[2015 Six Nations] Scotland vs Wales (Round 2)

[g6mcg]

Would anyone rather see Halfpenny on the wing and Williams at 15? To me it seems the better way of using them.

 

[goodNumber10]

Would anyone rather see Halfpenny on the wing and Williams at 15? To me it seems the better way of using them.

I agree, Halfpenny for me was always a better winger then 15, and him moving to 11/14 allows you have a genuine strike runner in Williams at 15.

Nothing to stop them interchanging though.

 

[psychic duck]

He's been fine at best, if he gets away with his outrageous scrummaging angle he's pretty good, if he doesn't he's ineffective. Overall, that's not really top class in the premiership and certainly below parr for an international - however, I'm still saying he's better than Jenkins and should be starting for Wales.

Not really an accurate portrayal. As a scrummager alone he is top class and done well for Bath. To suggest it's down to being illegal is far from the truth as well, as if anything particularly at international level he hasn't had the best luck with being rewarded by refs - case in point was the Italy game last year. He's a strong scrummager and a couple of years ago one of the strongest in Europe, never got enough credit for the Ospreys scrum whilst Adam Jones was around and was a far bigger loss than anyone would've first thought. Whether his overall game reaches the elite level is another question, particularly when there is a punt as to whether refs reward his scrummaging properly.

In the short term, he is probably the best option though although luckily there are two excellent prospects coming through. Regrettably, Gethin despite being one of the best looseheads in the world at his peak, and still has a great work rate around the field, cannot be picked whilst getting penalised as heavily as he has been over the past 15 months.

 

[Thingimubob]

Cuthberts has only scored 3 tries in total this season, 1 for Cardiff vs Zebre and 2 for Wales in the AIs.

Amos for example has definitely had better form at regional level. International is a different thing obviously.

If someone puts Cuthbert in the space, he'll likely score. If we're getting shut down, don't expect him to do anything...

 

[Every Time Ref]

Not really an accurate portrayal. As a scrummager alone he is top class and done well for Bath. To suggest it's down to being illegal is far from the truth as well, as if anything particularly at international level he hasn't had the best luck with being rewarded by refs - case in point was the Italy game last year. He's a strong scrummager and a couple of years ago one of the strongest in Europe, never got enough credit for the Ospreys scrum whilst Adam Jones was around and was a far bigger loss than anyone would've first thought. Whether his overall game reaches the elite level is another question, particularly when there is a punt as to whether refs reward his scrummaging properly.

In the short term, he is probably the best option though although luckily there are two excellent prospects coming through. Regrettably, Gethin despite being one of the best looseheads in the world at his peak, and still has a great work rate around the field, cannot be picked whilst getting penalised as heavily as he has been over the past 15 months.

OK I'm not especially au fait with the subtleties of scrummaging, but he is definitely one of those loosies who you see boring in on an angle a lot - some referees are fine, some referees are not, but when they're not he hasn't seemed to have much of a plan B. To be fair, this is mainly the latter part of the season, at the start of the season (before he signed for Ospreys) he was playing a lot better, so maybe it's just a psychological thing that he's kind of "checked out" for Bath already. Anyway, I don't want to sound ungrateful to him, he's been very good for us and I wish him all the best, but I do stand by my view that in recent weeks he's not been at his best for us and Auterac is definitely our best loosehead now. FWIW I'm sure Auterac's fantastic form has a lot to do with James's presence in the squad though.

 

[valley commando]

Reply to Maverick 1987.
Yes I can count, 9 posts so what, youve averaged 400 per year, wish I had the time.
As for domestic rugby, I've been paying at the turnstiles for over 30 years, so perhaps you'd like to keep your superior attitude to yourself along with the personal attack.

- - - Updated - - -

Completely agree with Mojopin.

