Team for England 5th August

[pompey-zebra]

It was nice to be in an English pub and hear " it's only a friendly"

[Sandydragon]

Plumbtree, Morgan and Wainwright looked a dynamic back row until Llewelyn got injured.

I'm glad we've got a decent alternative to Faletau.

Wainwright seems to play well for Gatland, he was like a different player today to some of the performances he put in in the Pivac era. Very impressed indeed with Plumtree, shame he gave that penalty away near the end. Agree with the comments above as to general player ratings, and would add that Ben Carter didn’t look underpowered today, I thought he went well. Henry Thomas, too.

Very happy with that second half.

Even the ref seemed sympathetic when awarding that penalty.

[Sandydragon]

It was nice to be in an English pub and hear " it's only a friendly"

We wouldn’t have beaten Ireland or France with that performance today, but it’s nice to shut Stuart Barnes up.

[pompey-zebra]

It was nice to be in an English pub and hear " it's only a friendly"

We wouldn’t have beaten Ireland or France with that performance today, but it’s nice to shut Stuart Barnes up.

Maybe not, but for a less than full strength side to win and score 2 tries to none (and narrowly miss out on a third) is better than I anticipated. It may all turn around at Twickenham next week but this is still a good result.

[Mikey Brown]

LRZ’s hair really is something.

[Buggaluggs]

LRZ’s hair really is something.

Did someone task you with saying something nice about the game?

[MrK]

Just sat on a plane bored so having a guess at what Gats will pick for this week

Thomas, Lake, Francis
Rowlands, Beard
Lydiate, Reffel, Plumtree
Williams, Anscombe
Tompkins, North
Adams, LRZ, Williams

Parry, Domachowski, Lewis
R Davies, Basham
Hardy, Biggar,Grady

That leaves (I think)
Matthias, Te Williams, K Williams, Evans &
Faletau, J Williams, O Williams, Roberts, Rogers, Cuthbert without game time

[Wallpaperman]

Just sat on a plane bored so having a guess at what Gats will pick for this week

Thomas, Lake, Francis
Rowlands, Beard
Lydiate, Reffel, Plumtree
Williams, Anscombe
Tompkins, North
Adams, LRZ, Williams

Parry, Domachowski, Lewis
R Davies, Basham
Hardy, Biggar,Grady

That leaves (I think)
Matthias, Te Williams, K Williams, Evans &
Faletau, J Williams, O Williams, Roberts, Rogers, Cuthbert without game time

Looks a good side. Rowlands hadn’t played for about 8 months yesterdays game so 2 weeks in a row might be a tough ask. Then again Wales need to get him to 25 caps asap.

I suspect that Johnny Williams is still unfit, would like a look at Kieran Williams at 12.

[normanski]

Take that win
Domachowski, Dee, Jenkins, Carter, Morgan, , Wainwright, Plumtree, Costelow, Llewelyn and Grady’s cameo all positives for me

smith, Rowlands, Davies, T Williams, Biggar,North LRZ, Dyer, 1/2p all did as expected

Assirati, Thomas, Tshiunza, with work to do

Elias- hope he recovers

Agree with all of that. Hopefully Llewelyn is ok too; we’re a bit light on locks.

Why was Halfpennnys mark call ignored? Anyone know?

Touched in flight by a Wales player.

[MrK]

Just sat on a plane bored so having a guess at what Gats will pick for this week

Thomas, Lake, Francis
Rowlands, Beard
Lydiate, Reffel, Plumtree
Williams, Anscombe
Tompkins, North
Adams, LRZ, Williams

Parry, Domachowski, Lewis
R Davies, Basham
Hardy, Biggar,Grady

That leaves (I think)
Matthias, Te Williams, K Williams, Evans &
Faletau, J Williams, O Williams, Roberts, Rogers, Cuthbert without game time

Looks a good side. Rowlands hadn’t played for about 8 months yesterdays game so 2 weeks in a row might be a tough ask. Then again Wales need to get him to 25 caps asap.

