Wales Team of the Decade

[dullonien]

Yeh, I think people forgot that he was 1st choice over Peel for a while between '03 and '05. It was probably the slam capaign in the '05 6 nations where Peel cemented himself as the Welsh no. 1, before that they shared the duties quite evenly. They both deservedly went on the Lions tour in '05 aswell. Cooper has fallen in standing since then, definitely, but he's up there in the best four Welsh scrum halves of the naughties, behind Peel, Howley (if he's cinsidered) and Phillips (although Phillips has fallen away in a similar fashion recently).

Agree with Cymro about Horseman, good scrummaging tighthead who did a great job for Wales when he was called in. He was a penalty machine though!

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Yeh, I think people forgot that he was 1st choice over Peel for a while between '03 and '05. It was probably the slam capaign in the '05 6 nations where Peel cemented himself as the Welsh no. 1, before that they shared the duties quite evenly. They both deservedly went on the Lions tour in '05 aswell. Cooper has fallen in standing since then, definitely, but he's up there in the best four Welsh scrum halves of the naughties, behind Peel, Howley (if he's cinsidered) and Phillips (although Phillips has fallen away in a similar fashion recently).

Agree with Cymro about Horseman, good scrummaging tighthead who did a great job for Wales when he was called in. He was a penalty machine though!

"Case of mistaken identity." D.Weir, 1995 :lol:

To be fair he did have his odd moment for yellow cards. But aside that he was a great scrummager and fought back from cancer to play rugby. Remember his try against England in 2007, he went over in the corner near us and just nodded his head like Churchill the dog when he grounded it. Now coaching in the Welsh set-up with the Wales U18.

 

[Draggs]

"Case of mistaken identity." D.Weir, 1995 :lol:

To be fair he did have his odd moment for yellow cards. But aside that he was a great scrummager and fought back from cancer to play rugby. Remember his try against England in 2007, he went over in the corner near us and just nodded his head like Churchill the dog when he grounded it. Now coaching in the Welsh set-up with the Wales U18.

If I may post another vid...

 

[TRF_Cymro]

If I may post another vid...

Ill stand corrected on the nodding dog :lol:

 

[psychic duck]

Why's that then? Cooper was pretty good until his last batches of Wales games and went on a Lions Tour. Horsman was a very good prop and up until the emergence of Adam Jones did a sterling job at tighthead. You can disagree with Horsman all you like but the majority of Welsh fans will say and who remember will say the same. He did a job in holding that position. If you want to slag him off then feel free but expect a barrage back.

Cooper at his best was a good sniping scrum half, but two elements of his game were just terrible, his passing and his kicking, towards the end of his career (if it is over now) he didn't even do any of his breaks which he was good at

He only went on that Lions tour because Woodward selected a stupidly large squad, also lots of bad players have ended up on Lions tours over the years, Brent Cockbain, Tyrone Howe, Darren Morris, Phil Greening, Barry Williams, Nick Beal and ... Gareth Cooper

Horsman was OK at best and was a honest, hard working player, but as noted by one poster here, was a penalty machine

I repeat though, neither of these players would be anywhere near this team

Cooper was the 4th best scrum half of the decade = nowhere near

Horsman still would be nowhere near but thinking about it carefully about it apart from Adam Jones and Dai Young

other Wales tighthead props of the decade:
Ben Evans
Darren Morris
Chris Anthony
Peter Rogers
Craig Mitchell
Ben Broster
Eifion Roberts

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Cooper at his best was a good sniping scrum half, but two elements of his game were just terrible, his passing and his kicking, towards the end of his career (if it is over now) he didn't even do any of his breaks which he was good at

He only went on that Lions tour because Woodward selected a stupidly large squad, also lots of bad players have ended up on Lions tours over the years, Brent Cockbain, Tyrone Howe, Darren Morris, Phil Greening, Barry Williams, Nick Beal and ... Gareth Cooper

Horsman was OK at best and was a honest, hard working player, but as noted by one poster here, was a penalty machine

I repeat though, neither of these players would be anywhere near this team

Cooper was the 4th best scrum half of the decade = nowhere near

Horsman still would be nowhere near but thinking about it carefully about it apart from Adam Jones and Dai Young

other Wales tighthead props of the decade:
Ben Evans
Darren Morris
Chris Anthony
Peter Rogers
Craig Mitchell
Ben Broster
Eifion Roberts

Are you serious?