 

[psychic duck]

OK I'm not especially au fait with the subtleties of scrummaging, but he is definitely one of those loosies who you see boring in on an angle a lot - some referees are fine, some referees are not, but when they're not he hasn't seemed to have much of a plan B. To be fair, this is mainly the latter part of the season, at the start of the season (before he signed for Ospreys) he was playing a lot better, so maybe it's just a psychological thing that he's kind of "checked out" for Bath already. Anyway, I don't want to sound ungrateful to him, he's been very good for us and I wish him all the best, but I do stand by my view that in recent weeks he's not been at his best for us and Auterac is definitely our best loosehead now. FWIW I'm sure Auterac's fantastic form has a lot to do with James's presence in the squad though.

Don't really agree at all. Boring in is usually a tactic employed by props trying to cover their deficiencies up. The problem for some scrummagers like James is 90% of referees are incompetent when it comes to the scrum, and are left just guessing. So unless there is a massive amount of dominance then it's not always easy to predict how much of an advantage it gets, and that unpredictability from refs is what counts against James as his selection is reliant largely on his scrummaging, whilst not being all that great in the loose.

 

[valley commando]

Just seen the Wales team for Sunday, gutted.
Why not blood some youngsters I thought we were preparing for a World Cup, we've lost to England, which is the game all Wales fans want to win (along with the players) So I was hoping Gats would experiment at least a little in each of the other games.
On the back row I agree with an earlier post re Lydiate coming off the bench as an impact player, Tiperic is an out and out openside, whilst Warburton is more than capable of being World class on the blindside( remember England last year
We have some good young hookers coming through in Dacey and Belcher whilst Scott Williams is the form centre at the moment.

 

[psychic duck]

Just seen the Wales team for Sunday, gutted.
Why not blood some youngsters I thought we were preparing for a World Cup, we've lost to England, which is the game all Wales fans want to win (along with the players) So I was hoping Gats would experiment at least a little in each of the other games.
On the back row I agree with an earlier post re Lydiate coming off the bench as an impact player, Tiperic is an out and out openside, whilst Warburton is more than capable of being World class on the blindside( remember England last year
We have some good young hookers coming through in Dacey and Belcher whilst Scott Williams is the form centre at the moment.

Sacrificing all your 6 Nations games in order to 'blood some youngsters' isn't particularly good preparation for a World Cup. Belcher? An 18 year old kid with 0 starts for his region. FFS.

 

[ncurd]

To be fair I think it's been suggested they've sacrificed all their six nation games in lieu of training for the world cup. Personally I think that's bloody stupid excuses and if true just plain bloody stupid. However if they've really given up on winning the 6 nations before it even started and focusing on training rather that matches why not blood some players and see how they do?

 

[Every Time Ref]

Don't really agree at all. Boring in is usually a tactic employed by props trying to cover their deficiencies up. The problem for some scrummagers like James is 90% of referees are incompetent when it comes to the scrum, and are left just guessing. So unless there is a massive amount of dominance then it's not always easy to predict how much of an advantage it gets, and that unpredictability from refs is what counts against James as his selection is reliant largely on his scrummaging, whilst not being all that great in the loose.

I'm sure you're right - you could probably extend your 90% to fans as well and I'll happily admit I'm not among the 10%, so can't confidently make any counter-argument about the technicalities. However, incompetent or not every referee is the only referee you're going to get that day and you simply have to play them. Richie is rightly regarded as the best openside of the modern game, possibly of all time, because he could read, understand and play to the referee like no-one else in an area which is adjudicated variably, and the same has to apply to props. He has to be ready to adapt to the ref's interpretation.

Just seen the Wales team for Sunday, gutted.
Why not blood some youngsters I thought we were preparing for a World Cup, we've lost to England, which is the game all Wales fans want to win (along with the players) So I was hoping Gats would experiment at least a little in each of the other games.

You're seriously suggesting throwing in the towel on the entire tournament because you didn't beat the English?!

