merits selection more than Davies/Charteris, but I'd really like to see 2010 Brad back. Evans just can't stop doing stupid things, he really surprised everybody with 2012/13, but since then old habits crept back in (ban v Leinster, numerous dumb yellows). From what I gather, his performances for Bristol haven't been the most inspiring, but I'll leave others more knowledgeable there to comment. I really don't think we can go to the second division to pick players for international rugby, not as a matter of principle, but it is nowhere close in intensity/fitness.

Agree with Dull about Owens, as soon as he is fully fit, I'd bring him in. We can't risk playing him early after coming back from an injury like that.

 

[LiRFCMatt]

I've written a piece on Wales's chances against the English on Friday, check it out http://fourballsblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/wales-vs-england-preview.html Maybe you can help Wales out in the polls on each article!

 

[Bluemoon]

Did anyone just hear Chris Horseman on Scrum V talking about the development pathway in Wales in a very positive way. I know he's obviously going to be positive about the system, but it was nice to hear those good messages coming through about the game at aged 16-20. We really don't have the resources to match England player wise, so it's encouraging to hear we are putting structures in place to manage that.

I continue to feel that the appointment of Lewsey was actually a good thing for Wales as he is going about his business in a very sensible way so far.

 

[Rich Taff]

Did anyone just hear Chris Horseman on Scrum V talking about the development pathway in Wales in a very positive way. I know he's obviously going to be positive about the system, but it was nice to hear those good messages coming through about the game at aged 16-20. We really don't have the resources to match England player wise, so it's encouraging to hear we are putting structures in place to manage that.

I continue to feel that the appointment of Lewsy was actually a good thing for Wales as going about his business in a very sensible way so far.

Yeah, was a very good interview with him.

Also, Josh Lewsey has been what we've been crying out for. He's not embroiled in the archaic East v West tribal crap, and actually judges people on skills, not location.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Owen Williams out for 9 Months!!!

There goes his WC chance.

Shame for him and tigers (we need him)

 

[goodNumber10]

Owen Williams out for 9 Months!!!

There goes his WC chance.

Shame for him and tigers (we need him)

that is a big shame

 

[Bluemoon]

Agree with you about Lewsey RT. It'll be interesting to see how that impacts on the changes that he is trying to make. Was the introduction of the touch leagues over the summer successful?

Terrible news for Owen Williams. Although, knowing how Gatland and Co. works, you have to wonder whether he would have been favoured over the players currently in the squad anyway. Anscombe's chances now look a lot better.

 

[LiRFCMatt]

Bizarre choice from Guscott to include Lydiate in his team of the week. I don't think he should be in the Welsh 23 at the moment. Anyone know who can come into the squad as Tipuric moves into the starting XV?

 

[dullonien]

Bizarre choice from Guscott to include Lydiate in his team of the week. I don't think he should be in the Welsh 23 at the moment. Anyone know who can come into the squad as Tipuric moves into the starting XV?

I'd probably still have Lydiate on the bench, he was effective in the AI's.

But to answer your question, James King is going well. Turnbull did well in the second SA test in the summer, but he's a limited player Imo, and liable to giving away penalties. Shingler is a good option, but hasn't quite developed as I hoped. Dan Baker is back from injury and could be a good bench option with Faletau shifting to 6.

 

[Jbobo]

I don't think Lydiate has been particularly poor in the first two games. He's still top notch defensively and i saw him chopping men down all game against England and Scotland, however Tipuric offers us a totally different dynamic and let's be honest we don't lose much defensively with him at 7 and Warbs who has been consistantly brilliant, at 6. Tipuric also offers much more at the breakdown and can force turnovers in the same vein as Warbs, which Lydiate has failed to produce. I agree with Dull, i'd have him on the bench to sure up the defense when players get tired and it'd be good to see Dan Baker in the 23. I'd consider having him on the bench due to inexperience, but with a mind to bring him on and really test the opposition's defense when they tire. I'd leave Shingler out, he's got great hands, but he's not got the dynamism of Tipuric and defensive capabilities of Lydiate. He also doesn't fit into Gatland's plans so i doubt he'll be seen much while he's at the helm.

