Welsh squad under Gatland

[Leonormous Boozer]

Poor form trying to overshadow Leinster's 5th star tbh.

(I don't believe they won't change their mind)

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Mental stat.

Wow he was born in the 19th century. Didn't realise he was that old.

 

[Yulia]

Wow he was born in the 19th century. Didn't realise he was that old.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

What next for Wales after Jones and Tipuric quit?

How do the retirements of Alun Wyn Jones and Justin Tipuric impact the Wales second row, back row and captaincy for the upcoming World Cup?

www.bbc.co.uk

Life after AWJ and JT.

 

[AWJ5GOAT]

@Welsh Exile and @AWJ5GOAT crying inconsolably into each other's arms.

Tbh I kept kidding myself the day would never come

Ah well I guess it was bound to happen sometime in a quite not so distant future anyway (But I'm gutted)

I found it a bit strange though that both Tips and The GOAT both hung up their boots internationally in such a short space of time

It'll be good though to see AWJ take the field again on sunday (28/5) as captain of the Baa Baas and then obviously to see him run out in Swansea (against Swansea ) on wednesday (31/5) at St Helens for what you'd expect to be a pretty special moment Unfortunately I (well, probably at least) won't be there in the stands to watch it so I'm keeping my fingers crossed to find a live stream somewhere where I can watch the game

I guess it should'nt be too hard to find a stream for the Barbarians game, it's more the Swansea game I'm concerned with

 

[AWJ5GOAT]

I guess it should'nt be too hard to find a stream for the Barbarians game, it's more the Swansea game I'm concerned with

I meant It'll probably be easier to find streams for the first game at Twickers than the Swansea game but fingers crossed

 

[Lé Ddanno]

And now Rhys Webb

Wtf is going on

 

[AWJ5GOAT]

And now Rhys Webb

Wtf is going on

That's a good question

 

[Welsh Exile]

 

[Welsh Exile]

Pivac said the same thing so you have to question the player when 2 separate managers and coaching groups do the same thing. Frustrating as he's the kind of player we need in the front row.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Bit odd to single him out like that

ALERT, ALERT: RHYS CARRÉ IS TOO FAT TO PLAY RUGBY

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Bit odd to single him out like that

ALERT, ALERT: RHYS CARRÉ IS TOO FAT TO PLAY RUGBY

Yeah, my thoughts too. Think that's the first time I've ever seen an explanation like that given when dropping a player. Usually they would just say he'd been released. Savage.

 

[Bluemoon]

New level of shambles reached today for me. This update doesn't benefit anyone at all and hugely contradicts anything they've said about player welfare. Just seems to be a horrible culture.

 

[Welsh Exile]

New level of shambles reached today for me. This update doesn't benefit anyone at all and hugely contradicts anything they've said about player welfare. Just seems to be a horrible culture.

Yeah, there's obviously a lot going on we don't know about but seems to be an unhappy camp in general but the whole things a **** show really.

 

[West Country Wail]

Feels like Joe Hawkins made the correct call then...

 

[Lé Ddanno]

That's ******* horrible!

 

[Groundhog]

If he's showed up in truly horrendous shape fair enough, but why tweet that lol. What an idiotic way to communicate this

 

[Welsh Exile]

Regardlesss of how it's been communicated (which I accept hasn't been good) it doesn't even make any logical sense. I could perhaps see it if one of Basham, Morgan or Reffell had turned up out of shape as we have depth in that position but at LH? What is Gatland thinking. Whenever I've seen Carre play this year whether that be in the red of Wales of Blue of Cardiff he's been good. I don't know why Gatland didn't just scold him in house for being a few kegs over and beast him in training and if he wasn't pulling his weight then drop him after the first cut. That way it would of given an important player we need to perform in a position we're not overly strong in an opportunity to turn it around rather than just shun him public ally straight out the gate. Gatland probably wants to create this no no sense culture going into the WC but it'll probably backfire.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

You can be fat or have your socks down, only one, otherwise international rugby isn't for you.

Source: Simon Zebo

 

[dullonien]

Regardlesss of how it's been communicated (which I accept hasn't been good) it doesn't even make any logical sense. I could perhaps see it if one of Basham, Morgan or Reffell had turned up out of shape as we have depth in that position but at LH? What is Gatland thinking. Whenever I've seen Carre play this year whether that be in the red of Wales of Blue of Cardiff he's been good. I don't know why Gatland didn't just scold him in house for being a few kegs over and beast him in training and if he wasn't pulling his weight then drop him after the first cut. That way it would of given an important player we need to perform in a position we're not overly strong in an opportunity to turn it around rather than just shun him public ally straight out the gate. Gatland probably wants to create this no no sense culture going into the WC but it'll probably backfire.

Agree with this. We already have a couple of ultra-fit looseheads in the squad in Gareth Thomas and Nicky Smith - both will put in tremendous shifts. Young Mathias appears similar. Carre offers a point of difference though with his carrying able to punch holes in the defense.

So what if he's a few kilos overweight, there's still a few months to go till the WC to shed a few. I'd argue that Carre performs better carrying a little more anyway, his scrummaging always appears slightly more solid, which is his big issue for me, not how many rucks he's hitting.

We'll go nowhere at the WC without players who can get us over the gainline, rugby can be very simple in that regard, and Gat's has jettisonned one of the best in the squad in order to make a point as far as I can see!

The way it's been done stinks as well. If his weight was affecting his regional form then he shouldn't have been selected in the squad to begin with. Except Carre had been putting in some great cameos of late. Granted the impressive Domachowski had been starting fot Cardiff, but that was a scrummaging thing, rather than a fitness one. I don't like the way he's been singled-out, there was a less himiliating way to announce it surely, even if it was just to send him home without some announcement on social media!

Ah well, I'm still happy enough with the loosehead pool we have, far from our biggest problem position...