[2025 Six Nations] Wales vs England - 15/3/25

[McTallshort]

I've got England over Wales. No doubt about it.

Oh there's doubt. England in Cardiff there is always doubt

 

[Saintjay]

Freddie Steward is such a frustration for me. Talented, physically ideal and looked strong - plus he's got 36 caps and he's still only 24 - but with one glaring weakness that gets exploited every time he plays for England.

Can we get him working with the speed coach that fixed Mike Brown? Margot Wells.

She's 72 now so she's probably lost a yard. Then again I bet she's still quicker than Dan Cole.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

There's a sprint coach in Loughborough that a number of rugby players use - not sure if they're RFU affiliated but Sales international players go there during the off season/season breaks and seems to do them a world of good, Ben Curry is stupid quick for his size and I think Roebuck looks a lot faster this season than previously


Edit: thinking about it I think they might be RFU recommended as I first saw them when Tom Curry was doing his surgery recovery/learning to run again.
Should get him on the payroll

 

[Saintjay]

There's a sprint coach in Loughborough that a number of rugby players use - not sure if they're RFU affiliated but Sales international players go there during the off season/season breaks and seems to do them a world of good, Ben Curry is stupid quick for his size and I think Roebuck looks a lot faster this season than previously


Edit: thinking about it I think they might be RFU recommended as I first saw them when Tom Curry was doing his surgery recovery/learning to run again.
Should get him on the payroll

Had a look it's probably the Speedlab at the Uni and a guy called Jonas Dodoo (not kidding). They have Watson and Marchant pics in the promo stuff. Plus Eddie quotes.

 

[McTallshort]

Plus Eddie quotes.

"Use this guy mate"

 

[Zed]

I hadn't realised SB has pretty much changed his entire backline bar 9 and 10... he either has no clue what he's doing or is a misunderstood genius. I guess we find out tomorrow!

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

I hadn't realised SB has pretty much changed his entire backline bar 9 and 10... he either has no clue what he's doing or is a misunderstood genius. I guess we find out tomorrow!

Or he wasn't happy with them and changed a couple then was forced by injuries to change some more.

 

[dirty harry]

Hey Scotland had a yellow card advantage against us you know and had 1 suspect try.

I don't think you're really wrong in what you say, though. However I would question your statement saying Welsh resurgence is overblown, I mean, it could be depending on who you speak to, Wales certainly aren't "back" but I think people forget how bad we really were under Gatland. We weren't even able to compete with Itay and you'd have your house on Georgia beating us and probably wouldn't feel confident going up against Portugal so to put in the performances we have (admittedly only 2nd half against Scotland) is undoubtedly a resurgence but I concede it's not anything to get excited about in terms of getting us back to where we should be, yet.

Really?

Scotland blew us off the park and got a 28 minute TBP lol.

There has been no uptick in performance, a few players have come in with a higher workmate, Ben Thomas has shifted from 20 but let's not pretend he's still not costing us 10+ points per game.

Sheratt has thrown the kitchen sink at the last 2 games, with little consideration of Welsh rugby's future (not saying that should be his focus) and he had a slightly improved performance against an understrengthed Ireland, and was blown out against Scotland.

I fully expect England to totally control this game.

The players aren't there, there are flawed older heads, with gaping weaknesses in their game, and younger underdeveloped players, I just don't see the likes of Dee, Willgriff, Rowlands, Anscombe, Thomas, or Tompkins being the catalyst to dig us out of a hole...

Especially when there are players with high ceilings behind them.

Wales may well score some points laylte on to close the gap, but there is next to 0 chance we can compete with this England team, who byw is probably thebworst England teambive seen in years.

England have poor units, a confused style of play, butbwhat they do have is power and enough top class players that will get them over the line.

