NPR

penguin wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:26 pm I'd be prepared to give pivac more slack if we had any ambition. Where is the willingness to attack ball in hand? Seems to have completely disappeared...

You can't attach with Davies and Biggar, throw Watkin, other davies and halfpenny in as well and you're relying on Adams or Sanjay to make a wonder break off a kick receive.

Glad we're all getting to experince that wonderful running rugby we're all told so much about from west

EDIT: i miss the days of LoT telling me anscombe was gash and scarlets played the best rugby and pivac was the best coach

Theflier wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:34 pm

penguin wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:26 pm I'd be prepared to give pivac more slack if we had any ambition. Where is the willingness to attack ball in hand? Seems to have completely disappeared...

You can't attach with Davies and Biggar, throw Watkin, other davies and halfpenny in as well and you're relying on Adams or Sanjay to make a wonder break off a kick receive.

Glad we're all getting to experince that wonderful running rugby we're all told so much about from west

EDIT: i miss the days of LoT telling me anscombe was gash and scarlets played the best rugby and pivac was the best coach

Harsh but true.

Tomos
Golden child
Adams
Foxy
Tompkins
Rz
Sanjay

Theflier wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:34 pm

penguin wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:26 pm I'd be prepared to give pivac more slack if we had any ambition. Where is the willingness to attack ball in hand? Seems to have completely disappeared...

You can't attach with Davies and Biggar, throw Watkin, other davies and halfpenny in as well and you're relying on Adams or Sanjay to make a wonder break off a kick receive.

Glad we're all getting to experince that wonderful running rugby we're all told so much about from west

While shuffling the pack is not the worst idea, it's the mentality I'm most worried about. The lack of ambition is corrosive...

That was a decent side. Capable of playing rugby and yet there was almost none. At about sixty minutes I turned to my son and asked him to pick a highlight from Wales' play up to then. The try was their mistake, but what else? Fuck all. Where's the bravery? Looked like a gatland level of conservatism without the Edwards defence and trademarked toughness.

frodder wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:39 pm

Theflier wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:34 pm

penguin wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:26 pm I'd be prepared to give pivac more slack if we had any ambition. Where is the willingness to attack ball in hand? Seems to have completely disappeared...

You can't attach with Davies and Biggar, throw Watkin, other davies and halfpenny in as well and you're relying on Adams or Sanjay to make a wonder break off a kick receive.

Glad we're all getting to experince that wonderful running rugby we're all told so much about from west

EDIT: i miss the days of LoT telling me anscombe was gash and scarlets played the best rugby and pivac was the best coach

Harsh but true.

Tomos
Golden child
Adams
Foxy
Tompkins
Rz
Sanjay

Fuck J.Davies, he's shit and always has been in attack. Halaholo, Tompkins

penguin wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:40 pm

Theflier wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:34 pm

penguin wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:26 pm I'd be prepared to give pivac more slack if we had any ambition. Where is the willingness to attack ball in hand? Seems to have completely disappeared...

You can't attach with Davies and Biggar, throw Watkin, other davies and halfpenny in as well and you're relying on Adams or Sanjay to make a wonder break off a kick receive.

Glad we're all getting to experince that wonderful running rugby we're all told so much about from west

While shuffling the pack is not the worst idea, it's the mentality I'm most worried about. The lack of ambition is corrosive...

That was a decent side. Capable of playing rugby and yet there was almost none. At about sixty minutes I turned to my son and asked him to pick a highlight from Wales' play up to then. The try was their mistake, but what else? Fuck all. Where's the bravery? Looked like a gatland level of conservatism without the Edwards defence and trademarked toughness.

Pack was fine bar Davies, and the Cardiff props, the best available, they were obliterated by Brace

But in all seriousness, if you wnat to have an attack capable of operating at international level, your halfbacks start and end with Tomos and Anscombe, and you leave players like 1/2p, Davies/ North(unless he moves to 12 and mans up)

And in their absence, you go with players who best fit that bill, be a scrum half who can pass off both hands, and a 10 who can kick, run or pass. i.e Lloyd and Jarrod

Who can we replace Pivac with?

frodder wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:55 pm Who can we replace Pivac with?

No need to replace anyone yet.

Cotter, Robertson, Lam would be my first choice

With Crowley underneath

bessantj wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 5:00 pm

frodder wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:55 pm Who can we replace Pivac with?

No need to replace anyone yet.

He's our David Moyes

frodder wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 4:55 pm Who can we replace Pivac with?

Scott Johnson......i mean can this get any worse?

Dai Young would be a shout

After watching the Australia/New Zealand game (great game BTW), I'm not looking forward to Wales playing New Zealand anytime soon.

Wales play 5 won 1 lost 4. Still with a positive points difference. That probably counts for something, maybe (apart from Italy being bad I mean)?

bessantj wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 6:41 pm Wales play 5 won 1 lost 4. Still with a positive points difference. That probably counts for something, maybe (apart from Italy being bad I mean)?

That's called straw clutching mate. However I admire your optimistic approach

frodder wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 7:02 pm

bessantj wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 6:41 pm Wales play 5 won 1 lost 4. Still with a positive points difference. That probably counts for something, maybe (apart from Italy being bad I mean)?

That's called straw clutching mate. However I admire your optimistic approach

Well it's either this or alcoholism and I don't have the qualifications to be a piss head.

Not all doom and gloom, looking at the final table Wales had the most BP!!!!!!!!!!

Dragons were not the best today against Munster.