I suspect that Johnny Williams is still unfit, would like a look at Kieran Williams at 12.

Agree on Rowlands but as you say he needs 25 caps. Though Carter did well yesterday but I’d like to see Davies given a run out - maybe swap Rowlands & Davies and get his cap as sub. That would make the pack very Os heavy though.

Also Kieran Williams, I just get the feeling Gatland doesn’t fancy him

[Sandydragon]

Rowlands won his 24th cap yesterday, so I’d be tempted to rest him for a start against the Bokke.

[Mikey Brown]

LRZ’s hair really is something.

Did someone task you with saying something nice about the game?

I’m just a naturally generous person.

Are you ready to take on your ‘dark horse’ tag yet?

[pompey-zebra]

LRZ’s hair really is something.

Did someone task you with saying something nice about the game?

I’m just a naturally generous person.

Are you ready to take on your ‘dark horse’ tag yet?

I think Gatland's already done that with his "Wales will surprise a few people in France" comments. Unless he means the squad are planning to jump out of cupboards shouting "Boo!".

[Son of Mathonwy]

Just sat on a plane bored so having a guess at what Gats will pick for this week

Thomas, Lake, Francis
Rowlands, Beard
Lydiate, Reffel, Plumtree
Williams, Anscombe
Tompkins, North
Adams, LRZ, Williams

Parry, Domachowski, Lewis
R Davies, Basham
Hardy, Biggar,Grady

That leaves (I think)
Matthias, Te Williams, K Williams, Evans &
Faletau, J Williams, O Williams, Roberts, Rogers, Cuthbert without game time

Looks a good side. Rowlands hadn’t played for about 8 months yesterdays game so 2 weeks in a row might be a tough ask. Then again Wales need to get him to 25 caps asap.

I suspect that Johnny Williams is still unfit, would like a look at Kieran Williams at 12.

Agree on Rowlands but as you say he needs 25 caps. Though Carter did well yesterday but I’d like to see Davies given a run out - maybe swap Rowlands & Davies and get his cap as sub. That would make the pack very Os heavy though.

Also Kieran Williams, I just get the feeling Gatland doesn’t fancy him

Agreed Rowlands needs to play, even if only for 1 minute next week just in case something unforeseen happens to prevent him from playing in the SA game. I'd bench him for next week.

[normanski]

Anyone know where I can find the match stats. I’ve tried ESPN and Sage with no luck.

[Son of Mathonwy]

WALES Tackles, Missed Tackles, Passes, Runs, Metres Run
L HalfpennyFB 4 0 3 7 12
L Rees-ZammitW 3 0 1 7 41
G NorthC 8 0 0 8 28
M LlewellynC 7 1 5 4 4
R DyerW 5 5 0 4 23
S CostelowFH 5 4 14 8 4
G DaviesSH 5 2 44 6 24
C DomachowskiP 13 0 2 8 9
R EliasH 0 0 1 1 0
K AssirattiP 9 0 2 0 0
D JenkinsL 15 0 4 5 1
W RowlandsL 8 0 1 6 10
C TshiunzaFL 13 2 3 1 5
J MorganFL 25 2 7 10 42
A WainwrightN8 10 1 4 12 40
E DeeR 15 0 5 10 15
N SmithR 4 0 0 2 0
H ThomasR 4 1 3 3 3
B CarterR 5 0 1 5 4
T PlumtreeR 4 0 0 2 4
T WilliamsR 2 0 31 4 22
D BiggarR 2 1 7 2 4
M GradyR 2 0 0 4 26

Generally Wales defended well - 90% tackle success rate. Morgan was a maniac - 25 made, 2 missed, Jenkins and Dee both made 15, missed 0. North was good for a back 8 made, 0 missed. Dyer had a bad defensive game 5 made, 5 missed, Costelow also - 5 made, 4 missed. Morgan, Wainwright and LRZ made about 40 metres each, North also a decent 28. Morgan was deservedly the MOTM even without that exceptional run/try assist.

