Team for the Summer

[Tuco Ramirez]

tackles..... this is now an overrated stat as it consists of a big bloke standing at side of ruck or maul and having another player slowly trundling into him. its a bollocks stat when you are highlighting someones contribution. He got dicked at scrum time and we had a threadbare bench so he was left on the park

[Numbers]

Takeaway's:

Thomas was pretty good at 10
Hathaway needs to work on his kicking game
Dewi's throwing still needs to improve
Our ball retention in contact needs to improve
Our scrum needs stability, I think Griffin could be good let's stick with him (I would like to see Adam Jones in the Welsh coaching setup)
The centres look a bit aimless
Ellis Bevan was pretty good, one dropped ball and kick straight to touch aside, a nice 50-22 and some decent box kicking
Wainwright is starting to look the business

Maybe Eddie James to start next time with Grady on the wing, that would also allow us to have Grace on the bench, other than that I think we should keep it the same.

[Graigwen]

Takeaway's:

Thomas was pretty good at 10
Hathaway needs to work on his kicking game
Dewi's throwing still needs to improve
Our ball retention in contact needs to improve
Our scrum needs stability, I think Griffin could be good let's stick with him (I would like to see Adam Jones in the Welsh coaching setup)
The centres look a bit aimless
Ellis Bevan was pretty good, one dropped ball and kick straight to touch aside, a nice 50-22 and some decent box kicking
Wainwright is starting to look the business

Maybe Eddie James to start next time with Grady on the wing, that would also allow us to have Grace on the bench, other than that I think we should keep it the same.

Despite his problems at the start, I think Griffin has potential. I think every prop has a few bad games when they start, and Griffin does not have much regional experience.

Hathaway seemed out of his depth in all regards. Wingers should not need much learning time to get to a reasonable level. (For instance, Dyer slotted in pretty well when he got into the National team, he was unusual in that you could see him actively looking to widen his involvement for many games after that.)

I would put Grace on the wing to start the next game.

I am beginning to despair about forming a sensible opinion on our centres.

.

[Puja]

Takeaway's:

Thomas was pretty good at 10
Hathaway needs to work on his kicking game
Dewi's throwing still needs to improve
Our ball retention in contact needs to improve
Our scrum needs stability, I think Griffin could be good let's stick with him (I would like to see Adam Jones in the Welsh coaching setup)
The centres look a bit aimless
Ellis Bevan was pretty good, one dropped ball and kick straight to touch aside, a nice 50-22 and some decent box kicking
Wainwright is starting to look the business

Maybe Eddie James to start next time with Grady on the wing, that would also allow us to have Grace on the bench, other than that I think we should keep it the same.

Despite his problems at the start, I think Griffin has potential. I think every prop has a few bad games when they start, and Griffin does not have much regional experience.

Hathaway seemed out of his depth in all regards. Wingers should not need much learning time to get to a reasonable level. (For instance, Dyer slotted in pretty well when he got into the National team, he was unusual in that you could see him actively looking to widen his involvement for many games after that.)

I would put Grace on the wing to start the next game.

I am beginning to despair about forming a sensible opinion on our centres.

.

I think the difference is that Dyer came in at age 22, having been had three seasons of adult rugby, whereas Hathaway is 20 and has had just 6 starts in non-development games for Gloucester. Archie Griffin has never started a non-development game for Bath and, if he plays 55 mins next week, will likely finish the season having played more minutes for Wales than he has ever had at first team club level. It is comedy that they are starting international games right now - Gatland is either a genius who is building a development plan that will see you have them as experienced superstars in the future, or he is wrecking young players by chucking them in the deep end. Hard to tell which.

Puja

[pompey-zebra]

The Fail's reporting that Wainwright is out for 4 months ( hamstring), with Botham set to replace him. Mathias and Winnett in line replace Thomas and Williams. Team announcement at midnight uk time.

[Sandydragon]

Takeaway's:

Thomas was pretty good at 10
Hathaway needs to work on his kicking game
Dewi's throwing still needs to improve
Our ball retention in contact needs to improve
Our scrum needs stability, I think Griffin could be good let's stick with him (I would like to see Adam Jones in the Welsh coaching setup)
The centres look a bit aimless
Ellis Bevan was pretty good, one dropped ball and kick straight to touch aside, a nice 50-22 and some decent box kicking
Wainwright is starting to look the business

Maybe Eddie James to start next time with Grady on the wing, that would also allow us to have Grace on the bench, other than that I think we should keep it the same.

Despite his problems at the start, I think Griffin has potential. I think every prop has a few bad games when they start, and Griffin does not have much regional experience.

Hathaway seemed out of his depth in all regards. Wingers should not need much learning time to get to a reasonable level. (For instance, Dyer slotted in pretty well when he got into the National team, he was unusual in that you could see him actively looking to widen his involvement for many games after that.)

I would put Grace on the wing to start the next game.

I am beginning to despair about forming a sensible opinion on our centres.

.

I think the difference is that Dyer came in at age 22, having been had three seasons of adult rugby, whereas Hathaway is 20 and has had just 6 starts in non-development games for Gloucester. Archie Griffin has never started a non-development game for Bath and, if he plays 55 mins next week, will likely finish the season having played more minutes for Wales than he has ever had at first team club level. It is comedy that they are starting international games right now - Gatland is either a genius who is building a development plan that will see you have them as experienced superstars in the future, or he is wrecking young players by chucking them in the deep end. Hard to tell which.

