Wales Tour of Argentina

[TRF_Olyy]

No Reffell is odd as well,
Should be capping him ASAP,
Even just 2mins off the bench

 

[Welsh Exile]

Really pleased Ben Carter is in too.

 

[Welsh Exile]

No Reffell is odd as well,
Should be capping him ASAP,
Even just 2mins off the bench

Agree. I've been watching more of him recently and he's impressive. I love players that look knackered after 2 mins and he's one of those.

He's just unlucky that we're well stocked
In that area. Jac Morgan couldn't even make the squad. Hopefully Reffell gets a look in soon.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Would've liked to see Costelow in as the 3rd choice 10 but they've gone with 2 fly halves with Ioan Lloyd being able to cover there if needs be.

Shame he's just going to be in the under 20s squad now, though. Mind you, I'm looking forward to that if Christ, Carwyn and Costelow are in there.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Actually I'm a bit annoyed there's no Kieran Williams as well. And really Aneurin Owen should've been picked too. I know we have to have some experience in there and can't just be 100% development but to not take either of those 2 centers is odd. Especially odd that Watkin isn't there either.

Domachowski over Jones for me as well but you can't have it all. Ifan Philips should've got a crack at Hooker too. Actually more I think about this the more meh I am about it.

 

[Reiser99]

May be my untrained eye, but that actually looks like a very strong squad (ignoring those unavailable) with many players either established or capped at least already. How many are new caps?

Strong may be the wrong word, experienced. It doesn't look like Wales are trying many new players.

Double edit: not to say it isn't strong. Unadventurous would be the best word.

 

[Welsh Exile]

May be my untrained eye, but that actually looks like a very strong squad (ignoring those unavailable) with many players either established or capped at least already. How many are new caps?

Strong may be the wrong word, experienced. It doesn't look like Wales are trying many new players.

5 by my count.

Ben Carter, Basham, Rogers, Ben Thomas and Gareth Thomas.

 

[Reiser99]

Yeah, for me it feels unadventurous. How I felt with Jones in the Autumn Nations Cup. For me summer tours are the chance for fringe players to establish themselves and new players to have a chance. Fringe players mainly, not so much on the new caps.

 

[BPM]

Yep. I feel the same.

Wales Online have been posting articles about all the exciting young players getting a shot this summer for weeks and barely any of them are getting a look in.

Odd ... what benefit is there to picking players like Halfpenny?

 

[Welsh Exile]

Yeah pleased for the 5 uncapped players but should be at least another 3 or 4. How Jac Morgan hasn't got a look in I don't know but same can be said for the others ive
Mentioned that have missed out

 

[BPM]

TBH, forwards are better than backs. I would have made Navidi captain and gone for some new blood in the centre and at 15. You're not going to learn much about Halfpenny or JD2 that you don't already know very well ...

 

[Welsh Exile]

TBH, forwards are better than backs. I would have made Navidi captain and gone for some new blood in the centre and at 15. You're not going to learn much about Halfpenny or JD2 that you don't already know very well ...

Totally agree.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Hoping Ioan Lloyd gets a good run at 15 (even though he sees himself as a 10 apparently) as he's one of the few I look at and think maybe he could force his way into the WC squad so want to give him as many minutes as possible as he looks a special player

 

[dullonien]

Little underwhelmed personally.

I would have liked to see Domachowski tested, but with the uncapped Gareth Thomas it's understandable. GT has looked very good to be fair, strong scrummager with a big workrate.

Ifan Phillips would have been worth a look as well, possibly at the expense of Parry who has too many set piece wobbles for my liking.

There's a few in the backrow, Jac Morgan, Reffell, Morgan Morris. Don't understand Turnbull at all, in good form but not the future, and too limited at international level imo.

Kieran Williams and Aneurin Owen unlucky in the centre, but delighted to see Ben Thomas who's got a ton of potential. Kieran maybe has a few mistakes to iron out, whilst at 20, NHS's turn will come I have no doubt about that.

Finally, I think Protheroe might be most hard done by. Problem is he's not been playing for O's of late, with Dan Evans inexplicably picked ahead of him. Rogers looks a good prospect, but Prothero is further along in his development. Lane is lucky too, not shown much in between injury and bans. Gonna learn nothing from Halfpenny either. Honestly I'd be looking at Protheroe as out long term successor at fullback, he's the complete package imo.

