Wales - RWC Squad

[AlRums]

Wales' preliminary Rugby World Cup squad

Forwards: Rhys Carre (Cardiff Rugby), Corey Domachowski (Cardiff Rugby), Kemsley Mathias (Scarlets), Nicky Smith (Ospreys), Gareth Thomas (Ospreys), Elliot Dee (Dragons), Ryan Elias (Scarlets), Dewi Lake (Ospreys), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Keiron Assiratti (Cardiff Rugby), Will Davies-King (Cardiff Rugby), Tomas Francis (Ospreys), Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Rugby), Henry Thomas (Montpellier), Adam Beard (Ospreys), Ben Carter (Dragons), Rhys Davies (Ospreys), Cory Hill (Yokohama Canon Eagles), Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Will Rowlands (Dragons), Christ Tshiunza (Exeter Chiefs), Teddy Williams (Cardiff Rugby), Taine Basham (Dragons) Taulupe Faletau (Cardiff Rugby), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Josh Macleod (Scarlets), Jac Morgan (Ospreys), Tommy Reffell (Leicester Tigers), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Aaron Wainwright (Dragons).

Backs: Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Kieran Hardy (Scarlets), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Tomos Williams (Cardiff Rugby), Gareth Anscombe (Ospreys), Dan Biggar (Toulon), Sam Costelow (Scarlets), Owen Williams (Ospreys), Mason Grady (Cardiff Rugby), Max Llewellyn (Cardiff Rugby), George North (Ospreys), Joe Roberts (Scarlets), Nick Tompkins (Saracens), Johnny Williams (Scarlets), Keiran Williams (Ospreys), Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby), Alex Cuthbert (Ospreys), Rio Dyer (Dragons), Cai Evans (Ospreys), Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets), Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester Rugby), Tom Rogers (Scarlets), Liam Williams (Cardiff Rugby).

Hawkins left out of Wales World Cup squad

Centre Joe Hawkins is left out of Wales' World Cup training squad which includes former England prop Henry Thomas.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[AlRums]

Gatland questions Wales return amid chaos

Warren Gatland on player retirements, the transfer that disappoints him most and underestimating the problems in Welsh rugby before his return.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Liam Williams heading to Japan halfway through his Cardiff contract. Subject to medical.

Will be eligible for RWC due to cap rule but presumably he won't go on past that.

 

[Amiga500]

Gatland questions Wales return amid chaos

Warren Gatland on player retirements, the transfer that disappoints him most and underestimating the problems in Welsh rugby before his return.

www.bbc.co.uk

A significant proportion of the problems took root while he was last there. How can he claim not to be aware of them!?!

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Owens ruled out of RWC squad with back injury.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

All the jokes when Gatland took over were how old his squad was,
Now he's going to go into the RWC with about 5 caps in the entire side


Edit:
402 Wales caps have been lost from the initial named squad - nuts!

 

[Welsh Exile]

Josh McLeod as well, not that I'm that bothered about him missing out.

 

[BPM]

Shame. That's probably the end of Owens' test career. Elias, Dee and Lake isn't the most inspiring group of rakes.

 

[Welsh Exile]

I don't know what Roberts has done to deserve to be totally out of consideration. He'd probably be my 2nd choice now

 

[AWJ5GOAT]

I don't know what Roberts has done to deserve to be totally out of consideration. He'd probably be my 2nd choice now

Me neither, although tbf from what I've seen from him at the Ospreys Sam Parry is a pretty decent player as well. Congrats to the man for receiving the call up!

 

[Reiser99]

Gatland then: We've got lots of older, experienced players and young, new players, but we're missing a core of 40-60 cap players.

Gatland now: So now we've got no 40-60 cap players and no older, experienced players either. ****, I'm basically a babysitter aren't I?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

EJs judo and sumo and whatever else was weird but I don't think he ever went as far as waterboarding players

Wales players put in hoods as Gatland's stars tested 'psychologically'

Wales' training camps are not just about testing players physically

www.google.com

 

[Welsh Exile]

While I'm clearly ok with Beard being waterboarded (and not to fussed about the rest) all the talk and stuff from Gatland is soooooo predictable and everyone was calling this months ago. It's non stop talk about fitness and physicality. No talk of developing skills or anything related to attacking rugby just boring standard Gatland stuff about being fit so we can stay in a fight. This attitude alone won't get us past Fiji let alone Australia.

 

[Saintjay]

Still not enough fitness to allow Rhys Carre to have shifted a few pounds pre RWC at Gatlands fat camp. To be honest i don't know if he'd have made the squat if fit?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

 

[Welsh Exile]

Still not enough fitness to allow Rhys Carre to have shifted a few pounds pre RWC at Gatlands fat camp. To be honest i don't know if he'd have made the squat if fit?

I doubt it. All he wants from his front 3 are to be good scrummagers and half decent over the ball, I don't think he even cares about carrying ability let alone skills like offloading or nice hands. Carre, as well as being a fatty, isn't talked about as the best scrummaging loose head on the planet so I think from Gatlands point of view it's see you later, don't care if you can break lines and offload.

 

[Saintjay]

I doubt it. All he wants from his front 3 are to be good scrummagers and half decent over the ball, I don't think he even cares about carrying ability let alone skills like offloading or nice hands. Carre, as well as being a fatty, isn't talked about as the best scrummaging loose head on the planet so I think from Gatlands point of view it's see you later, don't care if you can break lines and offload.

Thanks i did wonder. Kind of makes it seem even harsher on the statement they released about him, rather than just saying he's not what we want kind of thing.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

EJs judo and sumo and whatever else was weird but I don't think he ever went as far as waterboarding players

Wales players put in hoods as Gatland's stars tested 'psychologically'

Wales' training camps are not just about testing players physically

www.google.com

Sounds a bit odd, but I'm all in favour of something a bit different, especially when the word 'beer' is also involved. Being in camp for months on end focusing 100% on rugby has to be as tedious AF, especially during periods that would be down time in every other year. Doubly especially when you know you're not really in with a shout of winning it anyway.

 

[AngloScotsHybrid]

I doubt it. All he wants from his front 3 are to be good scrummagers and half decent over the ball, I don't think he even cares about carrying ability let alone skills like offloading or nice hands. Carre, as well as being a fatty, isn't talked about as the best scrummaging loose head on the planet so I think from Gatlands point of view it's see you later, don't care if you can break lines and offload.

If Gatland likes his props to be good scrummagers why did he pick Mako Vunipola on 3 Lions tours?

 

[Welsh Exile]

If Gatland likes his props to be good scrummagers why did he pick Mako Vunipola on 3 Lions tours?

Ha ha. If I recall correctly he scrummaged pretty well on that tour. I don't know the inner workings of Gatlands mind but my guess is he's always had his favourites. In Mako's case he probably didn't think he was as bad in the scrum as people were saying and also liked his mentality and was happy to overlook his age and concentrate more on what he has done in the past. He's done that lots of times with other players.