Wales v Australia

[Welsh Exile]

**** me, that's quite a list. Some world class players in that list and a lot of
Very good ones too. Will be horrible if we win and seeing Pivac looking like the cat who's got the cream patting himself on the back.

 

[Welsh Exile]

 

[Welsh Exile]

 

[Derpus]

Debutant 10 should be interesting

 

[Welsh Exile]

Debutant 10 should be interesting

Do you think Rennie will be under any pressure if he loses this game? I don't think he should be but I guess losing to this Wales team isn't a good look and obviously had that Italy defeat as well.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Do you think Rennie will be under any pressure if he loses this game? I don't think he should be but I guess losing to this Wales team isn't a good look and obviously had that Italy defeat as well.

Do they have the money to pay him off? And who would they hire next?

 

[Welsh Exile]

Do they have the money to pay him off? And who would they hire next?

Probably not and Wayne Pivac maybe?

 

[Saintjay]

Do you think Rennie will be under any pressure if he loses this game? I don't think he should be but I guess losing to this Wales team isn't a good look and obviously had that Italy defeat as well.

Even with the USA rumours bookies were offering decent odds on EJ possibley returning after the world cup.

Cuthbert over Adams seems an odd call?

 

[Welsh Exile]

Even with the USA rumours bookies were offering decent odds on EJ possibley returning after the world cup.

Cuthbert over Adams seems an odd call?

Especially as Cuthbert didn't exactly have the best game last week as well. Meh, it is what it is. To be fair, I've been dead against Cuthbert but he's generally done well with the opportunities he's been given but at the end of the day he's not as good as Adams.

 

[dullonien]

Pivic still needs to go, but for a coach under this much preasure it takes a little guts to pick Hawkins at 12 for his debut. I hope he goes well because we're crying out for a creative distributer at 2nd 5/8th. The Watkin-North partnership was a disaster last week too.

Still no Nicky Smith in the matchday squad. Can anyone exolain to me why Gareth Thomas is loved so much by Pivac? He's OK, but isn't a standout at any part of the game. I don't mind Rhodri Jones either, but he was demolished in the scrum last week alongside his fellow front rowers.

Unsure whether Bradley Roberts has copped some of the blame for that? I still think he's the in form Welsh hooker atm, but maybe his size impacts the scrum? Not seen much evidence of that ar Dragons though.

Beard continues to rack-up caps despite being useless! Let's see if he can manage a dominant carry or tackle this week.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Pivic still needs to go, but for a coach under this much preasure it takes a little guts to pick Hawkins at 12 for his debut. I hope he goes well because we're crying out for a creative distributer at 2nd 5/8th. The Watkin-North partnership was a disaster last week too.

Still no Nicky Smith in the matchday squad. Can anyone exolain to me why Gareth Thomas is loved so much by Pivac? He's OK, but isn't a standout at any part of the game. I don't mind Rhodri Jones either, but he was demolished in the scrum last week alongside his fellow front rowers.

Unsure whether Bradley Roberts has copped some of the blame for that? I still think he's the in form Welsh hooker atm, but maybe his size impacts the scrum? Not seen much evidence of that ar Dragons though.

Beard continues to rack-up caps despite being useless! Let's see if he can manage a dominant carry or tackle this week.

I guess his hand was forced with Hawkins as Watkin is injured unless I'm forgetting another 12 in the squad that is available? Great opportunity for him, though.

 

[dullonien]

I guess his hand was forced with Hawkins as Watkin is injured unless I'm forgetting another 12 in the squad that is available? Great opportunity for him, though.

I missed that Warkin was injured sorry. Yeah a great opportunity, let's hope he can take it. I really like the look of him, but he's incredibly inexperienced with only a handfull of Ospreys games under his belt. Ran the show for U20's though, so the potential is there

 

[Derpus]

Do you think Rennie will be under any pressure if he loses this game? I don't think he should be but I guess losing to this Wales team isn't a good look and obviously had that Italy defeat as well.