Peter Rodgers was a loosehead for starters. Darren Morris was arguably at the time one of the best scrummagers in the country ... pitty his fitness let him down as noted by Phil Greening during the 2005 Lions DVD when they asked where Morris was ... Greening answered still in the all you can eat buffet. Don't think you have seen much rugby because Barry Williams was argued to be one of the best Welsh hookers and one of the best in the UK at the time especially in 1997. If your reason for saying Horsman was not great was because if his penalty count ... all I can do is :lol:

Your one eyed view on Cooper shows you fail to acknowledge he was good, deserved his spot on the Lions regardless of whether he was behind Peel. Instead you mention the end of his career which is was poor.

 

[psychic duck]

Are you serious?

Peter Rodgers was a loosehead for starters. Darren Morris was arguably at the time one of the best scrummagers in the country ... pitty his fitness let him down as noted by Phil Greening during the 2005 Lions DVD when they asked where Morris was ... Greening answered still in the all you can eat buffet. Don't think you have seen much rugby because Barry Williams was argued to be one of the best Welsh hookers and one of the best in the UK at the time especially in 1997. If your reason for saying Horsman was not great was because if his penalty count ... all I can do is :lol:

Your one eyed view on Cooper shows you fail to acknowledge he was good, deserved his spot on the Lions regardless of whether he was behind Peel. Instead you mention the end of his career which is was poor.

Darren Morris was never more than just a fat blob

I don't think Horsman was atrocious, he was OK, but nowhere near good enough to be near a Wales team of the decade, and giving away penalties is a very important part of the game

Gareth Cooper did not deserve his spot on the Lions tour, Woodward selected 4 scrum halves, (pretty much every other coach has selected 3), and Cooper was lucky to be in a stupidly large squad that year, like other picks on that tour such as Balshaw (who had lost it by 2005) and Charlie Hodgson

 

[cyRil]

Darren Morris was never more than just a fat blob

I don't think Horsman was atrocious, he was OK, but nowhere near good enough to be near a Wales team of the decade, and giving away penalties is a very important part of the game

Gareth Cooper did not deserve his spot on the Lions tour, Woodward selected 4 scrum halves, (pretty much every other coach has selected 3), and Cooper was lucky to be in a stupidly large squad that year, like other picks on that tour such as Balshaw (who had lost it by 2005) and Charlie Hodgson

Darren Morris was more than a fat blob, he had the potential to be a world class prop, just his lack of discipline and application meant that he will only be remembered as a fat blob by some people...

Also, Cooper did deserve to go to New Zealand. In 2005 the best two scrum halves in Britain were Welsh, him being one of them. The only problem was that he had an atrocious tour (very similar to Mike Blair's in 2009) and I don't think his career ever recovered.

 

[dullonien]

Darren Morris was awesome, the best hands a prop has ever possesed. I'd go so far as saying he had better handling skills that any of the current squad (it seems that way from the 6 nations anyway). Fat, yes. Unfit, yes. Bloody awesome in the same way Madden was, hell yeah!

 

[cyRil]

Darren Morris was awesome, the best hands a prop has ever possesed. I'd go so far as saying he had better handling skills that any of the current squad (it seems that way from the 6 nations anyway). Fat, yes. Unfit, yes. Bloody awesome in the same way Madden was, hell yeah!

Does anybody remember the way he started Breyton Paulse's try for the BaaBaas at the Mill in about 2002? Picked up on a loose ball, threw a dummy and put a gorgeous chip kick over the defence and they were away.
******* Awesome.

 

[tombw1666]

Wales OddBodds Team

Not the Best team but the most interesting charters.. Got a few gaps, give me your suggestions??

1
2 Garen Genkins
3
4 Derwyn Jones
5
6
7 Richie Collins
8
9 Rupert Moon
10 Arwel Thomas
11
12
13
14
15 Neil Genkins

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Does anybody remember the way he started Breyton Paulse's try for the BaaBaas at the Mill in about 2002? Picked up on a loose ball, threw a dummy and put a gorgeous chip kick over the defence and they were away.
******* Awesome.

You mean this one?

 

[Draggs]

Martyn "The Legend" Madden:


How can he not be on a greatest XV of all time for anything?

 

[lucky number 7]

I love Scott Gibbs....

 

[Draggs]

I love Scott Gibbs....

You're only human.

 

[lucky number 7]

He ran such strong lines , stepped like a certain Shane Williams and I recall seeing him bosh a prop running in a try for the Lions ..everything a centre should do...no idea what his D was like though

 

[Draggs]

He ran such strong lines , stepped like a certain Shane Williams and I recall seeing him bosh a prop running in a try for the Lions ..everything a centre should do...no idea what his D was like though

You don't need any defence with Allan "The Clamp" Bateman alongside you.