RugbyRebels

SA are sending a reserve side to the states to play us, apparently none of their team which play the 1st of their 3 tour matches against England the following week will be traveling.
They're also only flying in 2 days before the game so if we can't win this one we're in trouble !![emoji16]
They've scrapped their overseas policy though for the new coach & can select from anywhere in the world.

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PoolerSaint wrote:SA are sending a reserve side to the states to play us, apparently none of their team which play the 1st of their 3 tour matches against England the following week will be traveling.
They're also only flying in 2 days before the game so if we can't win this one we're in trouble !![emoji16]
They've scrapped their overseas policy though for the new coach & can select from anywhere in the world.

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If they can select any Bokke qualified player, that will make a huge difference to them. South Africa have been underpowered for far too long.

On the other hand, that won’t do their domestic clubs any favours.

So Shingler and Hewitt are both out of the series, Scott Williams has a shoulder injury and is doubtful.

We could really do with some more centres.

Team:

15. Hallam Amos (15 Caps)
14. Tom Prydie (7 Caps)
13. George North (73 Caps)
12. Owen Watkin (4 Caps)
11. Steff Evans (9 Caps)
10. Gareth Anscombe (15 Caps)
9. Tomos Williams (*Uncapped)
1. Nicky Smith (18 Caps)
2. Elliot Dee (7 Caps)
3. Dillon Lewis (2 Caps)
4. Bradley Davies (62 Caps)
5. Cory Hill (15 Caps)
6. Seb Davies (4 Caps)
7. Ellis Jenkins (6 Caps) (CAPT)
8. Ross Moriarty (20 Caps)

Replacements:
16. Ryan Elias (2 Caps)
17. Wyn Jones (8 Caps)
18. Rhodri Jones (16 Caps)
19. Adam Beard (2 Caps)
20. Aaron Wainwright (*Uncapped)
21. Aled Davies (8 Caps)
22. Rhys Patchell (8 Caps) / Gareth Davies (32 Caps)
23. Hadleigh Parkes (6 Caps)

Obviously we are building on the success of the multiple scrum half ploy at the last World Cup. If Patchell fails his fitness test and Anscombe gets injured, we could have three on the pitch. I expect they have been practicing cross kicks.

Graigwen wrote:Obviously we are building on the success of the multiple scrum half ploy at the last World Cup. If Patchell fails his fitness test and Anscombe gets injured, we could have three on the pitch. I expect they have been practicing cross kicks.

Box kicks, more likely

But seriously... injury would leave us with three scrum halves... and no fly halves? Who plays fly half in this scenario? How can we face this possiblity? Another sign that this match is not being taken seriously.

Son of Mathonwy wrote: Box kicks, more likely

But seriously... injury would leave us with three scrum halves... and no fly halves? Who plays fly half in this scenario? How can we face this possiblity? Another sign that this match is not being taken seriously.

I was thinking of Lloyd Williams' cross kick for Gareth Davies to score against England.

Our box kicks have been too long for too long.

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Son of Mathonwy wrote:

Graigwen wrote:Obviously we are building on the success of the multiple scrum half ploy at the last World Cup. If Patchell fails his fitness test and Anscombe gets injured, we could have three on the pitch. I expect they have been practicing cross kicks.

Box kicks, more likely

But seriously... injury would leave us with three scrum halves... and no fly halves? Who plays fly half in this scenario? How can we face this possiblity? Another sign that this match is not being taken seriously.

Good point, I guess Parkes would be the next option for 10.

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PoolerSaint wrote:

Son of Mathonwy wrote:

Graigwen wrote:Obviously we are building on the success of the multiple scrum half ploy at the last World Cup. If Patchell fails his fitness test and Anscombe gets injured, we could have three on the pitch. I expect they have been practicing cross kicks.

Box kicks, more likely

But seriously... injury would leave us with three scrum halves... and no fly halves? Who plays fly half in this scenario? How can we face this possiblity? Another sign that this match is not being taken seriously.

Good point, I guess Parkes would be the next option for 10.

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Aye, he's filled in for the Scarlets there before.

Numbers wrote:

PoolerSaint wrote:

Son of Mathonwy wrote: Box kicks, more likely

But seriously... injury would leave us with three scrum halves... and no fly halves? Who plays fly half in this scenario? How can we face this possiblity? Another sign that this match is not being taken seriously.

Good point, I guess Parkes would be the next option for 10.

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Aye, he's filled in for the Scarlets there before.

I am glad to hear that. I had visions of Bradley Davies stepping forwards and saying "When I was at school I played fly half once...."

.

Sweet jesus this is dire.

Worth it to see Monye’s beard glisten, though. Very ‘Coming to Anerica’, aptly.

Worth it to see Monye’s beard glisten. Very ‘Coming to America’, aptly.

Mine eyes...

Saffa rugby sure is in a bad, bad place.

DC isn't that bad. The free museums are nice.

This is awful. Even the cameraman has had enough it would appear.

Handed straight back. Oh Boks.

These may have been the second/third stringers from both nations but that was truly awful. Quite poor reffing too. You seem to get a turnover now just by touching the ball with one hand and rocking it back and forth on the ground.

Rugby is the true winner tonight.

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Terrible match, but decent result. Couldn't have complained had we lost that, but SA deserved to lose it more; inexperience only excuses so much.

We're in a weird place when we're "looking for the positives" after beating the 'Boks... but here we are. There were quite a few positives, though. Williams and Jenkins were excellent, Anscombe solid again, Hill looking the business. But were it not for one eye-catching run each, I might not have known North and Moriarty were playing.

What an absolutely horrible game of rugby.
The positives for us-
Ellis Jenkins, oozes class.
Cory Hill, Mr consistent these days
Tomos Williams, apart from that one ruck in the 2nd half where he was caught with his pants down was excellent.
We won.

That's about it, our game management was awful.
Moriarty was our only carrier & we telegraphed virtually every pass to him.
Obviously the team will be stronger next week with the Scarlets players being involved more. But we may get a tuning from Argentina in both test matches.

This idiotic Rhodri Jones experiment has to stop - he can't hold up the scrum from tighthead at club level never mind test match rugby. Gatland is ruining the poor guy, who has the potential to be a very good loosehead.

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The changes on front row almost cost us the match. Rhodri Jones is a loose head, let’s stop buggering up his career by trying to convert him.

On the whole, it was an awful game. For professional players the handling was laughable. It was a bit like watching pub rugby. Two passes and a scrum, three passes and score. I was half expecting some fat bloke to waddle on at half time with the team special brew.

The result made it worthwhile, but not all that much else gained from this and obviously Steff looked in a bad way. Extremely fortunate to get that last try, great work from Williams but still some very lucky bounces. Tomos looked good, Amos too (if we ignore that interception pass). The North experiment didn't last long enough to prove anything (but I have to think it's not a great idea - what will we get from this, another Roberts?).

Will need to be 100% better next week. Hope Patchell gets the shout (at least for one of the next matches). Anscombe is good, but IMO not at Patchell's level.