 

[Welsh Exile]

New centre Aneurin Owen to join Wales this summer

Dragons centre Aneurin Owen will be attached to the Welsh squad as they prepare for next month's Tests against Canada and Argentina

www.walesonline.co.uk

Glad he's got called up to train with the squad at least. He deserves it.

 

[Welsh Exile]

So I guess if Pivac is putting winning the first game against Argentina above all else and wants to pick the most experienced, strongest team he'll go for something like:

Smith Dee Francis
Beard Hill
Moriarty Navidi
Wainwright

Williams
Sheedy
Halaholo
Davies

Holmes Amos
Halfpenny

Against Canada maybe something like:

Thomas
Elias
Brown
Rowlands
Carter
Botham
Basham
Turnbull

Hardy
Evans
Thomas
Tomkins

Rogers Lane
Lloyd

 

[dullonien]

I wonder if Pivac would be tempted to test Holmes at 15 in this series. Holmes has been one of the standout Welsh performers of late and I know he's got experience at fullback.

I feel like it's a potential problem position for us in the medium term with both Halfpenny and Sanjay at the tail end of their careers.

Lloyd is an exciting prospect for sure, but his long term future could be at 10 (Pat Lamb seems to think so). Amos has moments of class but is flaky and hasn't pushed on from his early promise for Dragons.

Like I said, Protheroe to me looks ideal. Pace to burn, brave in the tackle, and as an ex 10, can slot into the line as a second playmaker. Michael Collins could be an option, but needs to prove himself for the O's first.

The other options are McNicholl, Matthew Morgan and Jordan Williams - all of which have too many glaring holes in their games for my liking (still gutted Jordan Williams hasn't fulfilled his massive potential).

So Holmes could certainly be a good option to test out. Not sure if I've seen enough of his kicking and positioning play to make a full judgement, but he'd certainly be a handful ball in hand!

 

[Welsh Exile]

I wonder if Pivac would be tempted to test Holmes at 15 in this series. Holmes has been one of the standout Welsh performers of late and I know he's got experience at fullback.

I feel like it's a potential problem position for us in the medium term with both Halfpenny and Sanjay at the tail end of their careers.

Lloyd is an exciting prospect for sure, but his long term future could be at 10 (Pat Lamb seems to think so). Amos has moments of class but is flaky and hasn't pushed on from his early promise for Dragons.

Like I said, Protheroe to me looks ideal. Pace to burn, brave in the tackle, and as an ex 10, can slot into the line as a second playmaker. Michael Collins could be an option, but needs to prove himself for the O's first.

The other options are McNicholl, Matthew Morgan and Jordan Williams - all of which have too many glaring holes in their games for my liking (still gutted Jordan Williams hasn't fulfilled his massive potential).

So Holmes could certainly be a good option to test out. Not sure if I've seen enough of his kicking and positioning play to make a full judgement, but he'd certainly be a handful ball in hand!

If it were down to me I'd definitely be starting Holmes at 15, I think he's better suited to full back and you're right, probably one of the, if not the, most in form player in Wales at the moment.

Apparently that Rogers kids preferred position is full back so he could be a long term option there but I can't imagine he'll get any minutes at 15 this summer. Much more likely to be on the wing but you never know.

 

[dullonien]

Yeah, another option. Adams and LRZ both have experience at 15 too I suppose.

 

[Welsh Exile]

I was thinking about the general feeling, in Wales and outside of Wales, that this squad is a little uninspired or lacks ambition with not enough focus on the development aspect. And while I still agree that perhaps a few more uncapped players could've been called up (For example I don't really see what we're going to learn from Halfpenny and J Davies being in the squad and as decent as Turnbulls form has been should he really be getting a call up?) but having thought about this squad more I think the balance is more or less right.

I think the thing that makes our summer series a little different is that we're playing Argentina (a top team obviously) twice. I reckon if we had summer fixtures that England or Ireland have then we'd probably see a few more uncapped players and while I agree that the summer tours should be more development focussed we still don't want to get our pants pulled down by Argentina in both games. To be honest, that could still happen with the form they are in and the squad we've selected but as I say, I think the balance is about right.