For me Llewellyn didn't take his chance - not bad, just anonymous. I'm not sold on Tshiunza either, am interested to see Rhys Davies and Plumtree given more time. Lydiate probably deserves some time too. Dyer doesn't impress me - hope Adams is in form. Costelow was a bit shaky but promising. LRZ and North are nailed on.

I hope the successful lineouts - and lineout steals (I didn't know we did that!) - were not a fluke. It was great to see us outperforming England there.

I wish we had more players who were good under high ball - most of our 'chasers' were much more comfortable waiting for Steward to catch it then tackle him. Looking forward to Sanjay at FB (although Halfpenny was solid as ever).

Anyway, a great start to the warmups. Difficult to know what it means though because this England isn't in a very good place.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Anyone know where I can find the match stats. I’ve tried ESPN and Sage with no luck.

https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/playerstat ... gue=289234

It wasn't easy to find though!

[Sandydragon]

WALES Tackles, Missed Tackles, Passes, Runs, Metres Run
L HalfpennyFB 4 0 3 7 12
L Rees-ZammitW 3 0 1 7 41
G NorthC 8 0 0 8 28
M LlewellynC 7 1 5 4 4
R DyerW 5 5 0 4 23
S CostelowFH 5 4 14 8 4
G DaviesSH 5 2 44 6 24
C DomachowskiP 13 0 2 8 9
R EliasH 0 0 1 1 0
K AssirattiP 9 0 2 0 0
D JenkinsL 15 0 4 5 1
W RowlandsL 8 0 1 6 10
C TshiunzaFL 13 2 3 1 5
J MorganFL 25 2 7 10 42
A WainwrightN8 10 1 4 12 40
E DeeR 15 0 5 10 15
N SmithR 4 0 0 2 0
H ThomasR 4 1 3 3 3
B CarterR 5 0 1 5 4
T PlumtreeR 4 0 0 2 4
T WilliamsR 2 0 31 4 22
D BiggarR 2 1 7 2 4
M GradyR 2 0 0 4 26

Generally Wales defended well - 90% tackle success rate. Morgan was a maniac - 25 made, 2 missed, Jenkins and Dee both made 15, missed 0. North was good for a back 8 made, 0 missed. Dyer had a bad defensive game 5 made, 5 missed, Costelow also - 5 made, 4 missed. Morgan, Wainwright and LRZ made about 40 metres each, North also a decent 28. Morgan was deservedly the MOTM even without that exceptional run/try assist.

For me Llewellyn didn't take his chance - not bad, just anonymous. I'm not sold on Tshiunza either, am interested to see Rhys Davies and Plumtree given more time. Lydiate probably deserves some time too. Dyer doesn't impress me - hope Adams is in form. Costelow was a bit shaky but promising. LRZ and North are nailed on.

I hope the successful lineouts - and lineout steals (I didn't know we did that!) - were not a fluke. It was great to see us outperforming England there.

I wish we had more players who were good under high ball - most of our 'chasers' were much more comfortable waiting for Steward to catch it then tackle him. Looking forward to Sanjay at FB (although Halfpenny was solid as ever).

Anyway, a great start to the warmups. Difficult to know what it means though because this England isn't in a very good place.

Tshiunza looked confused at times. Always seems to be close to the ball but not quite nnthe right position to do something good. The boys got huge potential but I suspect this RWC is too soon for him. Plumtree on the other hand made an immediate impact and offers a similar flexibility. We need to see more of him.

Llewelyn was alright and I think he will develop well. He benefits from no real inside centre established, Tompkins is the closest but I don’t think he’s a Gatland type of player. Jonny Williams would do well I think but he needs to be injury free.

Dyer made mistakes in the six nations but the good points made up for them. Not so much yesterday. Plenty of effort but it wouldn’t surprise me if he were to miss out.

Costelow went well for his first cap. He had to deal with sizeable English forwards running at him until our pack got on top. But he kept going and showed some maturity as well as flair. Watching him open up a good defence was a beautiful thing to see after years of us failing to do just that. I really hope he tours, even if to be an impact sub. Biggar is our first choice fly half and will do what he does, but I think Costelow will cause havoc when defences get tired.

