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No place for Manu, assume that he’s still not right then. Think Daly might get taught a lesson at full back this weekend. Just as well his opposite number is pants.....oh.
It we finish the game within 15, I think we’ll have done well. I just don’t see where our tries are going to come from given that we appear to have no cutting edge in attack or even a game plan.
we appear to have no cutting edge in attack or even a game plan.
Or a consistent selection policy.......oh......hang on..........this sounds like exactly where we were before the 2015 RWC!
While i hope to be pleasantly surprised on Saturday, I just cant see much past a schooling by the ABs.
Youngs is too slow (Care always ups the pace dramatically) and kicks too much possession away, I think we'll miss Nowell's work rate/strength and defense from the off (would have started him then unleashed Ashton in the second half), we need a fullback that IS a fullback (Daly to wing or centre for me) and i still cannot fathom why Armand isnt in with a sniff.The bloke is a machine.
<b>Wales:</b> Leigh Halfpenny; George North, Jonathan Davies, Hadleigh Parkes, Josh Adams; Gareth Anscombe, Gareth Davies; Nicky Smith, Ken Owens, Tomas Francis, Adam Beard, Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Lydiate, Justin Tipuric, Ross Moriarty
<i>Replacements: </i>Elliot Dee, Rob Evans, Dillon Lewis, Cory Hill, Ellis Jenkins, Tomos Williams, Dan Biggar, Liam Williams
<b>Australia: </b>Dane Haylett-Petty; Israel Folau, Samu Kerevi, Kurtley Beale, Sefa Naivalu; Bernard Foley, Will Genia; Scott Sio, Tolu Latu, Allan Alaalatoa, Izack Rodda, Adam Coleman, Jack Dempsey, Michael Hooper (capt), David Pocock
<i>Replacements: </i>Tatafu Polota-Nau, Sekope Kepu, Taniela Tupou, Rob Simmons, Ned Hanigan, Nick Phipps, Matt To'omua, Jack Maddocks.
Wales have a reasonably strong bench for once, surprised Rob Evans isnt starting though.
Oh and dropping Nowell for Gashton is plain ****ing weird!
The toonbola rolls again
15. Stuart Hogg VICE CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) – 62 caps
14. Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 44 caps
13. Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors) – 29 caps
12. Pete Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – 36 caps
11. Sean Maitland (Saracens) – 34 caps
10. Finn Russell (Racing 92) – 37 caps
9. Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Clermont Auvergne) – 63 caps
1. Allan Dell (Edinburgh) – 14 caps
2. Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) – 35 caps
3. Willem Nel (Edinburgh) – 23 caps
4. Sam Skinner (Exeter Chiefs) – uncapped
5. Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh) – 26 caps
6. Ryan Wilson VICE CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) – 38 caps
7. Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh) – 3 caps8. Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 2 caps
Substitutes:
16. Stuart McInally (Edinburgh) – 19 caps
17. Alex Allan (Glasgow Warriors) – 5 caps
18. Simon Berghan (Edinburgh) – 11 caps
19. Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 44 caps
20. Josh Strauss (Sale Sharks) – 14 caps
21. George Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – 3 caps
22. Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors) – 4 caps
23. Chris Harris (Newcastle Falcons) – 4 caps
Laidlaw Russell and Hogg adds a great deal off experience and skill. A few players rested, some suprise picks. Same old same old from Toonie.
Wales have a reasonably strong bench for once, surprised Rob Evans isnt starting though.
Just back from injury and I'd imagine Gatland and co would relish the chance to have his quality coming on with fresh legs when thinking about the narrow losses at the end of matches against Australia
Is this fo' real? 🙂
Not a bad backline but Maitland is a bit meh ok even good at club but....
I hope to be proven wrong.
’d imagine Gatland and co would relish the chance to have his quality coming on with fresh legs when thinking about the narrow losses at the end of matches against Australia
Yeah him and the young tight head should make an impact as will Ellis Jenkins
I’m really looking forward to this weekend’s games. Anyone have an idea of how the games will go?
I presume the Italy v Georgia, Wales v Australia and France v South Africa games might go either way?
Scotland at home should be a comfortable win against Fiji?
NZ and Ireland clear favourites for their games?
Fiji are not the pushovers they used to be and they have some players who would grace any team in the world.
Scotland should win but fiji will fancy the game as well so its by no means a foregone conclusion
Wales found that out in 2007..
Wales found that out in 2007..
2007 was a long time ago though and it was away at the World Cup. Scotland are at home at Murrayfield, where they can, and are expected to win against any team. They have Hogg, Russell & Laidlaw playing. Their only worry might be that Gray is on the bench (is that because of his couple of mistakes last week?). Scotland by 20+ points.
