2014 6 Nations: England vs Wales (Round 4)

[Patchey]

Tom Wood has grown a beard.

Advantage England.

Is it bigger than Jake Ball's? If so, England to win by 50.

 

[Draggs]

Is it bigger than Jake Ball's? If so, England to win by 50.

Gee whiz, had to reread that one! Cheeky brain put the possessive after 'Jake' first time...

 

[Rich Taff]

Interesting reading the 'supposed' interviews with players. Lot of England players talking about 'stopping Welsh players'. Psychologically speaking, it's a very negative mindset.
Hopefully it's going to be a great game though.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

^ What!?
Not really sure what you mean.

I'm pretty sure they are talking about matching Wales physically.
I don't see how that's negative; it's basic rugby principles and most people and teams would agree its precisely what you need to do to beat Wales. It's what Ireland did. It also doesn't mean England won't plan to play their own game on top of that.

 

[j-dawg]

Interesting reading the 'supposed' interviews with players. Lot of England players talking about 'stopping Welsh players'. Psychologically speaking, it's a very negative mindset.
Hopefully it's going to be a great game though.

A very negative mindset?

Wales are known for their big, hard running backs. That's all there is to that comment.

 

[goodNumber10]

Interesting reading the 'supposed' interviews with players. Lot of England players talking about 'stopping Welsh players'. Psychologically speaking, it's a very negative mindset.
Hopefully it's going to be a great game though.

I think you've misunderstood the mindset as it's completely the opposite it's very positive. It means they know how to break down the welsh attack pattern and are confident they've identified who they need to target that.

Defense it's all about "stopping" an opposing teams from imposing their attack pattern on you. And absoloutely paramount to that is stopping their talismanic players - Roberts, North, Wabruton, Falteau, Hibbard at source - you target the key links in their pattern.

Then hope your attack system is structured enough and skillful enough to not be pressured.

Ireland did this, they targetted Roberts as they new if they stopped wales getting to the gain line their attack pattern is borked from the off.

 

[Patchey]

Got to agree here. There's been a lot of talk of 'stopping' Roberts, Hibbard and others but I think that's natural. Any team playing Wales will want to neutralise their big, middle of the field ball carries. Ireland showed that it pretty much a prerequisite for beating Wales. Once that is done a team can go out and play their own attacking game and score points.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

^
Agreed.

to put it another way, if we don't 'stop' Wales physically, the game will be over before we know it and we'll be 20 points down.

 

[Ospreylian]

Ah, England have assets, no doubt...but so do Wales my friend ! And England were torn apart last year in Cardiff, Wales and Gatland-ball this year in Dublin - let bygones be bygones. In fact, it's good for Wales they took a pounding so recently and beat France subsequently, they'll be that much more ready in Twickenham.
And you tell me about Jonny May, okay. How does this sound:
15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jon Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North.

hmmm...? y'all getting cold sweat yet ?

I think at the moment Halfpenny, Cuthbert and any other Welsh back are the least of England's worries tbh. Against France, the Welsh forwards were the outstanding players on the pitch - Faletau, Lydiate, Warburton, Charteris, Ball etc. all played out of their skin, and secured great set-piece ball time after time, which is why Wales won so comfortably against a very poor French side. You could have played any set of backs behind those Welsh forwards on that day and won.

Not sure why Wales' backs are constantly brought up as the main threats, they've played well generally, but when on form the forwards are the ones to worry about.

England have just as many threatening backs these days. I'm personally anticipating how Brown, May, Burrell, and Twelvetrees will test the Welsh defense, they could be a real challenge to contain if England are having a great game.

 

[AKA]

Does anyone know when England announce their team?

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Does anyone know when England announce their team?

Already have - unchanged apart from Morgan in for the injured Billy V.

England squad to play Wales: M Brown (Harlequins); J Nowell (Exeter), L Burrell (Northampton), B Twelvetrees (Gloucester), J May (Gloucester); O Farrell (Saracens), D Care (Harlequins); J Marler (Harlequins), D Hartley (Northampton), D Wilson (Bath), J Launchbury (Wasps), C Lawes (Northampton), T Wood (Northampton), C Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), B Morgan (Gloucester).
Replacements: T Youngs (Leicester), M Vunipola (Saracens), H Thomas (Sale), D Attwood (Bath), T Johnson (Exeter), L Dickson (Northampton), G Ford (Bath), A Goode (Saracens).


EDIT: Jake Ball in for Luke Charteris who is out injured! Andrew Coombs comes onto the bench for Wales.

 

[Patchey]

Gee whiz, had to reread that one! Cheeky brain put the possessive after 'Jake' first time...

Ah, yes. Next time I'll be more careful.

 

[Maverick1987]

Charteris being out will intensify what I believe will be England's superior linout even more . Ball is fairly short isn't he for a lock anyway ?

Edit: he's actually 6'7" according to ultimate rugby app . Still I don't think he's as imposing at the line out

 

[Big Ewis]

Wales by 3
http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,16024_9200279,00.html

England: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Luther Burrell, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Jonny May, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Danny Care, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (c), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 David Wilson, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 David Attwood, 20 Tom Johnson, 21 Lee Dickson, 22 George Ford, 23 Alex Goode

Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jon Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Jake Ball, 4 Alun Wyn Jones, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Gethin Jenkins
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Paul James, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Andrew Coombs, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Mike Phillips, 22 Dan Biggar, 23 Liam Williams


So how the hell is England still including Alex Goode in there ??...and has Ben Youngs completely fallen out the rotation ??

 

[Maverick1987]

Steve Welsh oh I mean Walsh is involved !!!!! Nooooooooo

 

[Big Ewis]

Steve Welsh oh I mean Walsh is involved !!!!! Nooooooooo

don't worry, if he's not the lead ref then he'll just be meticulously observing himself on a hand-held mirror, with a portable makeup/manicure toolkit.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Charteris out?

Yaaaaaaaaayyyy, losing lineouts.

 

[Big Ewis]

Charteris out?

Yaaaaaaaaayyyy, losing lineouts.

Would like to see what that Ball guy's worth as a starter..

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Would like to see what that Ball guy's worth as a starter..

I suppose you Frenchies wouldn't've seen him last game, too busy hiding behind the sofa.

#BANTZ

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

The BBC should be commended for managing to give conflicting information within the couple of inches which make up a bbc sport column:

JAKE BALL FACTFILE
Born: 21 June, 1991, Ascot
Position: Lock
Team: Scarlets
Height: 6ft 6in
Weight: 19st
Wales caps: 2

Immediately below:
Ball, who is 6ft 7in and weighs 19st 11lb, was regarded as one of the most promising talents in the Pindan Premier Grade competition in Western Australia.

Well done Beeb, well done.