C'mon duck, our defensive structure is usually superb. Yes it struggled in the autumn, but it seemed to deteriorate slightly along with the rest of our game, but this was the blip, not the other way round. We didn't concede a single try in almost four and a half games of 6 nations rugby, and we only conceded was it 3 in last season's 6 nations.
Went through this on a previous post. Wales' top team's defence has been good dealing with attacks that have midfield who can't/won't pass to their wingers. England and France haven't clocked that their attack strategy isn't working against Wales despite not scoring for 2 years. Whilst not conceding against Scotland is hardly unprecedented, and Italy not scoring in soaking conditions with Kris Burton single handedly making the Italy attack a non-entity is hardly something either. Italy's attacks in the backline with Burton hardly looked like threatening Canada in bright sunny conditions. Edwards defensive system not been so effective against teams who play with more width.
Samoa will always put in some big hits like those you've shown above, but in general they are not as disciplined as Wales are.
I agree like Wales at their best like in 2011 RWC.
But we're not talking about Wales anywhere near their best though. This Wales side has some very average players in it, considering what Samoa have achieved against full strength sides these past 2 years and have done well in defence as well I don't see how this weakened Wales will be as strong defensively. The gap between AWJ/Lydiate/Warburton/Faletau compared to the players in this squad is wide.
So the "it's all very well doing that against Samoa argument but Wales …" is a poor one.
Shaun Edwards should be able to prepare a defensive system that will deal with Japan trying some fancy loop moves, probably behind the gain-line.
Where was his defensive system to deal
with teams spreading the ball wide with less than fancy set moves? Seems just a mere single dummy runner did the trick for Argentina and Ireland, and none of these teams dominated up front. He has worse players to do it with now.
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I feel you are putting too much emphasis on how well Japan played against a Samoa side which obviously weren't at their best on the day. At the same time you use examples of Wales at their worst during the Autumn. Wales have certainly moved on from that, and their last game was actually one of the best performances a Welsh side has produced in the professional era.
That England match is hardly relevant considering that 14 of the starting XV aren't playing.
The examples of Wales conceding tries have mostly come against sides playing a wide game. That was the point I was making. Japan will have much better passers in midfield than England had when they failed to open up the Welsh defence.
Also I suggest you watch the Japan Samoa match first before making assumptions, Japan can play better than that, Samoa weren't at their best but they still were better a first choice Scotland side (stronger than this Wales side) the following week and were robbed by one of the most stupid official decisions seen in modern professional rugby.
It just seems to me that you're saying that because Japan came within a few points of beating Samoa, and that Samoa beat Wales, that that means that Japan will beat Wales. Using the same logic I can't wait for our next game against the AB's, we're gonna smash them by 60 points on the evidence of beating England by 27 points, who in turn convincingly beat NZ in the Autumn.
Not really. I'm using what evidence there is of Japan's form to gauge their level. Samoa happen to be the only team that both sides have played recently. This point suggests to me you haven't read all my posts properly.
I am looking at potential problems, and it seems that the style of Japan's attack has caused more problems for Wales' defensive system than the styles used in the 6 Nations. Then add to that the players will be much weaker. I could very easily point out problems and weaknesses in Japan's team as well. But am focusing on Wales and looking at where Japan can get on top as most seem to be dismissing Japan.
Wales are missing 20 odd players in June; your logic would only be relevant if it was the first choice side. Considering it isn't and there are some average players like Spratt, Liam Williams, Reed, Coombs, Baldwin and McCusker likely to be about in around the team who are a country mile off the player they are replacing.
Anyway as for the All Blacks point ...
The Welsh side will be completely different from that which was used in the 6 nations and in the Autumn anyway, so using any past examples is probably a bit useless. However one thing we do know, and that is Shaun Edwards' capability to quickly get a defensive system in place and all the players on the same page in that regard. An example of this is how he managed to transform Wales defence post RWC 2007 from one that conceded tries against everyone, into one of the best defences in 6 nations history the following spring.
Exactly, it will be weaker. The players are not of a level of those in 2008. Sure Edwards got the defence working quickly, but this Wales side cannot be compared to the level of those players. I'm not saying Edwards' defence is weak, but if there is a way of beating of it, then Japan have a good strategy to do so.
