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I don't think Wales' latest miserable defeat even got a mention on here did it? Didn't watch it myself, but it sounded awful - I've not seen enough of Wales lately to know if there is any thing to this, but, from a distance, it looks like the players are not putting it in for the newish coach.
Also, there was a result overnight which I didn't think I'd see in my lifetime. All Blacks 15 Argentina 25.
Apart from the lack of an attacking edge Wales seem so disorganised defensively and are giving away far too many penalties. They seem confused in trying to adapt to Pivac's methods, but are finding it difficult to adapt because Gatland and Edwards were with them so long. They did have a good patch in the second half, but a stupid penalty knocked the stuffing out of them.
Never thought I'd see the day that the All blacks would lose to Argentina- unbelievable.
Analysis of Scotland game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c6spOSkrbQOriginally Posted by the other bob wilson
Would say that players were trying last night, which I couldn't say in the Scotland game, but indiscipline (how many times can a team be called offside?) and several moments of really poor play cost us - do you want the example of almost conceding a try directly from our throw in on our 10m line with us actually having won the initial lineout or the example of a box-kick being telegraphed from our own 20m, the inevitable charge down and conceding? We seemingly haven't got the bigger men who can accomplish carrying the ball forward, winning the scrum and passing the ball so are playing on the backfoot all the time and Halfpenny, previously labeled as good in defence but limited in attack, is now our best offensive player without actually improving his attacking skills.
Wales' youth team did pretty badly in their last year's 6 Nations so it's maybe that the talent just isn't there compared to our rivals, it might also be that change of coach is akin to going from parking the bus to tika taka and older players are having to think too much/are processing their thoughts too slowly, but it's probably a mixture of both.
We may well drop to tenth in the world rankings. Very sad times. Last night followed a similar pattern. We went backwards in the scrum, couldn’t win our line outs and were too slow to the breakdown. Our backs lacked any cutting edge.
It really feels like where we were thirty years ago. I don’t feel angry about it. Just sad.
That is sad, considering just before the WC last year we were 1st!
What I don't get is that we still have some real class in the team in the captain, Faletau, Liam Williams and Johnathan Davies, while players such as Halfpenny and Biggar have been good international performers for years, Josh Adams is a fine finisher and what on earth has gone wrong with George North? Apart from Biggar and Adams, all of the players named have made big impacts in successful Lions teams and, although I appreciate that some of them are past their best now, we should still be better than we are shouldn't we?
Yep. I thought we might struggle after Gatland and Edwards left but this is far more rapid than I expected.
Liam Williams is wasted on the wing. Halfpenny has been a great servant but his time is up. Even his kicking can no longer be relied upon
North is done. Too many concussions. He holds back now. He has lost his confidence.
It doesn’t help that our pack is now so poor.
Carre was supposed to be a great scrummager. He isn’t. Our scrum is so vulnerable now. We don’t have a decent hooker in the absence of Ken Owens. So we lose all our attacking line outs and have no field possession.
Even our backrowers are struggling. We don’t seem able to counter ruck.
Surge made some important points. We don’t have many young players coming through. It looks bleak.
In the Gatland era our players were as fit if not fitter than the opposition. That no longer holds true.
I watched bits of it sharing with watching The Masters.
We looked pitiful at times.
I know Sean Edwards has left for pastures new but it looked like we hadn't replaced him!
Apparently SE wanted to stay but in their wisdom, the WRU decided a change was best.
Sound pretty much like the bunch we have running our code, and country for that matter!
Interesting point that we'll drop down the rankings, could be in for some barren years.
My guess is that they are being asked to play differently.
Agree with all of that.
We don't seem to be making things happen from 9 and 10 either.
Davies was taking too long to get the ball out to the backs and had a kick charged down. Biggar missed touch from a penalty and his kicking out of hand was average. Both were poor.
Halfpenny missed some straightforward kicks last night. Frustrating that he's playing as Liam Williams is a great full back and should be playing there.
Davies was poor last night, as was Biggar. There's some decent young players in the squad, Rees-Zammit and Ioan Lloyd are both still teenagers and there's a fair bit of talent 25 and under and I think a transition is to be expected as a few of the older players move on but it has been poor
Last night the team just looked stale and out of ideas. On a number of occasions a player would receive the ball and just stop, seemingly unsure what they're meant to do and just run into contact
Pivac seems to be talking about next World Cup already which is a sign that any improvements are going to take a relatively long period of time. That's not necessarily a bad thing, Japan built from scratch under Eddie Jones and have gone from strength to strength since, but does rely on Pivac being the correct man for the job and I'm not sure we have enough evidence to say that he is: 2 amazing years at the Scarlets (following on from 2 year re-building project) and...?
It would be incredibly harsh to question him as a coach this early on but he's got a pretty short resume in the role and things are not going well.
Yep agreed and we have been unlucky with horrible long term injuries. It’s two years since Ellis Jenkins sustained that awful injury and he still isn’t back. Gareth Anscombe is going to be out for two years. We are also missing the likes of Ken Owens, Tomas Williams and Ross Moriarty.
The problem is we look so poor in every facet of the game and we are getting worse not better. Georgia should have been a game to rest players but he can’t afford to lose that one. So an experienced side will be required. Then England and I dread the outcome of that.
He's said he's going to make changes against Georgia but still a must win game.
One thing I would add about last night is that Ireland got a penalty in first half with Welsh player holding onto the ball on the floor but if ref had waited 1 second more Halfpenny had managed to get the ball back to Davies. It seemed a quick call at the time and could have made the score 13-9 early in the second half which could have seen different game, though our performance hadn't suggested anything was going to change.
Anyway, really it was the Argentina result that took my eye the most, what a win that is New Zealand. The All Blacks can be caught cold somewhat in their first home game of their season sometimes, but, this time, they were coming off three Bledisloe Cup games with Australia (the last of which they lost as well) - they'll be thinking they're in as big a crisis as Wales are!
Has international rugby suffered more than football due the behind closed doors policy? Were pubs packed last night as per a normal rugby international (bit of a contradiction because pubs can obviously be full while a ground is empty) ? Anyone out and about during the rugby?
just seen on the sports news Argentina have beaten the All blacks 25-15 there first win ever over them
Elvis is dead and The Beatles have split up apparently
The resurgence of France is a good indication of how influential Edwards can be on a team.
Thank God England turned him down.
Conceded more than 21 points against all sides but England and conceding twice late on in that game cost them the tournament. Edwards has had an impact (more focussed in defence) but don't think is the tournament that shows how influential he can be.
But compare their defence to how it has been in recent years. Ans wait till he learns to swear properly in french
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