Brad Shields . . . anybody want a swap ? He must have some positives that I just can't see (apart from the beard obviously).
Italy v Georgia is the biggie there
Italy lose, and calls for them to drop out of the 6N
Georgia win, and calls for them to be 'promoted' to the 6N
Might Italy field a weakened team? "Well, of course we lost..."
Who knows, but a big game in the world scheme of things.
Time for the RFU to call for a two-tiered 6N surely. Great idea I think. Games between England, Italy and Georgia could be crackers.
Fiji are not the pushovers they used to be and they have some players who would grace any team in the world.
Scotland should win but fiji will fancy the game as well so its by no means a foregone conclusion
It’s less than a year to the World Cup. Fiji are one place above Japan in the World rankings. Ireland will likely win all their games, which means Scotland v Japan is crucial. Japan being the home nation, have a clear advantage - if Scotland don’t win on Saturday I fear for their chances next year.
Brad Shields . . . anybody want a swap ? He must have some positives that I just can’t see (apart from the beard obviously).
Like a lot of SH players, he looked awesome playing down there but it doesn’t translate to playing in the NH. Somebody I know in the Ospreys set-up said that Fonotia had been talking about how there is so little time or space in the Pro14 compared to Super rugby.
Part of the issue with Shields is that the press heralded him as the next saviour of English rugby despite having not played for Wasps.
He's had little time to settle into Wasps who are pretty dire this season. He should have had to prove himself before being selected - he may well turn out to be a very good player but he needs to settle into NH rugby first. There was a video from him on the RFU FB page the other day and he was talking about how strong some the backs are in terms of what they bench and squat compared to him - which I'm sure is part of the problem with English rugby. They need to be working on skills not lifting weights.
Scotland are at home at Murrayfield, where they can, and are expected to win against any team
Rubbish.
Wales v Australia and France v South Africa games might go either way?
The results of the last 13 Wales Aus games suggest just one thing!
Time for the RFU to call for a two-tiered 6N surely. Great idea I think. Games between England, Italy and Georgia could be crackers.
No bites, what a shame!!
Scotland are at home at Murrayfield, where they can, and are expected to win against any team
Rubbish.
Well, admittedly I don’t know that much about how technically the game works - I just enjoy watching (mainly) the internationals. However, I hear all the time at work and on here about how special, exciting and promising Scotland are. I’d love to see them do well.
DD
iLaffed
No bites, what a shame!!
I was on the verge, but decided to treat it with the contempt it deserves... 😉
Watching the Red Roses vs USA. Brutal beating, the US lost a prop to a harsh red card, and are on a yellow. 33-0 at half time.. I feel sorry for the American side.
Please please please can we beat Australia this time.
Fun start to the Scotland v Fiji game!
Always said Ashton should have been picked...
13-0 !!
So England doing the business today!!
Wonder how long the intensity will last here
15-0 :-0
Let's not get too carried away.....15-10 now and given a few centimetres of space the NZ backline is running rings around us.
Yep, threw that away at the end there, need to come out and sort that out into the second half
Huge effort by england can they go the full 80?
Well this is exciting!
Really need another score in the 1st 10 mins for England. Needs the same intensity. They've gone off the boil at the end of the half - do that second half and NZ will put tries on us
40 mins, 2 trys and intense pressure and we could do this. Anything less - they are too good in the last 20.
Great work from simmons and sinckler really putting themselves up for the team.
Can they keep up the intensity in the second half? They’ve given New Zealand a foot hold on the game now and that’s all they need.
Guess TJ is purring given that Scotland are doing a number on Fiji.
Best 30 odd minutes we’ve played for a very long time. Not sure we can hang on given they’ve scored 10 points in 2 minutes.
I'd have liked 3 points there....
Omfg.
Arse, was a good finish by the Ospreylian hobbit
In my mind, that England team won the day. Poor decision over the Simmons try, but we played well with current standard of the team.
Shame about the score, but to be within 1pt with the best team in the world isnt a disgrace at all.
Kryton - are you welsh? 🙂 Moral victory?
Hard lines England. The ABs were definitely having an off-day there and I thought England had a cracking first half. The ABs didn’t improve much in the second and to lose it on such a close call was tough on Lawes.
Either this is a beatable AB side for next week or Ireland are going to feel the heat of them getting their act together. Anything could happen as the world’s best two sides meet.
Guess TJ is purring given that Scotland are doing a number on Fiji.
Best 30 odd minutes we’ve played for a very long time.
Decent win for sure. Best 30 mins? surely the demolition of Aus last year
How did England let Skinner escape? Not that I am bothered as he looks like an asset for us
In my mind, that England team won the day
😁 are you part welsh.
