Quarter final

[Son of Mathonwy]

I think we just need to calm down a bit over half time and we've got this.

Never listen to me.

[bruce]

We played shit no doubt, but for the life of me I don't see how the head hit on Tompkins was deemed as no foul play.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Great first 20 minutes, then every opportunity was wasted in the 2nd twenty, then other than Tomos's moment of inspiration, we had nothing. I will never believe the non-yellow that took Tompkins out, but hey we didn't deserve to win that.

Looks like the WRU wasted their money on Gatland after all.

[UKHamlet]

Oh well. Lost the game when we failed to take advantage in the first half and lost those key lineouts.

Exactly this.

[Sandydragon]

We played shit no doubt, but for the life of me I don't see how the head hit on Tompkins was deemed as no foul play.

The video ref sounded quite surprised that the ref decided on no foul play. Tompkins had dropped in height so no red for sure but that was a decision that I think most refs wouldn’t have made.

[Sandydragon]

Great first 20 minutes, then every opportunity was wasted in the 2nd twenty, then other than Tomos's moment of inspiration, we had nothing. I will never believe the non-yellow that took Tompkins out, but hey we didn't deserve to win that.

Looks like the WRU wasted their money on Gatland after all.

Oh FFS! Privac had lost that team and we would have been out in the pool stage. That Welsh team is out of sight better than the dross we saw last autumn.

[Son of Mathonwy]

At least we'll have our players back for the start of the URC. Give us a chance against the Irish and SA teams for a couple of weeks.

Straws clutched.

[Sourdust]

In a way it's a mercy that we were rubbish, so we don't fixate on ANOTHER tale of "Wales Being The First Side Caught Out By A Reffing Change In The RWC" because WTELF...

Just weren't at it today, very disappointing, although I have a feeling we'll feel better when we see what a bullet we dodged in a couple of hours' time. Argentina deserve applause, they were better than us today and that's all that matters.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Great first 20 minutes, then every opportunity was wasted in the 2nd twenty, then other than Tomos's moment of inspiration, we had nothing. I will never believe the non-yellow that took Tompkins out, but hey we didn't deserve to win that.

Looks like the WRU wasted their money on Gatland after all.

Oh FFS! Privac had lost that team and we would have been out in the pool stage. That Welsh team is out of sight better than the dross we saw last autumn.

Odds on we'd get out of that group whoever was coach. And then we lose to a team we beat last year.

On our side of the comp, going out in the quarters is underperforming.

[Son of Mathonwy]

We played shit no doubt, but for the life of me I don't see how the head hit on Tompkins was deemed as no foul play.

The video ref sounded quite surprised that the ref decided on no foul play. Tompkins had dropped in height so no red for sure but that was a decision that I think most refs wouldn’t have made.

Absolutely, yellow for review is the obvious call.

[Big D]

Unlucky lads. Shame some of your guys didn't get to go out from the RWC on a higher note. You're younger players will learn from the experience.

[Sandydragon]

Great first 20 minutes, then every opportunity was wasted in the 2nd twenty, then other than Tomos's moment of inspiration, we had nothing. I will never believe the non-yellow that took Tompkins out, but hey we didn't deserve to win that.

Looks like the WRU wasted their money on Gatland after all.

Oh FFS! Privac had lost that team and we would have been out in the pool stage. That Welsh team is out of sight better than the dross we saw last autumn.

Odds on we'd get out of that group whoever was coach. And then we lose to a team we beat last year.

On our side of the comp, going out in the quarters is underperforming.

Rubbish. Australia and Georgia beat Provac teams comfortably in Cardiff. Privac didn’t get the best out of this team and whilst it isn’t vintage Gatland has got more out of the players.

[pompey-zebra]

Worst Wales performance of the tournament and got punished for it, regardless of what was a card or not. Wales never looked comfortable throughout this game, even when leading and it showed in the end. Saying that the improvement in this tournament over what we saw even a few months ago is encouraging.

[normanski]

I think too many tackles in the first four games saw us lose our zest.

[morepork]

Hard lines fullas . Wales are structured but caged IMHO. Your defense was fantastic under pressure and here’s to some keen young blood injecting some spice n the stew in the future.

[Sandydragon]

Hard lines fullas . Wales are structured but caged IMHO. Your defense was fantastic under pressure and here’s to some keen young blood injecting some spice n the stew in the future.

Our worst game of the tournament. Fair play to the Argentinians who have turned themselves around after that England debacle. But we made too many mistakes and it should t have been that close a game at half time. A lack of composure maybe.

[pompey-zebra]

Hard lines fullas . Wales are structured but caged IMHO. Your defense was fantastic under pressure and here’s to some keen young blood injecting some spice n the stew in the future.

I'm not sure it's down to being caged. Wales were ahead for much of that game, but didnt consolidate the position. An LRZ kick stopping 6ft short, or a penalty call for a head impact might have changed the result but it wouldn't have changed the performance. A better line out and a missed biggar penalty in the first half was probably more significant to the result.

[Son of Mathonwy]

At least we'll have our players back for the start of the URC. Give us a chance against the Irish and SA teams for a couple of weeks.

Straws clutched.

Wrong again. Looks like the Irish will be back too. And SA, who knows?

[Son of Mathonwy]

Oh FFS! Privac had lost that team and we would have been out in the pool stage. That Welsh team is out of sight better than the dross we saw last autumn.

Odds on we'd get out of that group whoever was coach. And then we lose to a team we beat last year.

On our side of the comp, going out in the quarters is underperforming.

Rubbish. Australia and Georgia beat Provac teams comfortably in Cardiff. Privac didn’t get the best out of this team and whilst it isn’t vintage Gatland has got more out of the players.