If he was going to be sacked he would have been by now - unless RA have secretly lined up some amazing coach and the lawyers have figured out how to do it all without it costing half the loan money WR sent us to keep the sport afloat.

To be fair to the guy - he's had a full strength side for maybe 4 or 5 games in his entire tenure. We came into this series missing our form player in Koroibete and he managed to get us a win and within a few points of the two best sides in the world away from home (although its comical how much worse Ireland are without Sexton).

I disagreed with his decision to sub in Aus A for the Italy game and its definitely a mark against him. But ultimately this tour hasn't really been that much of a disaster given what he has had to work with.

A handful of different calls, a couple of better decisions, etc and we'd be talking about how succesful the tour has been.

 

[DADOMIA]

Pivic still needs to go, but for a coach under this much preasure it takes a little guts to pick Hawkins at 12 for his debut. I hope he goes well because we're crying out for a creative distributer at 2nd 5/8th. The Watkin-North partnership was a disaster last week too.

Still no Nicky Smith in the matchday squad. Can anyone exolain to me why Gareth Thomas is loved so much by Pivac? He's OK, but isn't a standout at any part of the game. I don't mind Rhodri Jones either, but he was demolished in the scrum last week alongside his fellow front rowers.

Unsure whether Bradley Roberts has copped some of the blame for that? I still think he's the in form Welsh hooker atm, but maybe his size impacts the scrum? Not seen much evidence of that ar Dragons though.

Beard continues to rack-up caps despite being useless! Let's see if he can manage a dominant carry or tackle this week.

I'm so glad you mentioned Beard…I've been thinking it's just me! Contributes absolutely nothing to the game, literally. Get someone a bit smaller but with an edge to them. Carry and tackle, that's all I'm asking for..not too much is it?

 

[Bada-Bing!]

And to think he was a BIL.

 

[dullonien]

And to think he was a BIL.

Thing is he played OK on the BIL tour! Played better than a few other locks on tour and I thought he'd turned a corner, but he's been very poor since. Pivac and Wales Online think he's amazing though because he can defend a maul! Shame he can't do anything else

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Get Huw Sutton in.

 

[Welsh Exile]

It's a shame Rhys Davies has been called up and isn't going to get any minutes. I like Carter but he's not really kicked on and Davies is big and pretty dynamic and worth having a look at. I'd at least have him on the bench

 

[dullonien]

It's also why I'd cosider Tshiunza as primarily a lock as we're lacking a really dynamic option otherwise to allow us to play an all court game. Play him alongside a lump like Rowlands or Rhys Davies and that's a good pairing. Shame Seb Davies hasn't kicked on as he could also be a dynamic option.

 

[Welsh Exile]

It's also why I'd cosider Tshiunza as primarily a lock as we're lacking a really dynamic option otherwise to allow us to play an all court game. Play him alongside a lump like Rowlands or Rhys Davies and that's a good pairing. Shame Seb Davies hasn't kicked on as he could also be a dynamic option.

I think Seb Davies did pretty well in the games he was last involved in but in Pivac style has just been cast aside. I think Seb even rang Pivac up directly and asked why he wasn't in the SA tour squad and he gave him some answer around his consistency or discipline which I think Davies disagreed with.

To be fair, losing Hill and Ball in quick succession was tough on us. Not saying they were 2 of the best locks in the world (though I actually had high hopes for Hill as he seemed a good blend of dynamism with good hands but had a bit of grunt as well) but losing them both at the same time pretty much was a shock to the 2nd row stocks which were already pretty low.

Weirdly, though, 2nd row might not be a terrible position over the next 10 years with Jenkins and Tshiunza coming through and Seb Davies, Carter and Rhys Davies all still pretty young with potential as well. I do worry about Carters size, though and at the end of the day they're all still young with limited international experience so who knows how it'll pan out.