If Lydiate remains fit and is on form then he will tour. Gatland moves him and he is exactly the sort of blindside we need against big ball carrying sides.

Gatland has a real headache in a good number of positions after yesterdays performance, which is a great problem to have.

[Sandydragon]

Incidentally Mark Orders has picked our best RWC XV largely including players absent yesterday. That’s probably his fourth best Welsh XV in the last couple of months.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Incidentally Mark Orders has picked our best RWC XV largely including players absent yesterday. That’s probably his fourth best Welsh XV in the last couple of months.

It's just not the right time to pick it. 2 weeks, then we'll know what we need to know. Sure some are nailed on or nearly so but there are plenty fighting for most places. Even Wainwright was making a case for himself over Faletau.

[normanski]

Anyone know where I can find the match stats. I’ve tried ESPN and Sage with no luck.

https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/playerstat ... gue=289234

It wasn't easy to find though!

Thanks. You’re a better man than me Ghunga Din!

[Numbers]

WALES Tackles, Missed Tackles, Passes, Runs, Metres Run
L HalfpennyFB 4 0 3 7 12
L Rees-ZammitW 3 0 1 7 41
G NorthC 8 0 0 8 28
M LlewellynC 7 1 5 4 4
R DyerW 5 5 0 4 23
S CostelowFH 5 4 14 8 4
G DaviesSH 5 2 44 6 24
C DomachowskiP 13 0 2 8 9
R EliasH 0 0 1 1 0
K AssirattiP 9 0 2 0 0
D JenkinsL 15 0 4 5 1
W RowlandsL 8 0 1 6 10
C TshiunzaFL 13 2 3 1 5
J MorganFL 25 2 7 10 42
A WainwrightN8 10 1 4 12 40
E DeeR 15 0 5 10 15
N SmithR 4 0 0 2 0
H ThomasR 4 1 3 3 3
B CarterR 5 0 1 5 4
T PlumtreeR 4 0 0 2 4
T WilliamsR 2 0 31 4 22
D BiggarR 2 1 7 2 4
M GradyR 2 0 0 4 26

Generally Wales defended well - 90% tackle success rate. Morgan was a maniac - 25 made, 2 missed, Jenkins and Dee both made 15, missed 0. North was good for a back 8 made, 0 missed. Dyer had a bad defensive game 5 made, 5 missed, Costelow also - 5 made, 4 missed. Morgan, Wainwright and LRZ made about 40 metres each, North also a decent 28. Morgan was deservedly the MOTM even without that exceptional run/try assist.

For me Llewellyn didn't take his chance - not bad, just anonymous. I'm not sold on Tshiunza either, am interested to see Rhys Davies and Plumtree given more time. Lydiate probably deserves some time too. Dyer doesn't impress me - hope Adams is in form. Costelow was a bit shaky but promising. LRZ and North are nailed on.

I hope the successful lineouts - and lineout steals (I didn't know we did that!) - were not a fluke. It was great to see us outperforming England there.

I wish we had more players who were good under high ball - most of our 'chasers' were much more comfortable waiting for Steward to catch it then tackle him. Looking forward to Sanjay at FB (although Halfpenny was solid as ever).

Anyway, a great start to the warmups. Difficult to know what it means though because this England isn't in a very good place.

When England surround the player catchnig the ball with a wall of defenders in makes it quite difficult, one kick off Dyaer was waving his arms at the ref as there was no way through to the ball, unheeded of course, this is exactly what England did in the 6 Nations which also went unseen by the officials, there was also at least one instance of obstruction with the player catching and then running into the back of his own blocking player.

I know this is a warm up game but the reffing was poor for both teams.

[Graigwen]

Tshiunza looked confused at times. Always seems to be close to the ball but not quite nnthe right position to do something good. The boys got huge potential but I suspect this RWC is too soon for him. Plumtree on the other hand made an immediate impact and offers a similar flexibility. We need to see more of him.

