The lugby…..

[goats]

Re: The lugby…..

How far do they have to fall before they have to actually qualify for the World Cup?

There are so few countries that play it there is no qualification required. I didn’t even know Portugal has a rugby team

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: The lugby…..

There are so few countries that play it there is no qualification required. I didn’t even know Portugal has a rugby team

Strangely enough there are qualifiers (sort of).

In 2023, the top 12 from the 2019 tournament qualified automatically while a further 33 countries around the world, split into continental regions, made up the remaining 8 places. In Europe, the qualification process was particularly competitive, combining results from 2 years' of Rugby Europe Championship matches played by 6 countries. The Netherlands finished bottom of this thrilling campaign, conceding over 50 points and 8 tries a game on average. I'm not suggesing the Netherlands are crap, but in a summer tour of the Rhondda, they capped off a disappointing trip with a 64-6 loss to a Trebanog seniors' XV.

[Moodybluebird]

Re: The lugby…..

I think to quote a cliche 'the well has run dry'. To make matters worse, all our top quality players like Alan-Wyn, Biggar, North, Jonathan Davies, Ken Owens have all retired within a 12 month of each other leaving a gaping hole that with our resources is impossible to fill. Add Liam Williams, Halfpenny, Faletau, Josh Adams and Rees-Zammit to that list and it's not rocket science why our decline has been so dramatic.

Add Justin Tipuric to the above list as well. That's basically two thirds of a team gone. Unless you've got a conveyor belt of talent at your disposal, no coach in the world would cope with that.

[Des Parrot]

Re: The lugby…..

Absolutely agree with this.

& me. There were no football pitches when I was at school (ok many moons ago!) & I didn’t play for a football team until I was 16. The FAW are punching a hole in the WRU.

[WJ99mobile]

Re: The lugby…..

Wales will be back.

All sport is cyclical

[goats]

Re: The lugby…..

Strangely enough there are qualifiers (sort of).

In 2023, the top 12 from the 2019 tournament qualified automatically while a further 33 countries around the world, split into continental regions, made up the remaining 8 places. In Europe, the qualification process was particularly competitive, combining results from 2 years' of Rugby Europe Championship matches played by 6 countries. The Netherlands finished bottom of this thrilling campaign, conceding over 50 points and 8 tries a game on average. I'm not suggesing the Netherlands are crap, but in a summer tour of the Rhondda, they capped off a disappointing trip with a 64-6 loss to a Trebanog seniors' XV.

Is that for real? Trebanog seniors lol….

[The Bloop]

Re: The lugby…..

There are so few countries that play it there is no qualification required. I didn’t even know Portugal has a rugby team

In the 1991 tournament (which Wales jointly hosted) we lost to Samoa in the group stage and didn't make the quarters. Quarter finalists automatically qualified for the 1995 tournament, so we had to go through qualifying. I think we played Spain and Portugal and beat them by about 90 points if I remember correctly.
Weve definitely suffered from an extraordinary number of retirements in a short space of time. In a few years though we'll have a group of 10 or 12 players each with 40+ caps and will be in a much better place.

[Hilts]

Re: The lugby…..

In the 1991 tournament (which Wales jointly hosted) we lost to Samoa in the group stage and didn't make the quarters. Quarter finalists automatically qualified for the 1995 tournament, so we had to go through qualifying. I think we played Spain and Portugal and beat them by about 90 points if I remember correctly.
Weve definitely suffered from an extraordinary number of retirements in a short space of time. In a few years though we'll have a group of 10 or 12 players each with 40+ caps and will be in a much better place.

That's the argument that's being made these players will have all these caps by the World Cup.

Problem is the majority aren't any good.

Doesn't help with stupid cap rules meaning players are banned because they can earn money elsewhere and the best player would rather feck off and play training squad NFL.

[goats]

Re: The lugby…..

In the 1991 tournament (which Wales jointly hosted) we lost to Samoa in the group stage and didn't make the quarters. Quarter finalists automatically qualified for the 1995 tournament, so we had to go through qualifying. I think we played Spain and Portugal and beat them by about 90 points if I remember correctly.
Weve definitely suffered from an extraordinary number of retirements in a short space of time. In a few years though we'll have a group of 10 or 12 players each with 40+ caps and will be in a much better place.

If Wales lost every game for the next five years I’d love it to coin Kevin keegan

[North Cardiff Blue]

Re: The lugby…..

Major fail….i think his family live in Oz I read the other day

And he could get a job there anyway.

[North Cardiff Blue]

Re: The lugby…..

I think gatland has proved he’s a decent coach before, this just highlights that wales have no decent players, I can barely name one.
They could be outside the top 10 soon if not already

Exactly one of the best in the World, you can't make a silk purse out of a dead rotting pig's ear.

[Enoch Mort]

Re: The lugby…..

South Africa up next so that will be 12 successive defeats and with only 2 home games in the forthcoming 6 Nations to England and Ireland it could be another whitewash with the run extending to 17.

[goats]

Re: The lugby…..

South Africa up next so that will be 12 successive defeats and with only 2 home games in the forthcoming 6 Nations to England and Ireland it could be another whitewash with the run extending to 17.

The South Africans could play their B team and still put 30 points on this shower….i guess they might want to rest their main players anyway if they have proper opposition like France or Ireland to play after…..

[goats]

Re: The lugby…..

Exactly one of the best in the World, you can't make a silk purse out of a dead rotting pig's ear.

Exactly, it’s a bit like with ccfc, if the roots are f*cked then you won’t get a flower will you?

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: The lugby…..

Why don't Wales do what New Zealand and Australia do ?

They have lots of pacific south islanders in their squads who often have very loose links to either country ?

Wales seem to have the occasional aussie or kiwi with long lost Welsh grandparents etc?

They clearly need more