[2019 Six Nations] Scotland vs Wales (09/03/2019)

[MikeTheNative]

The 2nd half was a bit like the 1st half in the France game, too many mistakes stopped Wales from getting any momentum.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Wales have scored as many tries as Italy this tournament, fairly bonkers. Testament to the Welsh defence to be fair!

 

[bushytop]

Wales have scored as many tries as Italy this tournament, fairly bonkers. Testament to the Welsh defence to be fair!

I actually believe that if we loosened up on our attacking structure, while we would score more tries... we would also concede more tries on turnover ball. I think that our attack is based around still maintaining a tight defensive line should the opposition gain possession through either a Welsh error or opposition skill.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I actually believe that if we loosened up on our attacking structure, while we would score more tries... we would also concede more tries on turnover ball. I think that our attack is based around still maintaining a tight defensive line should the opposition gain possession through either a Welsh error or opposition skill.

I'd agree, Wales are playing to their strengths and with a three quarter line of Anscombe, Parkes and Davies running in tries with great attacking play isn't one of them.

If Ireland find any sort of form next week will be intriguing though, last year we had 69% possession in the fixture. Anything within 10% of that and I'd be confident of an away win. Different backrows, different form and different location won't make it easy though!

 

[bushytop]

I'd agree, Wales are playing to their strengths and with a three quarter line of Anscombe, Parkes and Davies running in tries with great attacking play isn't one of them.

If Ireland find any sort of form next week will be intriguing though, last year we had 69% possession in the fixture. Anything within 10% of that and I'd be confident of an away win. Different backrows, different form and different location won't make it easy though!

If any of our opposition have anywhere between 59% - 79% possession I will expect us to struggle, as we did during yesterday's second half.

It will be interesting to see how Ireland perform against France today as although Wales have won 13 on the bounce and Ireland have only lost two games during 2018-2019 both teams are not exactly clicking. Whatever happens, I expect a tight test match with a result of no more than a score in it.

 

[oj121]

Wales have scored as many tries as Italy this tournament, fairly bonkers. Testament to the Welsh defence to be fair!

Have had a few disallowed though

 

[ncurd]

Typical Wales play like utter tosh all tournament 'oh we are playing England' suddenly they play almost perfectly.

 

[Jashay]

Typical Wales play like utter tosh all tournament 'oh we are playing England' suddenly they play almost perfectly.

I'd argue that England have only played well for one game too, against Ireland. Other than that I've not been convinced by our performances. France have also only played one good game, and even then it's by the erratic French standards. Still waiting for Ireland, Scotland and Italy to click. It's been a strangely uncohesive 6N.

I don't think Wales have been tosh, but their attack has not been great. Their defence is doing well, but looking at the stats it's not been the impregnable wall I thought it was.

I do think they deserved to win yesterday; they withstood the Scottish pressure well enough to earn it. But if Scotland had won, they would have deserved it too. Close match.

 

[MikeTheNative]

Wales have scored as many tries as Italy this tournament, fairly bonkers. Testament to the Welsh defence to be fair!

It's quite a misleading stat, not that odd when you consider it's the same as Ireland and more than France and Scotland. Everyone is quite close then England is miles in front.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

It's quite a misleading stat, not that odd when you consider it's the same as Ireland and more than France and Scotland. Everyone is quite close then England is miles in front.

I dunno, I think it's an interesting stat. The only sane conclusion is that with minor defensive tinkering Italy are on track for the 2020 Grand Slam.

 

[bushytop]

I dunno, I think it's an interesting stat. The only sane conclusion is that with minor defensive tinkering Italy are on track for the 2020 Grand Slam.

When asked about the possibility of relegation by 2020, COS did say "Bring it on!".

 

[BobbyM]

To be honest, I try to avoid the forum on the day of matches, but judging from the subsequent posts I saw, then the answer is 'Yes. Their post deserved a snarky response'.