The Druid wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 3:54 pm Dragons were not the best today against Munster.

Might have been more interesting had they tried to keep it in hand for more than the last five minutes. I understand the wish to kick in tough conditions, but you've got to make the defence think and Munster knew another kick was coming every time.

Never got the ball to Hewitt, and with Lewis at 15 we set our stall out... Then failed to kick out kicks at goal. Frustrating.

Yup a bit like yesterday really.

The Druid wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 4:58 pm Yup a bit like yesterday really.

True. More ambition needed all round.

Ollie was excellent though

frodder wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 5:14 pm Ollie was excellent though

There were bright spots, just not something that added up to a performance. Some strong defence, good maul defence in particular, Ben fry proving a good physical player, rhodri Williams mostly excellent, Jack Dixon looking like a player on a mission. Ollie griffiths is a level above everyone else though.

Lineout was poor again, scrum was pinged (sometimes a bit of guesswork from the ref I felt), Hibbard not looking like good in his general play either. Too many little mistakes that killed momentum.

Oh, and minor thing in the grand scheme but the forward pass given against dragons on about their only attack first half was bullshit.

The Scarlets/Edinburgh game has all the makings of a classic

Scarlets lost again?



Getting closer to a slice of that pie

Down to 13 at 1 point

Yeh I've just looked at it, 7 scrum pens in a row and tackling someones head will do that to you. They've been fairly average to poor for 3 years now. Given they're funded hgher than Exeter, questions will soon be asked.

Should have been crossed off for blocking...but Jac Morgan not looking either inside or outside him when they made that big bust. Christ that was bad. He looks like a real talent but that is the sort of thing you just don't see from New Zealanders. Criminal. Could have been the sort of win against the odds that really ignites a season. Instead they're looking shaky and getting red cards for fun.

Ospreys not playing well against Zebre. 17-0 down at the moment.

At last! Ospreys pen 17-3

That pass was never forward but ‘sprays deserve to lose for being gash.

Quality shade thrown by stadium DJ: “Rabble! Rabble!”

Ali Cadoo wrote: ↑Mon Nov 02, 2020 8:54 pm That pass was never forward but ‘sprays deserve to lose for being gash.

Quality shade thrown by stadium DJ: “Rabble! Rabble!”

Yes, and Yes.
Ospreys playing really shit again. looks quite misty there though.

Ali Cadoo wrote: ↑Mon Nov 02, 2020 8:54 pm That pass was never forward but ‘sprays deserve to lose for being gash.

Quality shade thrown by stadium DJ: “Rabble! Rabble!”

That was an absolute shocker it was backwatrds not even flat tbh
That said thay were gutless in the first haf and showed no balls at all so they got what they deserved

Happy for Zebre, tbh. They are too good a side to play THAT poorly against and expect to win.

Mind you, so are most junior 1st teams.

Shall we just call Welsh rugby off? Just withdraw from everything and focus on the Welsh prem.

Ali Cadoo wrote: ↑Mon Nov 02, 2020 9:13 pm Happy for Zebre, tbh. They are too good a side to play THAT poorly against and expect to win.

Mind you, so are most junior 1st teams.

Shall we just call Welsh rugby off? Just withdraw from everything and focus on the Welsh prem.

I will be happy to just watch Bedwas play again anytime soon.

C69 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 02, 2020 9:05 pm

Ali Cadoo wrote: ↑Mon Nov 02, 2020 8:54 pm That pass was never forward but ‘sprays deserve to lose for being gash.

Quality shade thrown by stadium DJ: “Rabble! Rabble!”

That was an absolute shocker it was backwatrds not even flat tbh
That said thay were gutless in the first haf and showed no balls at all so they got what they deserved

What the actual fuck was that decision? Terrible. Dragons got a similar one, admittedly not a nailed on try like that one, but still, these things are killers.

The consistent theme in most of the games (haven't watched the Ospreys) was the scrum being humped. Would Scarlets have lost if they could have held the scrum up? I don't think so. Dragons may not have lost on the scrum alone, but Brok Harris getting pinged repeatedly sure as hell didn't give us much of a foothold in the game. Blues brought on Scott Andrews and he was back to his usual tricks...and threw in a penalty for not rolling away for good measure. I understand covid makes it more difficult to release the internationals back but a few props here and there might have made all the difference on a weekend when the conditions were so wet.

I feared for the Ospreys when I saw Myler and Keiron Williams were out - they've been very good in their very different ways. Blues with a reshuffled midfield should still have been able to find a way to win, but they're a different proposition with Halaholo and Lee-lo in tandem, so I have some sympathy there. Scarlets are architects of their own failure. They had chances, but need to demand better because in games where you only get one or two big chances it's not good enough to choose the wrong option so often. Dragons, well, we just weren't good enough, but particularly in the front 5.

Just have to hope that every Welsh team can find another gear, because they are all in neutral right now.

Not a good weekend for Welsh rugby as a whole.


EDIT: DAC has signed in, hey DAC hows things?

Dregs V Connacht off; Covid outbreak in Dregs squad

Saturday's Guinness Pro14 clash between Connacht and the Dragons has been postponed due to an outbreak of Covid-19 within the Dragons' squad.

The Dragons returned seven new positive Covid-19 tests this week as part of the Welsh Rugby's weekly testing programme.

Working alongside Public Health Wales the decision has been made to close operations within the club for a fortnight, with no training or games to take place during this time.

And their game in scotland. A clear example of why releasing players back is a stupid idea