Wales v NZ

[dirty harry]

Good finish from LRZ.

Hes deserved that, hes worked his socks off

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Wales have showed glimpses tbf, I don't think the 6N will be as disastrous as the previous couple

 

[dirty harry]

Blair murray hasbt got the pace to back track...

Thisnhas to be the last time we see him in a Wales shirt

 

[dirty harry]

Wales have showed glimpses tbf, I don't think the 6N will be as disastrous as the previous couple

What today has shown we can compete with Italy or Scotland?

 

[Saintjay]

No shame in that match for Wales. Some positives, and quite a fun game to watch.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

I think Wal would have taken that before kick off.

But it was still a 50 pointer at home from a fairly average side.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

What today has shown we can compete with Italy or Scotland?

I have a very low opinion of Italy tbf, they flatter to deceive

You'll beat them, at home, in the 6N, you've also got Scotland at home so good chance there

 

[Tooting Carmen]

Had Wales played like that the previous weeks, they may have won narrowly and won convincingly respectively.

 

[BMatt]

I don't mean to sound condescending, but that's fairly positive for Wales. Not only did they stay within a score until 50-something minutes, but there are actually some things they did well so the post-match review won't just be a litany of depressing criticisms. Above all they actually looked like a somewhat cohesive team.

 

[Tooting Carmen]

And hats off to Tom Rogers.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Narrowly missed out on my 3rd target but happy to see more positives today. Will take that. As sad a thing as that is to say but then again, we played worse than that against NZ when we were good.

 

[Tooting Carmen]

Narrowly missed out on my 3rd target but happy to see more positives today. Will take that. As sad a thing as that is to say but then again, we played worse than that against NZ when we were good.

Depends which match. The ones in 2004 and 2009 were lost by just one and seven points respectively.

 

[wombles]

It’s not really a surprise that pretty much Wales first XV (a couple of
injuries aside) got dominated by the ABs second XV today. You could tell that the ABs were in no way concerned about this. Against another tier 1 team you would not see the kind of overplaying that they did on occasion. However when the ABs are dominating every aspect of the game they have the luxury of deciding how they want to play when they want to play.

Wales are the weakest team of the six nations and there was nothing in display here today that disproves this. Although they offer more in attack it is so woefully short in strength/power and far behind in all other aspects of the game.

When all the opposition nations get more familiar with Tandy and the coaches play and style this gap may well widen as currently it is the unfamiliarity with the new era that is a little boon and helping hand to Wales that won’t last forever.

 

[Tooting Carmen]

Not only did they stay within a score until 50-something minutes,

When NZ had those two tries quickly disallowed in a row, I thought it would actually be a momentum changer in favour of Wales. Unfortunately, not so.

 

[dirty harry]

I think Wal would have taken that before kick off.

But it was still a 50 pointer at home from a fairly average side.

NZ are hardly at their peak, and this NZ side look jerky, disjointed and not prime.

Wales were made to look better by their errors, although 100% lineout, 100% scrum and 100% kicking at goal lol.

NZ were allowed carte blanche at the breakdown, and Davidson looked in awe of them at times, even in their interactions.

The performance was in line with the last 2, especially the disinterest in defence, and the lack of physicality anywhere on the park.

The positives were a bouncing stadium at times, great to see. LRZ and Jenkins worked there absolute socks off, and were probably the only 2 players who can hold their heads high as they were effective. We almost look like we have a backline that can settle, and grow together, we just need a FB.

Sadly, as ever, lack of physicality, the bigger players in Carre and Beard looked like they were running in custard, Plumtree is physical but for every show of dog, he makes an idiotic decision. If Deaves and Mann pride themselves on their engines, go run iron man events ffs.

i dont see Wales competing with anyone come 6N, who in that Wales team gets into the Italy team? Tomos, LRZ?

My biggest issue with this side is variety of play, we dont have a strength to focus on, dont have the carriers, so we need to manioukate defences in different ways. The restart is a great example. Wales kicked the same restart 6 or 7 times, so much so NZ used 3 different responses. They took 1, threw 4 passes to the opposing side of the park and kicked lol.

What i would say though, is at no point today did Mann or Deaves get flat slow ball hanging around on the wing, Wales werent caught in transition too much, which meant they were more direct, and i genuinely think this had more of Tandys stamp, than the last 2 games.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

 

[Reiser99]

Definitely an improved performance. Need to maintain it, but also NZ were no where near their best. Wales should be Italy though if they play like that and finish 5th in the 6Ns.

 

[dullonien]

There were lots of positives to take out of that performance. Just a shame that basic errors crept into our game which prevented us from competing right until the final whistle, but it was far, far better than I feared beforehand.

