Warm up games

[Sandydragon]

I suppose the big question now is do we put out a full strength team next weekend asa real dress rehearsal or are there a few players we wrap in cotton wool, AWJ and Liam Williams spring to mind, plus Biggar.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Near full strength.

Front row needs to be the best we can field. Our scrum has been poor.
Keep AWJ out of the firing line initially, he can be our super-sub.
Ideally Navidi, Tips and Moriarty.
Tomos needs to start, Gareth Davies bench.
Patchell needs a full game, Bigger on the bench.
Scott (give him more time) and Foxy at centre.
North or Adams (don't mind which) with Amos or Lane (whoever makes the cut).
Liam at 15 if fit.

[Renniks]

Near full strength.

Front row needs to be the best we can field. Our scrum has been poor.
Keep AWJ out of the firing line initially, he can be our super-sub.
Ideally Navidi, Tips and Moriarty.
Tomos needs to start, Gareth Davies bench.
Patchell needs a full game, Bigger on the bench.
Scott (give him more time) and Foxy at centre.
North or Adams (don't mind which) with Amos or Lane (whoever makes the cut).
Liam at 15 if fit.

So, near full strength apart from 4 of the 6 units on the field?

[Son of Mathonwy]

Near full strength.

Front row needs to be the best we can field. Our scrum has been poor.
Keep AWJ out of the firing line initially, he can be our super-sub.
Ideally Navidi, Tips and Moriarty.
Tomos needs to start, Gareth Davies bench.
Patchell needs a full game, Bigger on the bench.
Scott (give him more time) and Foxy at centre.
North or Adams (don't mind which) with Amos or Lane (whoever makes the cut).
Liam at 15 if fit.

So, near full strength apart from 4 of the 6 units on the field?

That depends on how large the difference is between the first and second choice in each case:

Beard and Ball are quality, so we're certainly not weak there especially with AWJ waiting in the wings.
Tomos is classy, not much of a drop from G Davies.
Patchell is (IMO) better than Biggar.
Scott is also classy and experienced, if not quite the all-round player that Parkes is.
OK, there's a bit of (potential) weakness in Lane, not so much (IMO) if Amos makes it (which would be my preference).

So, sure, it's not full strength but it's much closer to it than it is to yesterday's team.

[kk67]

Always loved Patch'.... he's got the top two inches.

[MrK]

Thoughts on the Ireland match this weekend

I guess those selected will not play, although Id be tempted to stick some of them in tbh - Lee , B Davies, S Williams and Lane - one -we cant afford any injuries to our TH , 2nd Rows and Centres and also to give Williams, Lane in particular - some game time

Id like to see Patchell and T Wiliams get some more game time and Liam needs an outing.

Maybe,

Williams, North, Watkins, S Williams, Lane, Patchell, T Williams
Wynn Jones, Dee, Lee, Beard, B Davies, Shingler, J Davies, Wainwright

B: Elias, Carre, Lewis, Ball, Navidi, G Davies, Biggar, Amos

[Numbers]

Thoughts on the Ireland match this weekend

I guess those selected will not play, although Id be tempted to stick some of them in tbh - Lee , B Davies, S Williams and Lane - one -we cant afford any injuries to our TH , 2nd Rows and Centres and also to give Williams, Lane in particular - some game time

Id like to see Patchell and T Wiliams get some more game time and Liam needs an outing.

Maybe,

Williams, North, Watkins, S Williams, Lane, Patchell, T Williams
Wynn Jones, Dee, Lee, Beard, B Davies, Shingler, J Davies, Wainwright

B: Elias, Carre, Lewis, Ball, Navidi, G Davies, Biggar, Amos

The players highlighted aren't in the squad any more.

[Numbers]

Team for Ireland:

Wales: Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets); George North (Ospreys), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets), Josh Adams (Worcester Warriors); Rhys Patchell (Scarlets), Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues); Wyn Jones (Scarlets), Elliot Dee (Dragons), Tomas Francis (Exeter), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Alun Wyn Jones (capt, Ospreys), Aaron Wainwright (Dragons), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Ross Moriarty (Dragons).

Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Nicky Smith (Ospreys), Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Blues), Adam Beard (Ospreys), Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues), Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints), Liam Williams (Saracens).

Looks strong.

