The Rugby Thread

[E17yid]

Got to blame the management really.

Or the Welsh diet.

You’ve got to look their way, for sure. Bit like Spurs, always just thought we were unlucky and teams like Liverpool were lucky but there comes a point when you do have to look at yourselves.

Think it is just bad luck though as Gatland said that there wasn’t going to be much training this week. So pissed off.

Trying to put a positive spin on it and the game that Sunday will likely be Halfpenny is in some ways a better shout. Massive blow for us though, obviously.

With Williams out and a 75% fit J Davies I’d give us a 35% chance. If J Davies is out I think that goes down to 15/20%

 

[E17yid]

Biggar at 15?

No way, much more chance of him playing Patchell there. It’ll be Halfpenny, and rightly so.

 

[Japhet]

Fucking great, Liam Williams looks like he’s injured now. If J Davies is out then that’s almost half our first 15 out. We never catch a fucking break with injuries in world cups.

Oh nooooooooooo!!!

 

[E17yid]

If we had Hill, Navidi, Faletau, Anscombe, Liam Williams and a filly fit J Davies I think we’d be clear favourites and would actually be quite comfortable on Sunday. We’ve done a great job building up depth in the last 18months/2 years but ultimately we’re not strong enough.

 

[E17yid]

Oh nooooooooooo!!!

Very funny.

 

[Arnoldtoo]

If we had Hill, Navidi, Faletau, Anscombe, Liam Williams and a filly fit J Davies I think we’d be clear favourites and would actually be quite comfortable on Sunday. We’ve done a great job building up depth in the last 18months/2 years but ultimately we’re not strong enough.

I hadn't expected that the £20 I put on Wales this morning would have such an immediate effect!

But I hope and expect Davies to be fit enough to play.

 

[E17yid]

I hadn't expected that the £20 I put on Wales this morning would have such an immediate effect!

But I hope and expect Davies to be fit enough to play.

I should’ve guessed you’d be behind it. I’m bracing myself for an English win, a Wales loss and Liverpool to pull our pants down.

 

[Arnoldtoo]

I should’ve guessed you’d be behind it. I’m bracing myself for an English win, a Wales loss and Liverpool to pull our pants down.

Ever the optimist, eh. That's the spirit.

 

[teok]

"Eddie Jones’ refusal to beef up England lineout makes for fascinating battle

Eddie Jones has stuck to his guns. The All Blacks are making it very clear that they are targeting the England lineout in their World Cup semi-final on Saturday and Jones has decided not to change his team in response.

Jones’s team, announced today in Tokyo, sees the return of George Ford at No 10 as expected with Owen Farrell moving to inside centre and Henry Slade named on the bench.

It is at the lineout that these two team selections have suddenly become fascinating.

England like their back row of Tom Curry, Sam Underhill and Billy Vunipola. The weakness here is that none of them are out-and-out lineout jumpers. Curry has been trained up to be England’s third lineout option yet he has not yet been an outstanding success.

The All Blacks, on the other hand, have a ready-made third jumper in Kieran Read, the No 8. Then, earlier today, Steve Hansen, the All Blacks coach, named a change to his regular back row with Scott Barrett coming in at blind-side flanker. Barrett is a lock by trade who can also play flanker. He is therefore a fourth lineout option. That makes it four jumpers versus two. Two and a half if we are being generous.

At his team-naming press conference this morning, Hansen was asked if he had selected this back row with the All Blacks’ game against England, in November last year, in mind. “A wee bit,” he replied, with obvious understatement.

That was the game where Liam Squire, a traditional flanker, started at blind-side. Then, in the 52nd minute, Hansen brought on Barrett in his stead. Suddenly, the All Blacks took apart the England lineout.

What could Jones do to respond? He had three options. One was to play Courtney Lawes, a lock, in his second position, at blind-side. This would have given England a proper third jumper. Jones neglected to do this.

Alternatively, he could have started George Kruis at lock instead of Lawes. Kruis is known as the lineout guru, the thinking man’s lock forward, the best man for unpicking the opposition lineout and for outthinking the All Blacks on England’s own throw. But Jones hasn’t done this either.