Puja

Hathaway is too raw. I think the only reason he is there is due to the media scrum around eligibility. He’s got potential but better he develops without the sensationalism at Gloucester.

[Graigwen]

Hathaway is too raw. I think the only reason he is there is due to the media scrum around eligibility. He’s got potential but better he develops without the sensationalism at Gloucester.

I agree with that. He has good future potential but is some way off international level at the moment, he needs a bit of time and experience.
.

[Sandydragon]

Hathaway is too raw. I think the only reason he is there is due to the media scrum around eligibility. He’s got potential but better he develops without the sensationalism at Gloucester.

I agree with that. He has good future potential but is some way off international level at the moment, he needs a bit of time and experience.
.

There are other wingers in Wales, or someone like Grady, who have more experience and whilst Hathaway might have a very high ceiling, better he isn’t shown up just yet.

[Graigwen]

Hathaway is too raw. I think the only reason he is there is due to the media scrum around eligibility. He’s got potential but better he develops without the sensationalism at Gloucester.

I agree with that. He has good future potential but is some way off international level at the moment, he needs a bit of time and experience.
.

There are other wingers in Wales, or someone like Grady, who have more experience and whilst Hathaway might have a very high ceiling, better he isn’t shown up just yet.

Hathaway will benefit from a season of club rugby and come back a better player. At least we won't have to put up with the media speculation about us vs England "tug of war".

.

[Graigwen]

I am glad Gatland has stuck with Jenkins and Tshiunza in the second row, they seemed to work well together. (Perhaps my previous enthusiasm for Tshiunza in the back row was misplaced.)

Tomorrow will be a big test for Plumtree, Wainwright has been playing so well.

We will still get hammered in the front row.

.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Gatland has a tough time selecting a team from this squad. But he was the one who selected the squad, ignoring a number of regional players who are in good form, not to mention the perennially ignored Rhys Patchell.

But Gatland finds time to distract from this by complaining about the 25-cap rule as if having Hawkins in the team would solve all our problems. Even though the rule is probably the only thing keeping Dyer and Grady in Wales.

[Sandydragon]

Gatland has a tough time selecting a team from this squad. But he was the one who selected the squad, ignoring a number of regional players who are in good form, not to mention the perennially ignored Rhys Patchell.

But Gatland finds time to distract from this by complaining about the 25-cap rule as if having Hawkins in the team would solve all our problems. Even though the rule is probably the only thing keeping Dyer and Grady in Wales.

Hes doing that thing where he attracts media criticism and sheilds the squad, I think. Hawkins would be an asset but a decent tight head ten times so.

[normanski]

Gatland has a tough time selecting a team from this squad. But he was the one who selected the squad, ignoring a number of regional players who are in good form, not to mention the perennially ignored Rhys Patchell.

But Gatland finds time to distract from this by complaining about the 25-cap rule as if having Hawkins in the team would solve all our problems. Even though the rule is probably the only thing keeping Dyer and Grady in Wales.

Hes doing that thing where he attracts media criticism and sheilds the squad, I think. Hawkins would be an asset but a decent tight head ten times so.

Once you have a squad of the longevity that we had until recently you prevent youngsters coming through and developing. This has been our problem currently - no strength in depth - and results have reflected this issue.

TH is where we are most exposed. Lewis has never really lived up to expectations and we sorely miss the solidity of Francis.

If Griffin comes through as the first choice it’s going to be a year or two for him to gain experience and technique. In the meantime we’ll be beasted in the scrum and defeats will follow. Not a happy situation.

We must live in hope that we can squeeze a win tomorrow but everyone seems to have written us off and I can’t really disagree with that.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Gatland has a tough time selecting a team from this squad. But he was the one who selected the squad, ignoring a number of regional players who are in good form, not to mention the perennially ignored Rhys Patchell.

But Gatland finds time to distract from this by complaining about the 25-cap rule as if having Hawkins in the team would solve all our problems. Even though the rule is probably the only thing keeping Dyer and Grady in Wales.

Hes doing that thing where he attracts media criticism and sheilds the squad, I think. Hawkins would be an asset but a decent tight head ten times so.

Or he's making excuses. He often does that in advance.

[normanski]

We’re already a try down. Shite!

[Sandydragon]

We’re already a try down. Shite!

Hell of a try mind, fair play to Aus.

We’re better this week but I sense a lack of a proper fly half is going to hurt us

[Sandydragon]

Two tries now. Bad mistake from wonnett

[normanski]

We’re already a try down. Shite!

Hell of a try mind, fair play to Aus.

We’re better this week but I sense a lack of a proper fly half is going to hurt us

Yep! Costelow at 10 with Thomas at 12 and Grady moving out one might help.

[Sandydragon]

Try wales- driving lineout.

[normanski]

Try wales- driving lineout.

It’s been our strong point but we give away another three points straight away. There could be a rout in the second half.

[Sandydragon]

We’re 20-7 down but in a strange way it’s a better first half from us.

Botham is carrying hard as is lake.

[Sandydragon]

Yellow card for Australia (under review) and from resultant penalty we score, lake again.

[Sandydragon]

FFS. Twice
Now we’ve given a penalty away at the restart

[normanski]

I reckon a few rollickings for ill discipline will be given out at half time. At least at 23-14 we’re still in the game.

[normanski]

Welcome Francoisfou to more Welsh misery!