I'm not sure about you guys, but i'd love to see players like Jordan Williams, Gareth Davies and (long shot, considering he's playing championship rugby) Morgan. These players could offer the type of balance to the team which could catapult us into unknown heights. I just don't know whether Gatland has the ability to cater for these type of players and whether it is too late considering the world cup for a drastic change of plan 'A', seeing as we no longer have the old Welsh flair game which was always a characteristic of Welsh teams of past. Sexy rugby isn't on the agenda i'm afraid


Edit - Watching Scrum V i found ti interesting that former players and experts had differing views on the way which Wales need to progress. Some said that it was a tactical issue primarily and others thought that a change even if minor of selection was important. I find myself thinking about the way England have managed to bring in new and in form players to the team and have seemingly come on leaps and bounds in their proven strength in depth and balance. Can anyone think of form players who they would rather bring into the Welsh team? Do you think it would have a similar effect? Do we have the talent to follow the footsteps of teams which follow form rather than reputation? Would we find rejuvenation and excitement with new and fresh talent or would we find that Gatland would be unable to adapt and then realise that our best players while he is there are already in the team?

Just food for thought which i'm sure everyone keeps mulling over.

 

[ae15]

I don't understand why so many people are saying Lydiate isn't good enough at the moment because as Jbobo said he was constantly chopping down players in the last two games. But I must admit I really don't see him as a bench player if Tipuric does come in. But neither do I see Dan Baker as a great player either, he always seems just to be a bit of a battering ram, a very one dimensional player. I can't see the best teams finding him very hard to nullify. I'd much rather see Navidi, he's been very impressive for the Blues everytime I've seen him, and also seems to have a good footballing brain to add to his brawn of ball carrying.

I also do agree about needing to add some flair players into the squad. Anscombe certainly is one in my opinion, and I would also very much like to see Matthew Morgan as well, such a shame he is playing in the Championship along with Ian Evans as well - a great player in the loose and a strong line out jumper who we lack in the side at the moment. Morgan could be a useful squad player for the World Cup, as could Jordan Williams who seems to be recovering his form again. Gareth Davies seems to be a very very similar player to Webb, in terms of try scoring if nothing else. Would that be a good thing to have him on the bench as a like for like substitute, or do we want something different in the power and "experience" of Phillips?

 

[MojoPin]

Can anyone think of form players who they would rather bring into the Welsh team? Do you think it would have a similar effect? Do we have the talent to follow the footsteps of teams which follow form rather than reputation? Would we find rejuvenation and excitement with new and fresh talent or would we find that Gatland would be unable to adapt and then realise that our best players while he is there are already in the team?

Just food for thought which i'm sure everyone keeps mulling over.

Quite a few, yeah. I'd love to see more of Scott Williams, Matthew Morgan, Gareth Davies and Owen Williams in particular, and there are plenty of other players on the fringes (even some established names) who could really do with some time to shine. For that reason I really think Wales would benefit from bringing back the 'Wales A' team. The Saxons and Wolfhounds seem to be beneficial to England and Ireland, and the new participation agreement made mention of it so let's see it put into action! Would love to see the guys mentioned above plus Gareth Anscombe, Cory Allen, Aaron Shingler, Dan Baker, Eli Walker (hoping he recovers from his injuries, poor bloke), James Hook, Ian Evans, Adam Jones (!), Tyler Morgan and many many others. Heck, you could even play them against the Barbarians, some of the stronger regional teams from Europe or send them on their own Summer tour somewhere. Anything is possible but we need to be challenging and developing these players, which just doesn't seem to happen enough in the Pro 12 IMO. All very much pie in the sky thinking but hey, I can dream.

The big discussion that is bound to keep rearing its head is whether Gatland needs to move on. I've been a defender of his for many years and still believe him to be an excellent coach, but I'll admit this six nations campaign so far is making me question whether the coaching team needs a shake-up. I think you could argue that the last time Wales played to the best of their abilities was in 2013, and Rob Howley was head coach then. It's hard to tell if this actually changed anything (after all Howley was probably under orders from Gats to execute a particular game plan), but interesting nonetheless. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for the World Cup but if we don't get out of our group I can't imagine Gatland staying any longer than that.

So after all that...predictions against France? It's gonna be tough, that's for damn sure.

