[2015 Six Nations] Wales vs Ireland (Round 4)

[valley commando]

Your thoughts on any changes Gats will make v any changes you would make.
I would change Fox for Scott W, Lydiate for Tips and bring Ainscombe to the bench and get rid of Priestland.
One further point, although a lot of us may have a pop at Gats he is the best coach we've had since Carwyn James, together with Schmidt and Henry the best 3 current international coaches.

 

[Lomu]

Wales strong side but that capitulation against England at home has to be worrying coming into a World Cup. Is Phillips out of form? He always saves his best games for Ireland. Hope he kept on bench. Halfpenny lethal with boot and north form has gone south....

 

[valley commando]

Wales strong side but that capitulation against England at home has to be worrying coming into a World Cup. Is Phillips out of form? He always saves his best games for Ireland. Hope he kept on bench. Halfpenny lethal with boot and north form has gone south....

Spikey is just getting older and slower, the problem North has is he doesn't seem to come off his wing looking for the ball as much as he used to, I can only assume he's playing to orders, although we don't appear to be going wide often enough, non of the back 3 are getting their hands on the ball enough for my liking.

 

[Jbobo]

Our biggest problem (maybe on par or more than with general set piece) is that our backs have too rigid-a orders. I'd like them to have a far more expansive game and to be told that they can use their own instincts when attacking. It seems that Gatland is squeezing the creativity out of the backs. Interesting that Halfpenny has made the most metres for Wales so far this year whilst Davies has beaten the most defenders. I think Gatland and co are trying to take the same approach with attack as they are with defense, and it is just not working. Most of our tries have come from players doing what feels right in the moment and having a go. We have the skill, but it seems they are just not being allowed to use it.

 

[Draggs]

Your thoughts on any changes Gats will make v any changes you would make.
I would change Fox for Scott W, Lydiate for Tips and bring Ainscombe to the bench and get rid of Priestland.
One further point, although a lot of us may have a pop at Gats he is the best coach we've had since Carwyn James, together with Schmidt and Henry the best 3 current international coaches.

¿Que?

Also, Carwyn never coached Wales...

 

[Maverick1987]

Wales ireland

¿Que?

Also, Carwyn never coached Wales...

Oooops lol that obviously wasn't on Wikipedia or the rugby banter page .....

 

[Draggs]

Come on lads, its just 4 the bantzzzzzzzz.

 

[j'nuh]

Your thoughts on any changes Gats will make v any changes you would make.
I would change Fox for Scott W, Lydiate for Tips and bring Ainscombe to the bench and get rid of Priestland.
One further point, although a lot of us may have a pop at Gats he is the best coach we've had since Carwyn James, together with Schmidt and Henry the best 3 current international coaches.

Ha, ha, no.

One day Gatland will go away like a bad dream, and I'll be there to say that I didn't rate him before it was cool not to.

 

[Draggs]

Let's be fair, he did a decent job rebuilding us from 2007. 2008 was a good year in some aspects, and 2009-12 had decent moments (Lions tour messed up our Autumn as always).

 

[Amiga500]

Let's be fair, he did a decent job rebuilding us from 2007.

Yes, but right now I'm not sure if he is continuing to improve Wales or is actually holding them back.

Once upon a time Jamie Roberts was a freak of nature in the backline. Now he is just another big unit.

Plan A has been getting built since late 2008 - thats coming on 7 years. There has only been an extraction of creativity in that time (no more Henson, Byrne & S. Williams) and replacement with uniformly straight hard runners*.


*An exception being the recent introduction of The Rat Williams - who, give the man his dues - can be deceptively creative.


You'd have to wonder how many problems the Welsh 3/4 line could pose if they were being conducted by Rhys Patchell from 12 rather than led like a battering ram by Jamie Roberts at 12.

 

[bencahill]

Yes, but right now I'm not sure if he is continuing to improve Wales or is actually holding them back.

Once upon a time Jamie Roberts was a freak of nature in the backline. Now he is just another big unit.

Plan A has been getting built since late 2008 - thats coming on 7 years. There has only been an extraction of creativity in that time (no more Henson, Byrne & S. Williams) and replacement with uniformly straight hard runners*.