I'm not going to call your opinion rubbish, but I disagree with it. We have been flattered by the poor quality in our side of the draw. A Pivac coached Wales would have been similarly flattered and would probably also have gotten to the quarters.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying Gatland has failed. I'm saying he hasn't performed any better than Pivac was likely to have. So the WRU wasted their money. I'm not saying we should change again - that would be more money wasted, I expect. But a dismal 6N and, to be generous, a par RWC is no great return for ~£1M spent to change the coaching team.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Stats:

https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/playerstat ... gue=164205

4-8 all put in big tackling shifts, Biggar and Tompkins too. But the Arg set piece was perfect, ours wasn't, lineout particularly.

Lots of mistakes added up to that loss, Biggar's missed penalty was huge (with 5 minutes to go), the lost attacking lineouts, LRZ's long kick from full back, Costelow's tragic intercepted pass (gotta feel for him). Biggar and Williams's bodies failing on them. And of course Tompkins's error for colliding his head with an Argentinian shoulder.

Obviously the scoreline flatters Argentina at the end but it just wasn't quite good enough from us (or lucky enough when it came to referee interpretation of head impacts). Really disappointing.

[pompey-zebra]

Odds on we'd get out of that group whoever was coach. And then we lose to a team we beat last year.

On our side of the comp, going out in the quarters is underperforming.

Rubbish. Australia and Georgia beat Provac teams comfortably in Cardiff. Privac didn’t get the best out of this team and whilst it isn’t vintage Gatland has got more out of the players.

I'm not going to call your opinion rubbish, but I disagree with it. We have been flattered by the poor quality in our side of the draw. A Pivac coached Wales would have been similarly flattered and would probably also have gotten to the quarters.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying Gatland has failed. I'm saying he hasn't performed any better than Pivac was likely to have. So the WRU wasted their money. I'm not saying we should change again - that would be more money wasted, I expect. But a dismal 6N and, to be generous, a par RWC is no great return for ~£1M spent to change the coaching team.

I'm not sure that a Pivac team would have got to the quarters with the performances that this squad has, if indeed at all. Gatland has given Wales a coherence that the Wales under Pivac lacked for the previous 2 seasons. Gatland may not have made them better players, but has got them ( largely) playing as a unit. Today was a step backward, yes, but from where we were last autumn, its stil progress. Of course, we need other areas of the game in Wales to progress too, to make a long term difference.

[Sandydragon]

Stats:

https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/playerstat ... gue=164205

4-8 all put in big tackling shifts, Biggar and Tompkins too. But the Arg set piece was perfect, ours wasn't, lineout particularly.

Lots of mistakes added up to that loss, Biggar's missed penalty was huge (with 5 minutes to go), the lost attacking lineouts, LRZ's long kick from full back, Costelow's tragic intercepted pass (gotta feel for him). Biggar and Williams's bodies failing on them. And of course Tompkins's error for colliding his head with an Argentinian shoulder.

Obviously the scoreline flatters Argentina at the end but it just wasn't quite good enough from us (or lucky enough when it came to referee interpretation of head impacts). Really disappointing.

We really didn’t get to grips with the change in ref. I’d like to understand why Lewis didn’t get a turnover just before the try.

[pompey-zebra]

Stats:

https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/playerstat ... gue=164205

4-8 all put in big tackling shifts, Biggar and Tompkins too. But the Arg set piece was perfect, ours wasn't, lineout particularly.

Lots of mistakes added up to that loss, Biggar's missed penalty was huge (with 5 minutes to go), the lost attacking lineouts, LRZ's long kick from full back, Costelow's tragic intercepted pass (gotta feel for him). Biggar and Williams's bodies failing on them. And of course Tompkins's error for colliding his head with an Argentinian shoulder.

Obviously the scoreline flatters Argentina at the end but it just wasn't quite good enough from us (or lucky enough when it came to referee interpretation of head impacts). Really disappointing.

We really didn’t get to grips with the change in ref. I’d like to understand why Lewis didn’t get a turnover just before the try.

Looking back in the cold light of day, perhaps the most frustrating thing is that despite all the mistakes, the inaccuracies and referee issues, we were only a late penalty/ drop goal away from winning the match. Not that a win would have in any way justified the performance, and the interception was probably just symptomatic of the previous 78 minutes. But it still looks like a missed opportunity.

[normanski]

On the bright side, we don’t have to meet an awesome All Blacks side who met the thunder of Ireland with a few lightening strikes of their own.

[Banquo]

Rubbish. Australia and Georgia beat Provac teams comfortably in Cardiff. Privac didn’t get the best out of this team and whilst it isn’t vintage Gatland has got more out of the players.

I'm not going to call your opinion rubbish, but I disagree with it. We have been flattered by the poor quality in our side of the draw. A Pivac coached Wales would have been similarly flattered and would probably also have gotten to the quarters.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying Gatland has failed. I'm saying he hasn't performed any better than Pivac was likely to have. So the WRU wasted their money. I'm not saying we should change again - that would be more money wasted, I expect. But a dismal 6N and, to be generous, a par RWC is no great return for ~£1M spent to change the coaching team.

I'm not sure that a Pivac team would have got to the quarters with the performances that this squad has, if indeed at all. Gatland has given Wales a coherence that the Wales under Pivac lacked for the previous 2 seasons. Gatland may not have made them better players, but has got them ( largely) playing as a unit. Today was a step backward, yes, but from where we were last autumn, its stil progress. Of course, we need other areas of the game in Wales to progress too, to make a long term difference.

I agree, they looked a step change above what Pivac was getting, and a damn sight fitter. TBH had they kept playing like they did the first ten minutes they'd have won easily.

My EMB colleagues will shoot me, but I wouldn't have minded Gatland as a caretaker going into this RWC. He'd have been a better bridge than Borthwick imo.