Was it Simmonds then not Hobbit boy?
I am running mu 8 year olds birthday party whilst trying to watch!
I suspect England would rather have got the refs dodgy decision this week instead of last. Good shift though, they made NZ look human.
NZ are pure class. England would have put away any other side by half time and fair play to how they started. To weather the first 35 minutes, get the score so close and then dominate the stats (minus score) by half time is incredible. Very hard fought win and far from their best which is terrifying. The Ireland game will be a cracker!
I can't get over the Sky commentary though. It is like listening to the average England fan who has no interest in rugby outside England internationals. Hartley goes off... "his time in the England team is clearly over being subbed like this" and then the shock that George struggles come line out time. Who would have predicted it? Underhill too had a fantastic game in many aspects but also gave the AB's a heck of a lot to work with. Likewise Sinkler. There's a lot more to it than being flashy and the AB's schooled them (as they do every team) in the basics
Loved watching that
england blew that
Anything could happen as the world’s best two sides meet
Ah, you're watching todays match on repeat...
Always love the anthems at the Millennium.
My man crush for Pocock is worrying!
England NZ was an entertaining game, gutted, and thought it was definitely a good try for Underhill....but then I thought last week Farrell was a penalty..... Ireland should win next weekend if NZ play at that level again.
I didn't see the whole game for England but from what I see did England kick for territo0ry too much simply giving NZ the ball even on turnover ball?
Not annoyed that England lost, or that the decision was made by a South African - I just hate it when a ref bottles a decision about something that happens right in front of their face, where they are actually looking when it happens! New TMO rules should include - if its something the ref is too far from or his vision of the incident is obscured.. that offside decision is the sort us club refs make all the time and we don’t need a bloody video replay!
Aargh!
Oh well. Underhill still made Barrett look bad 😄
Te'o made SBW look bad!!!
Two of the biggest bellends in rugby too!
**** me, Wynn jones looks like he’s come straight out of Casualty.
Australia ordinary.
We should have taken the three points on offer and not gone for the line out. Ultimately, I’m actually not disheartened after that loss because I thought we were going to get dicked. Interesting re Hartley; the line out goes tits up when he’s subbed so he’s clearly very important to the team. Underhill did well considering I thought he’s done sweet FA for Bath this season.
Ultimately, I’m actually not disheartened after that loss because I thought we were going to get dicked
+1
Clearly we are the second best team in the world, with 1pt to improve on before we win the RWC next year.
Two points to improve on surely?
A pint of what Kryton is on please barman!
Actually...better make it a half, seems strong.😁
Clearly we are the second best team in the world, with 1pt to improve on before we win the RWC next year.
Eh? England aren't even the 2nd best team in the UK, let alone in the World.
England were robbed there. I don't believe in two wrongs making a right: OK, England may have been a bit lucky last week but that doesn't mean they should have been punished in this game. The ref got it wrong: Simple. NZ were very lucky to get away with the win, which they didn't really deserve.
Stay classy Welsh supporters.
Almost disappointed wales won as I cant repeat Krytons line!
Any idea where the France vs South Africa is being shown please ?
Stay classy Welsh supporters.
Stay?
The ref got it wrong: Simple
Lawes was clearly offside!
Was he? Where is the offside line? (Serious question)
anyway, 3 kicks vs 2. Poor.
**** me, Wynn jones
Isnt playing.
Its Jones, Alan Wyn
Was he? Where is the offside line? (Serious question)
Back foot of the ruck. It was a bit tricky to say who was in the ruck but he was either WAaaay offside or just offside.
Just been following on txt updates as ive been out in the West End with the family. Any footage of the Lawes offside yet?
Is it Laws front foot or back foot?
Oh, and if miles offside, strange how the tmo had to review it aqbout 20 times to be sure....
In my view, moves as the ball is played, which of course is out of the ruck and in play.
That's my view Kryton. It certainly wasn't "clearly" offside.
Yes he moves as the ball is played.
But he moves from an already offside position.
Is it Laws front foot or back foot?
The rucks back foot. Lawes is always offside.
But he moves from an already offside position.
This, he is offside before the ball was picked up.
He’s offside because the offiicials said so.
Very tight he’s played offside by the ruck moving forwards he clearly was not always offside. And it took several replays for them to decide that he was offside so not clear at all otherwise would have called it after one replay
I thought NZ were lucky to not be penalised for not rolling away quick enough at the tackle in the last few minute butcthink Care over played it and the red let it go.
There would have been dozens of instances of more offside moments from both teams through the match but only one costly one.
Lineout ultimately cost England as you need to build pressure.