 

[ae15]

I think that we'll beat France, they've just looked so poor in the last two games and I can't see them scoring more than one try against our defence. The team I'd like to see us start is:
1. Jenkins
2. Owens (looked really good against Connacht)
3. Lee
4. Charteris
5. Jones
6. Warburton
7. Tipuric
8. Faletau
9. Webb
10. Biggar
11. North
12. Roberts
13. Davies
14. Williams
15. Halfpenny
16. Hibbard
17. Evans (really want to see the guy given the chance to solve our scrum problem)
18. Jarvis
19. Ball
20. Lydiate (no one else better who can come in on the bench)
21. Davies
22. Anscombe
23. S Williams

 

[Ospreylian]

I'm not sure about you guys, but i'd love to see players like Jordan Williams, Gareth Davies and (long shot, considering he's playing championship rugby) Morgan. These players could offer the type of balance to the team which could catapult us into unknown heights. I just don't know whether Gatland has the ability to cater for these type of players and whether it is too late considering the world cup for a drastic change of plan 'A', seeing as we no longer have the old Welsh flair game which was always a characteristic of Welsh teams of past. Sexy rugby isn't on the agenda i'm afraid .

Agreed. It has always seemed like the current Welsh management are too reserved about putting faith in the more creative and exciting attacking players. Though I'm not sure Jordan Williams is quite ready for the step-up to international level, I agree wholeheartedly on Davies and Morgan. In the last couple of games Phillips has come off the bench and done absolutely nothing to add to Wales' game, other than to make it look like your tv set has gone into slow motion every time the ball comes out of a ruck. His box kicks are also terribly judged these days, far too long and offer nothing for the other chasing Welsh backs to run onto. Sure, Gareth Davies has been out for a while through injury, but even then I'm sure he would do a better job coming off the bench.

As for Morgan, he would offer something completely different to Biggar coming off the bench. We saw that when he played for Wales before and everyone realised what an exciting player he is. I've always thought he is the Shane Williams type (as is Liam Williams), that is someone who can create something out of nothing in the dying moments of a game to win those tight matches. In that sense he would be a perfect player to be brought on from the bench if Wales needed a kick up the rear end towards the final minutes of a game.

 

[ncurd]

On the mention of Gatland's selection, would he of ever picked Shane Williams if wasn't already so well established that not picking him would of a sign of madness?

 

[Josht36]

I've been impressed with Gareth Davies whenever I've seen him and I think even not in top form he could offer more of a bright spark than Phillips who hasn't looked near his best for quite a few years. I think the Welsh coaching set up definitely needs a shake up, but can't see it happening until after the world cup.

 

[Jbobo]

How do we feel about our chances against Ireland chaps?

Any changes you'd like to see selection wise?

If we can get the back three going, it could be exciting stuff. Need more from North as he looked good when he actually got the ball, and need more of the same up front, which i thought was exceptionally strong on Saturday.

What i'd give to see Jordan Williams or Eli Wales come into the fold. Sigh

 

[Ospreylian]

But for me, a bigger concern for you guys is stopping the maul. I think Chateris' centre of gravity isn't low enough to help out much there comparative to Ball.

Old Lukey boy proved you wrong in the France game when given his chance anyway He did a right job on the French driving maul, caused some real disruption with those octopus arms!

How do we feel about our chances against Ireland chaps?

Any changes you'd like to see selection wise?

It's going to be one hell of a tough encounter. Defense will be key, as Wales still don't know what they want to achieve in attack. If Wales can hold Ireland out for 60-70 minutes and keep withing 3 points of Ireland I think it's all to play for. It just depends if Ireland can keep up their recent habit of sussing teams out and doing some expert pre-game analysis and preparation.

I wouldn't make too many changes. Obviously Rob Evans will come onto the bench now James is injured. I think Baldwin and Charteris fully deserve to keep their places, between them they have really helped to sort out and stabilize the lineout, which had a 100% success rate on the weekend. I would be tempted to have Tipuric in for Lydiate, but I think Lydiate had a good game against France so that might be harsh. I would have also been tempted with Scott Williams over Davies, as I've said before, but seeing as he has been released to Scarlets that obviously won't happen.

Good to see Cuthbert has been released too. No chance of him regaining his place anytime soon, phew

I was very pleased with the way North got more involved against France. I actually heard his name a few times in commentary, which really doesn't happen these days very often.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Expect a new loosehead to be called up after Paul James was released back to Bath with a fractured thumb.

 

[Draggs]

Isn't Rob Evans in the squad currently? Been withheld this weekend.
Who is next in line? Please don't say Bevington.