 

[dullonien]

Whilst I have to admit that I was a little miffed about team selection, I can understand Gatland's reasoning. He's done this numerous times in the past with good effect. Thinking off the top of my head, SA 2009, France 2013, SA 2014. Sure there's more examples I'm forgetting about.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

Going to be honest here, with the team Wales are putting out, I think Scotland will now have a better chance to win but very close still. I was always speaking highly off Vern's work and I think we are going to have to beat one off the big ones to show how effective these changes are and Wales would be a good chance to do that.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

I think it's very telling how close the poll is. Could anyone predict that Wales and Scotland would be considered to have equal chance of winning only last year?

 

[profitius]

I voted for Wales. England won the match up front but I don't think Scotland will and that means Wales will get Gatlandball going which will be hard to stop. Maybe Cotter has some plan to counter it, I don't know. I'm looking forward to the match though.

 

[martinspoonboy1]

I voted for Wales. England won the match up front but I don't think Scotland will and that means Wales will get Gatlandball going which will be hard to stop. Maybe Cotter has some plan to counter it, I don't know. I'm looking forward to the match though.

Exactly my thoughts. Scotland can win but it will be a tough task. If they can bully Wales at the breakdown and set piece then they can release the potent backs on the front foot. Will they be able to bully Wales the way England did in the 2nd half? I'm not so sure. Wales by 8.

 

[Thingimubob]

I think it's very telling how close the poll is. Could anyone predict that Wales and Scotland would be considered to have equal chance of winning only last year?

To be fair, I've been genuinely worried about this fixture since the Autumn. Cotter clearly has had a decent impact, and if we don't perform we're not gonna win.

Basically we need a big step up from that second half last week, or we're screwed...

 

[Will]

As a Scotland fan it's hard to comment too much right now until the team is announced tomorrow. I don't yet know how injuries to Dunbar, Maitland, Seymor and others sit so a lot will depend on that. It is a game I do feel slightly nervous about as I know it is a game that at home and with the luck going for us this time (as opposed to Paris) then we could win. It's also a game where we could do the usual Scotland approach of being glorious failures, play so well and create so much and yet still loose it at the end. As others have said in the press though, it's all well and good for people to talk about the progress Scotland have made, but it matters for little if games aren't won on the back of it.

 

[Amiga500]

Wales feels like a team on the slide, with a coach that is clueless as to what to do about it. Warrenball has been sussed out and there is no plan B. The WRU are looking pretty silly at giving the man a massive contract.


When is the last time Wales played Scotland and you felt the Scottish backs were the unit who could be most decisive in the winning of the game? [vis-a-vis the forwards on both sides and Welsh backs.]

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

I think its wrong to say Wales are on the slide. Wales under Warrenball rarely go through extended losing streaks in the six nations, because as a collective of teams we aren't as potent as the southern hemisphere sides in attack and not as reliably physical as south Africa . There will still be sides who know what's coming and are still unable to do much about it. I suspect, though I hope I'm wrong, that Scotland will be one of those sides on the weekend.

As for Warrenball, I believe Wales will continue to ping pong between the very good and the very poor until the WRU finally realise the relationship ain't going anywhere.
I'd make two further points about Wales: firstly, they're not dramatically worse than in 2012, but as we all know other teams have got better.
Secondly, Garland should have panicked significantly when Adam went downhill/stopped being pickable and that was the perfect time to make further changes. Ultimately Warrenball depends upon territory which Is in turn partially dependent on setpiece functionality. Warrenball was always going to be weaker without adam , and now more than ever the much talked about plan B was needed. This is not to say Samson Led isn't a good player, but Adam Jones in his prime was like a guaranteed penalty won. I think Wales need him more than is being acknowledged, not simply for the scrum but for warrenball as a whole approach.

Will: I take your point that its no good always being seen as on the up if you cant turn that into results, but, I think at this point in time you have to acknowledge how new you guys are as a team under Cotter. You're somewhat similar development-wise to the England of 2012, probably more of attacking intent and potential that England were back then, but you don't have the fatties to see you through when the backs are looking rusty and/or raw.