The third option was to do nothing, make no changes, stick with Lawes and Maro Itoje at lock, and back England’s lineout to survive the All Black attack."

 

[E17yid]

Ever the optimist, eh. That's the spirit.

Like I said, if we had all those players I mentioned above I’d be super confident. Imagine if you had no Lawes, B Vunipola, Curry, Farrell, Daly and a half fit Tualagi you lot would would be slitting your wrists.

 

[Arnoldtoo]

Like I said, if we had all those players I mentioned above I’d be super confident. Imagine if you had no Lawes, B Vunipola, Curry, Farrell, Daly and a half fit Tualagi you lot would would be slitting your wrists.

Well yeah, but they're all very good indeed.



(And we'd still have Maro.)

 

[E17yid]

Well yeah, but they're all very good indeed.



(And we'd still have Maro.)

At least we’ve still got AWJ so could be worse. I love Halfpenny too so at least it’s an area where the drop in quality is minimal it’s just that they’re totally different players.

 

[E17yid]

As expected:

Wales: Halfpenny; North, J Davies, Parkes, Adams; Biggar, G Davies; Wyn Jones, Owens, Francis, Ball, Alun Wyn Jones (capt), Wainwright, Moriarty, Tipuric.

Replacements: Dee, R Carre, D Lewis, Beard, Shingler, T Williams, Patchell, Watkin.

Gatland really pushing the “keep writing us off” narrative. He also said they were seriously considering moving Williams to the wing and playing Halfpenny at FB which may be true but I doubt they would’ve done. This game is suited well for Halfpenny. We’re going to have to kick the shit out of them (as in kick a lot) and seeing as we were most likely going to do that anyway it’s not the end of the world Halfpenny is playing though we do lose so much counter attacking threat and Liam is obviously dangerous in broken play.

 

[E17yid]

Knew Gatland would mention it. Lol

“This group of players have won 18 or 19 competitive games in a row and that gives us confidence going into Sunday.”

 

[Arnoldtoo]

Knew Gatland would mention it. Lol

“This group of players have won 18 or 19 competitive games in a row and that gives us confidence going into Sunday.”

He's right you know.

Think I'll put an extra tenner on. I'd be a fool not to!

 

[E17yid]

He's right you know.

Think I'll put an extra tenner on. I'd be a fool not to!

If you were a journo at that presser you’d be saying “that’s very creative of you Warren” ?

 

[E17yid]

Whatever happens on Sunday I will always love Gatland. What a job he’s done and no doubt in my mind he’s one of the best, if not the best, coach in the world. The way we’ve punched above our weight for the last decade is incredible from taking over in 2008 after our lowest point after being dumped out of the group stage by Fiji in the 2007 WC to winning the grand slam in 2008 and in the process getting our first win at Twickenham in 20 years with an amazing come back, to 2 WC semi finals and another 2 grand slams and another 6N championship.

He throws the odd grenade here and there but as Erasmus said in his press conference yesterday he’s a class act who always acts with dignity and respect (most of the time).

I think we’re going to really notice how important he is to us after this WC and I could see us falling away for a couple of years but he’s given Welsh fans so many happy memories. Hopefully there’s one more this Sunday.

 

[E17yid]

I missed this last week. Everyone still think there’s been consistency? Not even cited.

 

[Japhet]

I don't really see anything in that to get excited about. It's what happens when one bloke is 6 stone heavier than the other one. Looks like Vermeulen was pulling out of the tackle once the offload had been made. Possibly a yellow but too many cards will ruin the game IMO.

 

[E17yid]

I don't really see anything in that to get excited about. It's what happens when one bloke is 6 stone heavier than the other one. Looks like Vermeulen was pulling out of the tackle once the offload had been made. Possibly a yellow but too many cards will ruin the game IMO.

Errrr, you wot m8. I thought you were taking the piss at first. He clothesline’s him.

Possibly a yellow? Lol. That’s about 100 times worse than the Lavanini one.