Wales vs BaaBaas

[TRF_Olyy]

Wales: Morgan Stoddart (Scarlets); George North (Scarlets), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Gavin Henson (Unattached), Aled Brew (Newport Gwent Dragons); Stephen Jones (Scarlets), Michael Phillips (Ospreys); Ryan Bevington (Ospreys), Huw Bennett (Ospreys), Paul James (Ospreys), Ryan Jones (Ospreys), Luke Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), Danny Lydiate (Newport Gwent Dragons), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues, capt), Toby Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).

Replacements: Lloyd Burns (Newport Gwent Dragons), Scott Andrews (Cardiff Blues), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Josh Turnbull (Scarlets), Tavis Knoyle (Scarlets), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Scott Williams (Scarlets).

Barbarians: Isa Nacewa (Leinster and Fiji); Paul Sackey (Toulon and England), Seru Rabeni (La Rochelle and Fiji), Mathieu Bastareaud (Stade Francais Paris and France), Doug Howlett (Munster and New Zealand); Brock James (Clermont Auvergne), Sebastien Tillous-Borde (Castres Olympique and France); Iestyn Thomas (Scarlets and Wales), Sebastien Bruno (Toulon and France), Carl Hayman (Toulon and New Zealand), Iosefa Tekori (Castres Olympique and Samoa), Paul ***o (Cardiff Blues), Joe van Niekerk (Toulon and South Africa), Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues and Wales), Sergio Parisse (captain, Stade Francais Paris and Italy).

Replacements: Leonardo Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso and Italy), Davit Kubriashvili (Toulon and Georgia), Erik Lund (Biarritz Olympique and Norway), George Smith (Toulon and Australia), Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues), Willie Mason (Toulon), Benoit Baby (Clermont Auvergne and France).

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

4th of June... I think I will go and see this one! Pienaar and Steyn with the Barbarians... That's enough reason for me

 

[munstermuffin]

The Bull to get 3 tries

 

[Draggs]

John Hayes

I've already posted by squad countless times, so I won't bother again.
Hopefully Henson will be playing, with JD outside him and Roberts at fullback. I'd like Peel and Robinson as our halfback pairing, but Rob Howley will most certainly not allow it.

 

[dullonien]

This is an excellent game for Wales to have. It forces Gatland's and the players arms to some extent to play a nice open and fast playing style, otherwise everyone will be ****** off. Hopefully we can see some of the flair that's been missing from the Welsh game, and see if the players and the coaches are actually capable of producing heads-up attacking rugby.

If we see a good performance, maybe it will force Gatland to change the tactics somewhat.

Baabaa's team is shaping up quite nicely. Can't wait to see Parisse play in a chuck it around Baabaas team!

I'd like a Welsh team like:

01 Gethin Jenkins / Ryan Bevington
02 Richard Hibbard (best open field Hooker we have)
03 Adam Jones
04 Bradley Davies
05 Alun-Wyn Jones
06 Dan Lydiate
07 Sam Warburton / Martyn Williams
08 Toby Faletau (give him a shot, see what he can do. This game should suit him perfectly)

09 Dwayne Peel / Richie Rees
10 Rhys Priestland / Nicky Robinson / James Hook
11 Shane Williams / George North
12 Gavin Henson (see if he's still got what it takes)
13 Jon Davies (better 13 that Roberts. Roberts needs to work for his position to bring the best out of him again)
14 Leigh Halfpenny / Morgan Stoddart
15 Rhys Priestland / Leigh Halfpenny / Lee Byrne

16 Matthew Rees
17 Paul James / Ryan Bevington
18 Martyn Williams / Josh Turnbull
19 Ryan Jones
20 Richie Rees / Dwayne Peel
21 James Hook / Stephen Jones
22 Lee Byrne / Jamie Roberts

Edit: we need to try some different locks aswell. I don't think it would do any harm to make Alun-Wyn Jones work for his place, he's not a patch on the player he was a few years ago. Can Ian Evans make the step back up? Is Gough really finished? How about Charteris? We can't rely on just Alun-Wyn and Bradley for the WC, with Ryan Jones and Jon Thomas as emergency backup. A genuine second row replacement is needed imo, so we don't end up having to re-jig our entire team is one of the main 2 get injured.

 

[Draggs]

Hook will not appear, it is his wedding. (Hope Phillips is best man...)
I would avoid picking Shane, Wellies, Nugget, and give some younger/second choice players. It would give us more depth in the run up to New Zealand, and we know what those lads can do. I don't want to push Warburton too early, and might go for someone like Tipuric, Turnbull or McCusker. Depending on our openside, I'd start Ryan at 8 (as captain) so we have some experience in the back row. Shame Delve will be unavailable.
We do need another second row, but Charteris is pretty poor/injured. Ian Evans is slowly getting back to form, but his injury still limits his training. Lou Reed anyone?
Robbo at 10, please Warren. Has both good and bad performances but ahead of Priestland, Tovey, Sweeney, and Biggar.
I'd also start Will Harries alongside North/Halfpenny (depends on fullback).
Priestland is not a fullback. He plays his best rugby at outside half and looked much better than Wellies v Ulster. We have no true backup fullback, so in the event we needed one, Roberts or Halfpenny would probably come in.