Positives for me were:

• How clinical we were in opposition 22. This has been a theme this autumn, when we get a chance, we've been scoring tries.
• Tomos Williams' box kicking was on the money throughout.
• Daf Jenkins had a stormer, he was everywhere!
• Alex Mann was excellent again I thought. Sorry Welsh Exile, I think you may have to change your tune on him. He could still do with an extra stone to make him truly effective, but at only 22 that will probably come.
• Midfield looked much better with Hawkins at 12. Still more to come from both him and Llewellyn, but that was a solid showing.
• Rogers must be stoked picking up a hat trick v NZ, not many (if any) Welsh players will have that on their CV.

Now for some negatives:

• Basic unforced errors really cost us. Fumbles at restarts, crooked line out throws, basic missed tackles. All of these just gave NZ easy ins which they duly capitalised on.
• Adam Beard is still a non entity, if one of Rhys Davies, Fender, or Carter shows up well next week v SA, then surely Beard is finished!
• Dewi Lake struggled I thought, we need confidence in our own line out, and Lake doesn't provide that. He was lucky not to be pinged a couple more times for not straight throws yesterday.
• We struggled to slow down NZ's ruck speed, especially in the second half. This perhaps highlighted most of all the lack of size and power in the back 5 of our pack.
• Gareth Thomas had a nightmare cameo, absolutely terrible!
• Finally, despite hoping he'd put ill discipline like that behind him, Plumtree really shat the bed on a few too many occasions. He offers a lot, but some of the basic handling errors and penalties he gave away was frankly not good enough. On initial viewing in the stadium I thought his y/c was harsh, looked shoulder on shoulder, but TV viewers didn't seem to have any complaints, so I was prob wrong there.

So, lots of work ons, many very fixible, but some positives. Nuts to think that some of our best sides in recent history struggled more vs NZ than we did yesterday. Maybe that says more about this current NZ generation, especially a mostly second string side, than it does about Wales though?

 

[dirty harry]

There were lots of positives to take out of that performance. Just a shame that basic errors crept into our game which prevented us from competing right until the final whistle, but it was far, far better than I feared beforehand.

Positives for me were:

• How clinical we were in opposition 22. This has been a theme this autumn, when we get a chance, we've been scoring tries.
• Tomos Williams' box kicking was on the money throughout.
• Daf Jenkins had a stormer, he was everywhere!
• Alex Mann was excellent again I thought. Sorry Welsh Exile, I think you may have to change your tune on him. He could still do with an extra stone to make him truly effective, but at only 22 that will probably come.
• Midfield looked much better with Hawkins at 12. Still more to come from both him and Llewellyn, but that was a solid showing.
• Rogers must be stoked picking up a hat trick v NZ, not many (if any) Welsh players will have that on their CV.

Now for some negatives:

• Basic unforced errors really cost us. Fumbles at restarts, crooked line out throws, basic missed tackles. All of these just gave NZ easy ins which they duly capitalised on.
• Adam Beard is still a non entity, if one of Rhys Davies, Fender, or Carter shows up well next week v SA, then surely Beard is finished!
• Dewi Lake struggled I thought, we need confidence in our own line out, and Lake doesn't provide that. He was lucky not to be pinged a couple more times for not straight throws yesterday.
• We struggled to slow down NZ's ruck speed, especially in the second half. This perhaps highlighted most of all the lack of size and power in the back 5 of our pack.
• Gareth Thomas had a nightmare cameo, absolutely terrible!
• Finally, despite hoping he'd put ill discipline like that behind him, Plumtree really shat the bed on a few too many occasions. He offers a lot, but some of the basic handling errors and penalties he gave away was frankly not good enough. On initial viewing in the stadium I thought his y/c was harsh, looked shoulder on shoulder, but TV viewers didn't seem to have any complaints, so I was prob wrong there.

So, lots of work ons, many very fixible, but some positives. Nuts to think that some of our best sides in recent history struggled more vs NZ than we did yesterday. Maybe that says more about this current NZ generation, especially a mostly second string side, than it does about Wales though?

I agree with a lot of this, also thought Jenkins had a blinder, he was pumped and it was amazing to see after 2 very poor performances. In Hawkins and Llewellyn i think we havr a solid centre partnership that will grow, and LRZ and Rogers didnt look out of place, especially in the air.

I disagree about Mann, his energy levels are unreal, but he just doesnt have positive outcomes in anything he does, he looks like hes getting through a lot of work, but its unsuccessful work. He needs much more drvelopment!

Beard and Carre were unbeleivable uninterested or unfit at this level, im looking forward to seeing the other 3 options (1 of them should have played yesyerday IMO).

Blair Murray is a real problem though needs sorting.

 

[Welsh Exile]

I can't handle this Mann love in. On what planet was he excellent yesterday? How far our standards have fallen. He's average at everything but has heart. Hes a back row Costelow.