What about my "subsequent posts" made you think that being an ass was the right thing to do? What wales did yesterday around the ruck is what teams like the ABs have been doing for decades (at least until recently). Learn to take a bit of credit for playing on/over the edge and getting away with it. Interestingly just read an article from Tom English saying broadly what I was saying yesterday; many folk concurring with your interpretation?

 

[Dai Yorkshire]

So... quite foggy on the game due to downing a bottle of Drambui with Irn Bru... but what I do know is that that second half was tense. I have to rewatch the game again but it did feel like all the 50/50's were given to Scotland, which prevented Wales from building (literally) any momentum.

Fair play to the Scots... and by the scuffed and bruised faces of some of the Welsh boys at FT, the Jocks definitely brought physicality today but that Welsh D somehow managed to do enough. Was worried all week that the Regional chaos might have burned up some invaluable nervous energy and maybe that had some contribution to our second half malais. Still a win at Murrayfield these days is not to be sniffed at, regardless of injuries and refs named Pascal.

Well done to both teams on what become a massive arm wrestle in the second half... and those calling for Toonies head should be shot!

yeah I just need a lay down agree with the faces at the end a shift been put in for sure, when we did win the ball back we kicked it back to the scots a few more strike runners and the result might have been different, nail biting from behind the settee I think we might have got out of jail there.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

It's quite a misleading stat, not that odd when you consider it's the same as Ireland and more than France and Scotland. Everyone is quite close then England is miles in front.

Not really misleading though (it's a factual stat, I'm not trying to present it in one way or another). A team one game away from a grand slam scoring as many tries as a team with 0 points on the table and a stuttering Irish team who've played one less match is unusual though.

 

[bushytop]

What about my "subsequent posts" made you think that being an ass was the right thing to do? What wales did yesterday around the ruck is what teams like the ABs have been doing for decades (at least until recently). Learn to take a bit of credit for playing on/over the edge and getting away with it. Interestingly just read an article from Tom English saying broadly what I was saying yesterday; many folk concurring with your interpretation?

I kind of agreed with RT's interpretation actually... but I am obvs Welsh and I do think no matter how objective we can 'try' and be pretty much everyone sees things from their own side of the fence. I felt that we couldn't even buy a decision off Pascal yesterday, while he 'seemed' more than happy to penalise us. The fact that so many Scots (& Angles) we're crying out for a yellow was because we got pinged so much but I'm not so sure that many of them should have been penalties in the first place.

Like I said, we all see things subjectively to some degree no matter how much we think we don't... and Referees literally decide the outcome of a game more than any one player. It's a tough job, someone has to do it and every Ref sees the game quite differently regardless of how many refereeing meetings they attend.

 

[bushytop]

Not really misleading though (it's a factual stat, I'm not trying to present it in one way or another). A team one game away from a grand slam scoring as many tries as a team with 0 points on the table and a stuttering Irish team who've played one less match is unusual though.

As with all things, it is probably down the the reactive cyclical nature of the game. Bonus Points are introduced and the game becomes more expansive due to tries being even more valuable... as the game opens up, someone identifies the value in the perceived opposite. Namely, tighten up when everyone else is expanding to put more onus on defence and therefore preventing the potential for the opposition scoring any tries (or a small amount at the most).

Then if that works, more teams will follow suit until another law change... or someone else identifies a method to to nullify the overly defensive structure with a particular attacking philosophy and the cycle continues.

 

[The5thOfficial]

My throat is still sore from shouting at the TV!

My wife's Irish, so its going to be 'interesting' .........

 

[bushytop]

My wife's Irish, so its going to be 'interesting' .........

Lol... are you gonna be giving her a sore throat?

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Lol... are you gonna be giving her a sore throat?

 

[Tooting Carmen]

Wales were very lucky to hold on for the win. Mistake after mistake after mistake in the 2nd half - the worst being Aled Davies' kick outside the 22, after the defence had worked REALLY hard to steal back the ball.