It's sad to say as I've spent a small fortune to be there lol, but hopefully the clown show that is Ben Thomas vs Marcus Smith will be entertaining at least

 

[dirty harry]

Reffell's taken a bit of stick for being a bit one dimensional

I feel for Reffell, when Morgans out he stands out as a top player and leader, as soon as Morgan returns he seems to dominate the eyeline. Morgan stats against Scotland were unreal, I think Refell took the stick for the defencive failures

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Or he wasn't happy with them and changed a couple then was forced by injuries to change some more.

So for a minute let's live in an ideal world that's never really existed.

If a player is out injured or dropped, what you really want is for someone who is a very close proxy to slot in to minimise disruption.

So if F Smith couldn't play, then it would make more sense to start Ford than M Smith as his game is much more similar. With Slade, you could argue that the closest in style might actually be Lozowski.

If we look at our first choice backs there's no-one who really plays similarly to Mitchell, Furbank or IFW meaning that there will be disruption every time there's change.

Obviously a different thing if there's an active plan to change tactics. I'm definitely not though a fan of horses for courses selections virtually every game. Building understanding is much more important.

To be clear, I'm talking more about starting XVs here, it may well be the case that on the bench you will want players who can do things a bit differently.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Really?

Scotland blew us off the park and got a 28 minute TBP lol.

There has been no uptick in performance, a few players have come in with a higher workmate, Ben Thomas has shifted from 20 but let's not pretend he's still not costing us 10+ points per game.

Sheratt has thrown the kitchen sink at the last 2 games, with little consideration of Welsh rugby's future (not saying that should be his focus) and he had a slightly improved performance against an understrengthed Ireland, and was blown out against Scotland.

I fully expect England to totally control this game.

The players aren't there, there are flawed older heads, with gaping weaknesses in their game, and younger underdeveloped players, I just don't see the likes of Dee, Willgriff, Rowlands, Anscombe, Thomas, or Tompkins being the catalyst to dig us out of a hole...

Especially when there are players with high ceilings behind them.

Wales may well score some points laylte on to close the gap, but there is next to 0 chance we can compete with this England team, who byw is probably thebworst England teambive seen in years.

England have poor units, a confused style of play, butbwhat they do have is power and enough top class players that will get them over the line.

It's sad to say as I've spent a small fortune to be there lol, but hopefully the clown show that is Ben Thomas vs Marcus Smith will be entertaining at least

Jesus, you really are Gatland aren't you. lol. Look , I know you have to double down on this Gatland is the best coach in the world and no one could do better stuff but if you can't see the improvement in our play that a relative novice has achieved after a handful of training sessions I don't know what to say. The stats against Ireland speak for themselves. I'm just glad I don't have to hear the phrases "arm wrestle" and "hard to beat" ever again.

 

[dirty harry]

Jesus, you really are Gatland aren't you. lol. Look , I know you have to double down on this Gatland is the best coach in the world and no one could do better stuff but if you can't see the improvement in our play that a relative novice has achieved after a handful of training sessions I don't know what to say. The stats against Ireland speak for themselves. I'm just glad I don't have to hear the phrases "arm wrestle" and "hard to beat" ever again.

Where did I mention Gatland?

Our performances aren't improved, where do you think it has?

- yes we don't have Thomas wandering around like a drunk baby elephant in the backfield anymore, but he still fucks the ball out of hand, and kills any kicking game. We replaced him with Anscombe who looks a shadow of his former self.

- scrum and lineout had a bumper performance against Irealnd, mostly in a 20 minute period. Both re collapsed against Scotland.

- Defence leaked 4 tries in 28 mins ve Scotland and the game was gone.

Let's be real, Ireland were what 12 points to 6 up on 30 mins when they got a red? That red pretty much disrupted their flow, and we scored either side of half time as they were managing the red card. When they returned to 15 not only did we not score, they won the game from there on in 17-0...

The problem with sport fans is that they rely on feelings to judge performance too much, it feels great to score and get back into a game, but the highlights are game contextual, like the Ireland red, or Scotland securing the BP win and bringing their stars off the park.

 

[Nudger]

If Dingwall gets injured who is going to play inside centre?

Marcus Smith, obviously