*An exception being the recent introduction of The Rat Williams - who, give the man his dues - can be deceptively creative.


You'd have to wonder how many problems the Welsh 3/4 line could pose if they were being conducted by Rhys Patchell from 12 rather than led like a battering ram by Jamie Roberts at 12.

Garland has the same effect on wales as kidney had in ireland. Had a great first (few campaigns) but seems to have been holding them back in recent years. Id say expect him to have a poor World Cup and get the sack soon after

 

[bw245]

While I agree that it's going to be tough for ireland, the Welsh media is already driving me mad.

 

[SelimNiai]

Garland has the same effect on wales as kidney had in ireland. Had a great first (few campaigns) but seems to have been holding them back in recent years. Id say expect him to have a poor World Cup and get the sack soon after

Good old Judy

 

[Bluemoon]

While I agree that it's going to be tough for ireland, the Welsh media is already driving me mad.

If you are referring to anything that Andy Howell has had a hand in writing then I'd ignore it. I've said it before, but his desperate journalism is shock and awe to sell papers.

Most of us in Wales have Ireland coming in to this game as obvious favourites. It'll be a good game.

 

[rhys87]

The one thing Wales under Gatland has shown in the past is that Wales seem to improve dramatically with momentum. Don't know why sometimes we need a poor defeat to give the players a kick up the......... but that somehow as always been the case. It will be close, but if Ireland win the kicking battle and get parity in the set piece then I expect an Irish Grand Slam will be on the cards.

 

[LiRFCMatt]

The Welsh have a lot to play for, they need to impress because right now they are predictable, the physical won't beat this Irish side. As an England fan I'm sat here hoping that something else may come from Gatland and his squad, North can produce something, big fan of Halfpenny's boot, Williams has impressed, Jamie Roberts is, well, Jamie Roberts, Biggar has played well lately, and although I don't like Rhys Webb he has his moments. There is hope for the English and the Welsh, but I just can't see it happening against an Ireland side that will just suffocate the opposition and not let them perform.

 

[nickdnz]

Wait is this supposed to be the match thread? Cause it's probably the most half-arsed match thread I've ever seen put together..

 

[ncurd]

The problem for Wales is if England can shut them out defensively for an entire half what can Ireland do? The only glimmer of hope for Wales is while Ireland are a better defensive unit than England they don't appear to have the same ability in try-scoring flair (not saying England are brilliant just they have a bit more to them than Ireland in attack).

Sorry just can't see past Ireland on this one, Wales have yet to impress this competition and their lack of plan B will mean Ireland will be extremely well drilled in stopping them. As proven this weekend in defense everything England do well Ireland do better currently.

 

[TheSaffycen]

With out seeing the teams I'm going for Ireland by 9. They will force Wales into mistakes and If they just send Roberts straight at Sexton and co then they won't make ground and then just boot long to Kearney or get beaten on the ground.

 

[MojoPin]

With out seeing the teams I'm going for Ireland by 9. They will force Wales into mistakes and If they just send Roberts straight at Sexton and co then they won't make ground and then just boot long to Kearney or get beaten on the ground.

Normally that would sound like a pretty good guess to me, in terms of the score. A lot of it depends on whether the Wales game plan clicks or not. I would have agreed with the exact prediction above but Roberts and Wales' kicking game have both been very good in the last two games and I'd like to think it won't be quite as easy as many are predicting.

In terms of selection I'd actually keep it the same for now - Anscombe on the bench would be my only wish, really. Lydiate performed well against France by setting up that try, Davies is returning to form and despite no tries there was a definite improvement in George North - looked far more dangerous than Liam Williams and made a couple of good runs - one of which resulted in a try.

And as for the ever-present Gatland debate...I think he's doing OK for now. A few disappointments but really his tenure has been mostly positive, at least in the NH. The World Cup will be the true indicator of how his skills as a coach are these days - and if Wales don't make it out of the pool then yes, it's probably time to go unfortunately. But I have confidence and generally like him as a person so hey, let's see what happens.