[Renniks]

Looks like the starting 23 to me (with C. Hill a potential addition)

[Son of Mathonwy]

Marginally stronger than I'd have gone. I'd have kept AWJ on the bench, just to lessen the chance of an injury at the worst possible moment.
But, crucially, Patchell and Tomos start. The more time they get, the better.

We should win (it would be very worrying if we didn't).

[Numbers]

Marginally stronger than I'd have gone. I'd have kept AWJ on the bench, just to lessen the chance of an injury at the worst possible moment.
But, crucially, Patchell and Tomos start. The more time they get, the better.

We should win (it would be very worrying if we didn't).

Ireland have gone pretty much all in for this one:

Ireland: Kearney, Stockdale, Henshaw, Aki, Earls, Sexton, Murray; Healy, Best (c), Furlong, Ryan, Kleyn, Stander, van der Flier, Conan.

Replacements: Cronin, Kilcoyne, Porter, Henderson, Ruddock, McGrath, Carty, Ringrose

I expect a close match.

[paddy no 11]

A real match then! hopefully no injuries and a decent game

[MrK]

Looks like the starting 23 to me (with C. Hill a potential addition)

Yep, all the right notes, just not necassarily in the right order.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Yep, no injuries please, on either side.

[Sandydragon]

Yep, no injuries please, on either side.

Amen to that!

[Spiffy]

Marginally stronger than I'd have gone. I'd have kept AWJ on the bench, just to lessen the chance of an injury at the worst possible moment.
But, crucially, Patchell and Tomos start. The more time they get, the better.

We should win (it would be very worrying if we didn't).

Ireland have gone pretty much all in for this one:

Ireland: Kearney, Stockdale, Henshaw, Aki, Earls, Sexton, Murray; Healy, Best (c), Furlong, Ryan, Kleyn, Stander, van der Flier, Conan.

Replacements: Cronin, Kilcoyne, Porter, Henderson, Ruddock, McGrath, Carty, Ringrose

I expect a close match.

I'm pretty sure Larmour is in the team instead of Stockdale, which will benefit Wales. Can't see the rather plodding midfield of Henshaw/Aki doing a lot in attack or getting good ball into the hands of the Ireland wings. We might be in for a bit of a dull slugfest here. Agree it could be a close one

[Sandydragon]

Well this has been shockingly bad. With no disrespect to Ireland, we have been indisciplined and seem to have lacked a bit of aggression. Certainly we have been badly done over up front and have looked fairly clueless, one tidy line for the try aside, with the ball in hand.

Whilst this is only a warm up and really doesn’t matter, this does not bode well against the better teams we will be coming up against.

[wayneha50]

Well I feel better heading into a World Cup with the weight of expectation well & truly off our shoulders & look forward to the unveiling of an attacking game which has been perfectly hidden over the past 24 months.

[Spiffy]

Leigh Halfpenny does not seem the player he once was. Too much bulking up? Is he worth a place for goalkicking alone?

[Sandydragon]

Leigh Halfpenny does not seem the player he once was. Too much bulking up? Is he worth a place for goalkicking alone?

If we want to spend 80 mins defending then yes. Otherwise, Liam is by far the better full back.

[MrK]

Leigh Halfpenny does not seem the player he once was. Too much bulking up? Is he worth a place for goalkicking alone?

Honestly, I would have taken Lane instead of him.

Just my personal opinion.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Wow, that was poor. Comfortably outplayed by Ireland in the second half. What's Gatland excuse for that? Hope we're keeping all our good attacking moves under wraps for the important matches. A real downer to take us into the RWC. I guess it takes us out of the spotlight, comprehensively.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Leigh Halfpenny does not seem the player he once was. Too much bulking up? Is he worth a place for goalkicking alone?

Definitely not worth it for goalkicking alone. Bigger is as good, Patchell is decent too (assuming this is not moot ie is his head ok???)

[Sandydragon]

A back line of:
Davies
Biggar
North
Parkes
Davies
Adams
Halfpenny

Is very one dimensional. Unless Davies makes a good sniping run or Biggar does a kick chase, there isn’t much creativity there. At least Liam at 15 offers something different and our defence doesn’t suffer by any significant margin.

[Sandydragon]

Hopefully Patch is OK. Not sure what to make of his contribution today, defensive issues aside, his attacking contributions weren’t brilliant. A long way from the imposing performance of last week - is he more of a super sub?