[2024 Six Nations] Wales vs France - 10/03/24

[Vieux Talonneur]

If he misses and passes straight to a Welsh player I would agree but he doesn't. It was risky though. Pulls it off gets applauded for it, doesn't and gets called an idiot for attempting it.

Great piece of skill, spiced by more than a pinch of luck - but also unnecessary showboating that would have been a total coach killer if it had gone wrong. It was a 3 point game at that stage and Reffell was right on the receiver - a yard or so the other way and you'd have been looking at an open field interception and who knows what that might have led to.

 

[Welsh Exile]

I didnt negate anything...

He should have started every game, Davies was picked to hold Costelows hand first game, and they both kicked so poorly it was crazy.

Tomos has been good for Cardiff, and kicks better there, but in red his kicking has been atrocious. You can disagree but your not the one chasing these long and shallow box kicks. Tomos is a good player who should be very good at this stage. With 2 bad 10s we need him to take control of things, and he just doesnt seem capable of that.

The sign of great players is their ability to be what the team needs of them, look at Wainright, he was always a technical, athletic pacey around the park back rower. In the absence of a leader and ball carrier he has become so much more. That's what I was hoping from Tomos, taking a bit of responsibility and pressure off bad 10's.

Instead Gatland has been forced to draft in Robert's, who is not only the inferior player to North, but also gave away 2 tries from his boot.

I feel you are negating it as you're saying he's playing terribly or that he is one of the problems we have but all you're doing is focussing on one facet of his game and ignoring the others. You did the same thing when he played for Cardiff when he literally scored 2 tries. Sure, tries, breaks and the like are not the only metric for a good game and kicking is certainly important for a 9 but maybe next time say something like "Williams is playing well on the whole and had a decent game but he needs to sort out his kicking so we can compete better in the air" then I won't misconstrue what you're saying. You won't find more than a handful of people who are saying Tomos Williams is playing badly and is a problem we have in the squad. You just won't. It is the definition of a fringe opinion which is fine (especially if you don't really mean that) but know that you are on your own on this one my friend.

 

[Welsh Exile]

And also, and this is why I find it particularly frustrating, you do the complete opposite with Beard. You focus on one part of his game (he's big) and say how important he is to the team but ignore how poor he is in every other facet of his game. It frustrates me I won't lie but I like you so you're lucky otherwise I was going to send you a life size cardboard cut out of Ioan Lloyd in the post.

 

[dirty harry]

And also, and this is why I find it particularly frustrating, you do the complete opposite with Beard. You focus on one part of his game (he's big) and say how important he is to the team but ignore how poor he is in every other facet of his game. It frustrates me I won't lie but I like you so you're lucky otherwise I was going to send you a life size cardboard cut out of Ioan Lloyd in the post.

I get it, but I've never said Tomos is bad. My point is that hes a good player who hasnt stepped into the player he could be, and currently the thing hes bad at is literally losing games. Our kicking game is semi pro, and hes part of the problem.

Beards key roles are set peice and breakdown, those elements are going ok, we arent losing games in those areas specifically.

As I've said over and over, I'm not saying Beard is playing well, but his performance doesnt warrant being singled out, hes a big guy in a poor pack, and there isnt any difference in performance between he and the other 2 options (despite Rowlands coming into camp on fire).

I said it a few weeks ago at CAP, Bevan at 9 is coming along nicely, and losing Tomos wont be a great loss, because what we need is grunt upfront and leadership, hes failed to step into that role.

 

[Welsh Exile]

I get it, but I've never said Tomos is bad. My point is that hes a good player who hasnt stepped into the player he could be, and currently the thing hes bad at is literally losing games. Our kicking game is semi pro, and hes part of the problem.

Beards key roles are set peice and breakdown, those elements are going ok, we arent losing games in those areas specifically.

As I've said over and over, I'm not saying Beard is playing well, but his performance doesnt warrant being singled out, hes a big guy in a poor pack, and there isnt any difference in performance between he and the other 2 options (despite Rowlands coming into camp on fire).

I said it a few weeks ago at CAP, Bevan at 9 is coming along nicely, and losing Tomos wont be a great loss, because what we need is grunt upfront and leadership, hes failed to step into that role.

Ok I get on with this post more. The only thing I would disagree with is that I think Beard is paying well by his standards. He can certainly play worse but he has, for the most part, done his job. I just want a lot more from my locks but it's not his fault he's limited.

 

[dullonien]

Tomos Williams' strengths are his running game, distribution and vision. His kicking game has never been much of a strength, although he has had games where he's been good. He's slightly unlucky that he's playing in the current climate which is dominated by box kicking from 9 - when WR finally do something about the caterpillar ruck it'll probably return to a better balance of kicking from 9, 10 + wider backs.

We need to be playing to our strengths though, and if this isn't box kicking, then why do we rely so heavily on this tactic? In the WC warmups we mixed things up by shaping to box kick, then passing it back to 10 instead and I thought it worked well.

We also need to identify additional kickers in the backline. 13 is a great position to kick from as they often have a little more time and space. I know Roberts got a couple of kicks wrong v France, but he made a few good clearances as well. He doean't need to be vilified for a couple of mistakes in only his second appearance. I thought he showed some promise personally, and probably has an all round game (pace, distribution, kicking etc.) which is a cut above our other options there and might be worth persavering with.

The problem is that we go into the Italy game under a huge amount of pressure to avoid the dreaded spoon, so maybe this isn't the game to continue to experiment with North the more reliable option.