I was disappointed by Tshiunza, I think I had expected too much. You could tell he was thinking hard about what he should be doing. He did not approach the Rhys Carre level of bafflement however, although that is a very high bar. I am certain that Tshiunza is going to be a great player for us, but he has to be allowed time to develop. Props, flankers and stand offs seem to have the hardest learning tasks. Costelow is still a way off the finished product.

.

[Son of Mathonwy]

WALES Tackles, Missed Tackles, Passes, Runs, Metres Run
L HalfpennyFB 4 0 3 7 12
L Rees-ZammitW 3 0 1 7 41
G NorthC 8 0 0 8 28
M LlewellynC 7 1 5 4 4
R DyerW 5 5 0 4 23
S CostelowFH 5 4 14 8 4
G DaviesSH 5 2 44 6 24
C DomachowskiP 13 0 2 8 9
R EliasH 0 0 1 1 0
K AssirattiP 9 0 2 0 0
D JenkinsL 15 0 4 5 1
W RowlandsL 8 0 1 6 10
C TshiunzaFL 13 2 3 1 5
J MorganFL 25 2 7 10 42
A WainwrightN8 10 1 4 12 40
E DeeR 15 0 5 10 15
N SmithR 4 0 0 2 0
H ThomasR 4 1 3 3 3
B CarterR 5 0 1 5 4
T PlumtreeR 4 0 0 2 4
T WilliamsR 2 0 31 4 22
D BiggarR 2 1 7 2 4
M GradyR 2 0 0 4 26

Generally Wales defended well - 90% tackle success rate. Morgan was a maniac - 25 made, 2 missed, Jenkins and Dee both made 15, missed 0. North was good for a back 8 made, 0 missed. Dyer had a bad defensive game 5 made, 5 missed, Costelow also - 5 made, 4 missed. Morgan, Wainwright and LRZ made about 40 metres each, North also a decent 28. Morgan was deservedly the MOTM even without that exceptional run/try assist.

For me Llewellyn didn't take his chance - not bad, just anonymous. I'm not sold on Tshiunza either, am interested to see Rhys Davies and Plumtree given more time. Lydiate probably deserves some time too. Dyer doesn't impress me - hope Adams is in form. Costelow was a bit shaky but promising. LRZ and North are nailed on.

I hope the successful lineouts - and lineout steals (I didn't know we did that!) - were not a fluke. It was great to see us outperforming England there.

I wish we had more players who were good under high ball - most of our 'chasers' were much more comfortable waiting for Steward to catch it then tackle him. Looking forward to Sanjay at FB (although Halfpenny was solid as ever).

Anyway, a great start to the warmups. Difficult to know what it means though because this England isn't in a very good place.

When England surround the player catchnig the ball with a wall of defenders in makes it quite difficult, one kick off Dyaer was waving his arms at the ref as there was no way through to the ball, unheeded of course, this is exactly what England did in the 6 Nations which also went unseen by the officials, there was also at least one instance of obstruction with the player catching and then running into the back of his own blocking player.

I know this is a warm up game but the reffing was poor for both teams.

They need to ref this more strictly. Commentators were actually calling them 'blockers', which IMO says things have gone too far. Preferably they need to tighten the laws up - say within 5m of the point where the ball lands, require players not competing for the ball to move out of the way of opposition players who are competing for it.

They also need to be tighter over players not giving up the ball when penalised (etc). There was one point on Saturday where the Irish were penalised in breakdown on the Italian try line. The Irish 9, disgusted that the ref could do this to them - and in Dublin too! - just walks off with the ball. They know what they're doing, it's easy to see and easy to deal with, it just needs to be stamped out.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Anyone know where I can find the match stats. I’ve tried ESPN and Sage with no luck.

https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/playerstat ... gue=289234

It wasn't easy to find though!

Thanks. You’re a better man than me Ghunga Din!

You'd think they'd have a link to the match report on the news report for the match. But no, they want it to be more challenging than that .