 

[dullonien]

Hook will not appear, it is his wedding. (Hope Phillips is best man...)
I would avoid picking Shane, Wellies, Nugget, and give some younger/second choice players. It would give us more depth in the run up to New Zealand, and we know what those lads can do. I don't want to push Warburton too early, and might go for someone like Tipuric, Turnbull or McCusker. Depending on our openside, I'd start Ryan at 8 (as captain) so we have some experience in the back row. Shame Delve will be unavailable.
We do need another second row, but Charteris is pretty poor/injured. Ian Evans is slowly getting back to form, but his injury still limits his training. Lou Reed anyone?
Robbo at 10, please Warren. Has both good and bad performances but ahead of Priestland, Tovey, Sweeney, and Biggar.
I'd also start Will Harries alongside North/Halfpenny (depends on fullback).
Priestland is not a fullback. He plays his best rugby at outside half and looked much better than Wellies v Ulster. We have no true backup fullback, so in the event we needed one, Roberts or Halfpenny would probably come in.

Yeh, all of that sounds about right. Forgot Hook was unnavailable, good chance for Piestland or Robinson to have a crack though. I think this game is too good a chance to miss to give Faletau a shot, as we really need another 8 without the baggage Powell has. So I'd therefore go the opposite to you and have some experience at 7 in the form of Warburton (I know he's not very experienced, but he's shown he's a class player) or Martyn instead.

I'm still not sure about Will Harries. Unfortunately he's really suffered due to the lack of depth at 15 for the Dragons. I know that's not the Dragons fault either, considering they had 2 fullbacks out injured, but Harries hasn't impressed this season because of it. It appears Stoddart and North have overtaken him, and I doubt Gatland will now change that before the WC. The reason I had Shane playing was because he needs all the gametime he can get to get back to full fitness before the WC, so if he's back from injury, I'd put him straight back in there. I'd also love to see Shane against the Baabaa's in a nice open game, would suit him down to the ground.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Any TRF-people going to this match? It might be fun for me to tag along with one of you guys when I go to this match. Much more fun than to sit there all by myself

Draggs, you going?

 

[Duckdee]

Baabaa's team is shaping up quite nicely. Can't wait to see Parisse play in a chuck it around Baabaas team!

Would the others be able to keep up? :huh:

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Would the others be able to keep up? :huh:

John Hayes (Munster/Ireland)

In a word....no :lol:

 

[DorceOutSide]

BaaBaas


Iain Balshaw (Biarritz/England), John Hayes (Munster/Ireland) i thought you had to be a good player to play for the barbarians

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Hopefully be in the media end for this game, if not me and cyRil will be donning it massive for the TRF faithful.

 

[dullonien]

To be fair to Balshaw, he's a great open field runner, so probably fits in quite well with the Barbarians ethos. Not quite sure how Hayes fits in though! I wonder who will be their uncapped player if they go for one. I'd have possibly guessed Ben Morgan if Parisse wasn't already on board. Anyone else got any guesses or decent shout?

Hopefully be in the media end for this game, if not me and cyRil will be donning it massive for the TRF faithful.

You doing the Wales v England game with us Cymro? Cyril aswell. I don't think I'll be able to afford two games unfortunately.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Balshaw has been surprisingly good since moving to France - certainly playing much better than he ever did in an England shirt

 

[TRF_Cymro]

You doing the Wales v England game with us Cymro? Cyril aswell. I don't think I'll be able to afford two games unfortunately.

I don't have any ticket for it but with my media accreditation done will 'hopefully' sit in the media end but could easily meet up.

 

[cyRil]

Hopefully be in the media end for this game, if not me and cyRil will be donning it massive for the TRF faithful.

Wutwut? We're still going aren't we Cymrog?!

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Wutwut? We're still going aren't we Cymrog?!

Ye we are! Ignore me last comment.

 

[dullonien]

Hopefully be in the media end for this game, if not me and cyRil will be donning it massive for the TRF faithful.

I don't have any ticket for it but with my media accreditation done will 'hopefully' sit in the media end but could easily meet up.

Ok, ok, we get it Mr fancy pants!

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Just to say, I'm going to Wales-England in the summer as well. But then nobody cares about me. So I'll shut up now.

Is this game going to be on TV? I'd assume so, but you never know with Baa Baa games. (Ireland's game against them last summer wasn't.)

And Balshaw is making quite a good winger, as he doesn't have to actually catch under any pressure half the time.

As I posted in another topic-


1. Gethin Jenkins/Paul James
2. Richard Hibbard
3. Scott Andrews (Craig Mitchell if fit)
4. Bradley Davies
5. Alun Wyn Jones
6. Ryan Jones
7. Martyn Williams
8. Toby Faleatu

9. Dwyane Peel/Richie Rees
10. Rhys Priestland
11. Morgan Stoddart (Presuming Shane is out)
12. Gavin Henson
13. Jonathan Davies
14. George North
15. Leigh Halfpenny/Dan Fish/Rhys Priestland (Stephen at 10)/Will Harries (We need to try someone other than Byrne or Hook- Who won't be avalible anyway.)

16. Matthew Rees/Ken Owens
17. Duncan Jones
18. Luke Charteris
19. Dan Lydiate
20. Tavis Knoyle
21. Stephen Jones
22. Adam Hughes/One of the people not starting at Fullback

 

[Draggs]

From what I have heard, it won't be televised. (The England matches will be on Sky, IIRC)
North and Stoddart together on the wings is a bad idea until one can learn how to tackle.
I'd start either AWJ or Bradley, not both. We know they are our first choice locks, and we need a third. Ianto or Charteris, Goughy won't get a looking.