[2015 Six Nations] Wales vs England (Round 1)

[iINDOMINUSxx]

Wales vs England

Date: Friday, February 6th 2015 - 20:05 GMT (UTC+0)
Location: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)

Team Line-ups:


[TABLE="width: 500, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]Wales[/TD]
[TD]vs[/TD]
[TD]England[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Leigh Halfpenny[/TD]
[TD]15[/TD]
[TD]Mike Brown[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Alex Cuthbert[/TD]
[TD]14[/TD]
[TD]Anthony Watson[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Jonathan Davies[/TD]
[TD]13[/TD]
[TD]Jonathan Joseph[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Jamie Roberts[/TD]
[TD]12[/TD]
[TD]Luther Burrell[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]George North[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]Jonny May [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Dan Biggar[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]George Ford[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Rhys Webb[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]Ben Youngs[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Taulupe Faletau[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]Billy Vunipola[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sam Warburton[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]Chris Robshaw[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Dan Lydiate[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]James Haskell[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Alun Wyn Jones[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]George Kruis [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Jake Ball[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]Dave Attwood[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Samson Lee[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]Dan Cole[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Richard Hibbard[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]Dylan Hartley[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Gethin Jenkins[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Joe Marler[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]Replacements[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Scott Baldwin[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]Tom Youngs[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Paul James[/TD]
[TD]17[/TD]
[TD]Mako Vunipola [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Aaron Jarvis[/TD]
[TD]18[/TD]
[TD]Kieran Brookes[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Luke Charteris[/TD]
[TD]19[/TD]
[TD]Nick Easter [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Justin Tipuric[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]Tom Croft[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Mike Phillips[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]Richard Wigglesworth [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Rhys Priestland[/TD]
[TD]22[/TD]
[TD]Danny Cipriani[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Liam Williams[/TD]
[TD]23[/TD]
[TD]Billy Twelvetrees[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]




​

 

[Maverick1987]

Wales team picked 48hours ahead of schedule

 

[goodNumber10]

Wales team picked 48hours ahead of schedule View attachment 3665

we all knew the side so i guess why delay?

 

[MojoPin]

Massively predictable, but no less of a powerful, dangerous squad. Cuthbert, North and arguably Hibbard need to impress in my eyes. Priestland and Phillips also need to justify their spots on the bench IMO. Williams a bit lucky not to start but will be pushing if Cuthbert, North or even Halfpenny have a bad day.

Very excited for Friday, should be an intense and atmospheric start to the tournament. Now awaiting Lancaster's selections with great interest...

 

[Maverick1987]

I guess the England team will be named slightly early as the game is a Friday . He usually names it on a Thursday for a Saturday kick off ....

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

This is a very deliberately psychological move from Wales to announce the team so early...
It's saying to England and Lancaster "We know what our team is, we know how we're going to play and so do you - do you know any of those things about yourself?"

...and we all know the answer to that from England is...no!

 

[bw245]

The mind games have begun. Wales coming across very confident. Going to be a great match!

 

[Patchey]

Tbh, 12 aside I think the English starting XV is fairly predictable. And even then Twelvetrees is probably 80% certain to start.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Yeah...though I'm not 100% up to speed with injuries; I heard somewhere that Burrell was out and the Fail was saying Joseph would start?

The bench is also much less clear. The props should be a fait accompli but what about lock and back row;

Kitchener versus Day
Easter versus Kvesic

What have I forgotten?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Kvesic ain't in the EPS, I imagine kitchener will be above Day because he was in the initial squad.
Wouldn't be surprised to see Kitch start, due to the loss of Wood and his line out work.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Shows how out of the loop am I...

Oh yeah its Clark versus Easter isn't it? I'm fairly certain Easter will get it for the experience, and fair enough; after all, he came here and won with England 4 years ago!
Kitch could complement Attwood very well. To be honest, I'm not going to pretend I have much of an opinion over Kruis versus Kitchener. I just hope that whoever is picked treats it as an opportunity to nail it...

Especially with the Scrum V analysis saying Wales would have a 'massive advantage' over England in the second row.... prove them wrong.
Incidentally, I really can't emphasise enough how much of a key player Attwood has become and will be on friday.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Yup, Attwood is excellent.
I've got no idea about Kruis line out work but he's a grafter, so I like him for that. Kitchener has a bit more about him I think but I don't know whether lancs will throw him in for his first start in cardiff. Then again Kruis hasn't exactly got 100 caps of experience.

I reckon Easter will bench as well. Lancs likes an 8 on the bench and we can get Binny to run himself into the ground for 50-60 then replace him.

 

[goodNumber10]

do we honestly think Easter will get in above Waldrom? Lancaster etc... love a ball carrying 8.

This should eb a good game, Wales will have amasisve point to prove after such a shambolic 6nations last year, perfect start for them to play England at home 1st up. We always say this with England games but the winner of this will be pushing for a Grand Slam.

Will be interesting to see how co-hesive the Welsh are out the gates as they've been working more on fitness than structure AFAIA!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Has Waldrom been called up?
I know lancaster said he'd watch the Saxons then make his choice, but I've not heard anything since.
If he's in the EPS he'll be above Easter fo sho

 

[goodNumber10]

Has Waldrom been called up?
I know lancaster said he'd watch the Saxons then make his choice, but I've not heard anything since.
If he's in the EPS he'll be above Easter fo sho

No you're right i was for some reason getting Henry Thomas confused with Thomas Waldrom...

 

[MojoPin]

do we honestly think Easter will get in above Waldrom? Lancaster etc... love a ball carrying 8.

This should eb a good game, Wales will have amasisve point to prove after such a shambolic 6nations last year, perfect start for them to play England at home 1st up. We always say this with England games but the winner of this will be pushing for a Grand Slam.

Will be interesting to see how co-hesive the Welsh are out the gates as they've been working more on fitness than structure AFAIA!

Yeah, that was my big worry about the rumours about the fitness regime, but I suppose the flipside is that the squad is so predictable that these guys should (emphasis on the 'should', there...) be able to play well together with their eyes closed by now. From what I gather it seems like Wales are using the Six Nations itself as a huge practice session, just getting their fitness levels up so they can keep going throughout the whole thing. Interesting approach and it may well pay off for the World Cup but they need to prove a point in the 6N too really. Should be interesting and despite injuries I'm expecting a very good performance by England - from the outside they just seem to have so much strength in depth.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

From where I'm standing it just seems strange for Wales to have fitness as the focus... they're reputably very much up there when it comes to fitness..
I can't really think of a occasion when a poor Wales performance was an fitness issue as opposed to simply a cohesiveness, structural, skills issue...
They may think of themselves as a very settled squad, and they are, but that doesn't mean they won't be super rusty coming into the six nations as a team of players, who are probably more diffuse in terms of where they play their rugby than ever before. These are hardly for 2007 days of 14 out of 15 starters being Ospreys!

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Samson Lee looks like he has a face too small for his head

Very worried about this, I think this is the most important game for England. We need confidence going into the world cup and also need to prove we can beat Wales at their home, especially after 2013.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Question: How good is Samson Lee?

I haven't really watched him, but Scrum V seem to have him down as a once in a generation player.
Is he that good?

 

[brumtom]

In the grand scheme of things, if we do lose I do agree with the coaching spin that it wont have much semblance on the WC. I'd love to see an English win but I think the odds are against us, it'll be a good game though and will teach the younger and uncapped part of English team about pressure games as much as playing in big game atmospheres. I am unsure where the game will be won though, there are a lot of factors in this one rather than a few positions and types of play.