NPR

Welsh rugby, eh? Shows how good Gatland and Edwards were that they kept a lid on this shite for 12 years.

Scott Robertson? Well...I really hope that's true. I like Pivac - always seems a good guy, but if you have the chance to get one of the top few coaches in the world you'd be daft not to try and get them.

As for this week, I thought we were likely to take a beating by Ireland - I'm now at straw clutching levels of 'perhaps this will galvanise them'. I can see Gethin being a top defence coach - he has that same Edwards quality of being a grumpy, no nonsense fucker, who the players will respect as someone who would do it himself if he could. However, this is a real baptism of fire. Ireland match could be bedlam...

Have we ever regressed so much in so little time?

I'm so looking forward to more 50 point hammerings from the Irish again

Blues under the cosh a bit v the Gunners.

infuriating game this, we should be taking this edinburgh team to the cleaners, why Mulvihill chose to flog Botham, domachowski, Jarrod, Halaholo and lee-lo away to munster and not home against ulster who never lose players.

Such a drop off in quality

And when there are players like marty banks floating around, how the fuck does Tovey get pro contracts?

is this on tv?

Can't see a thing, quite glad

C69 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 09, 2020 9:12 pmis this on tv?

It's on TV, if you'll be able to see it is an entirely different matter.

Verdict in on Sam Moore, he's fucking useless

He's ike a Rory thornton, who didn't even grow that tall

Good defensive work from the Blues.

I rescind all I've said, take Amos back, please

The Blues should have had a go at having a game plan and using tactics.

bessantj wrote: ↑Mon Nov 09, 2020 9:33 pm The Blues should have had a go at having a game plan and using tactics.

We're down 17 players and the second lowest funded team in the league. No one could've made this team win, but why we played the top guys away to munster and semi away to ulster is a serious lack of foresight by fat aussie

Could have been better from the Blues.

Theflier wrote: ↑Mon Nov 09, 2020 9:36 pm

bessantj wrote: ↑Mon Nov 09, 2020 9:33 pm The Blues should have had a go at having a game plan and using tactics.

We're down 17 players and the second lowest funded team in the league. No one could've made this team win, but why we played the top guys away to munster and semi away to ulster is a serious lack of foresight by fat aussie

Even with that the lack of execution when in the opponents 22 was really disappointing.

What a steaming pile of shit Welsh Rugby is atm

Gutless, talentless and without redemption.
The bloooos were utterly gash

bessantj wrote: ↑Mon Nov 09, 2020 9:40 pm

Theflier wrote: ↑Mon Nov 09, 2020 9:36 pm

bessantj wrote: ↑Mon Nov 09, 2020 9:33 pm The Blues should have had a go at having a game plan and using tactics.

We're down 17 players and the second lowest funded team in the league. No one could've made this team win, but why we played the top guys away to munster and semi away to ulster is a serious lack of foresight by fat aussie

Even with that the lack of execution when in the opponents 22 was really disappointing.

I don't know what you're expecting from a backline of never beens, academy players and Owen lane. Play lewis jones and jason tovey/win games, choose one

C69 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 09, 2020 9:40 pm What a steaming pile of shit Welsh Rugby is atm

Gutless, talentless and without redemption.
The bloooos were utterly gash

if we had a cut of that £3m sailing down west, it may have gone better for us

Theflier wrote: ↑Mon Nov 09, 2020 9:45 pm

C69 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 09, 2020 9:40 pm What a steaming pile of shit Welsh Rugby is atm

Gutless, talentless and without redemption.
The bloooos were utterly gash

if we had a cut of that £3m sailing down west, it may have gone better for us

I doubt it, given how shit you are tbh

Got in late last night and then watched the Blues play. Sweet Jesus

We've got a conveyor belt of great 10s in welsh rugby, shame none of them were playing for the regions this weekend. Tovey, Thomas, O'Brien, not exactly the A team out there. Scarlets would have been better going with Costelow, the Blues with Ben Thomas and the Ospreys with Luke Pr...ok, Thomas wasn't that bad.

No control from 10 is just one piece of the shitty puzzle, the regions aren't getting the basics right with depressing regularity...terrible lineout work, ponderous carrying and slapdash breakdown work, all the regions are on the same page right now. Pretty grim stuff. The inability to execute the basics seems to be an epidemic right now. Kicks out on the full, crooked throws, giving away penalties for not rolling away, or sealing off - really unforced error stuff.

I feel for the Blues - to be without Jarrod, Halaholo and Lee-lo all at the same time is pretty unlucky - but Lewis Jones and Tovey is just not a half back pairing to play the style of rugby the Blues want.

The Ospreys played about 10-15 minutes of rugby that looked like their old self - big forwards, simple and effective...then they lost a lineout and everything just melted away. At least they look better than last season. Booth seems to at least have a direction he's taking them in, but they need Myler to stay fit desperately.

Scarlets should be a lot better based on the players available. For a weekend when the internationals were away there were some serious players there. Delaney must be getting nervous with a tough set of games coming up.

penguin wrote: ↑Tue Nov 10, 2020 1:22 pm We've got a conveyor belt of great 10s in welsh rugby, shame none of them were playing for the regions this weekend. Tovey, Thomas, O'Brien, not exactly the A team out there. Scarlets would have been better going with Costelow, the Blues with Ben Thomas and the Ospreys with Luke Pr...ok, Thomas wasn't that bad.

No control from 10 is just one piece of the shitty puzzle, the regions aren't getting the basics right with depressing regularity...terrible lineout work, ponderous carrying and slapdash breakdown work, all the regions are on the same page right now. Pretty grim stuff. The inability to execute the basics seems to be an epidemic right now. Kicks out on the full, crooked throws, giving away penalties for not rolling away, or sealing off - really unforced error stuff.

I feel for the Blues - to be without Jarrod, Halaholo and Lee-lo all at the same time is pretty unlucky - but Lewis Jones and Tovey is just not a half back pairing to play the style of rugby the Blues want.

The Ospreys played about 10-15 minutes of rugby that looked like their old self - big forwards, simple and effective...then they lost a lineout and everything just melted away. At least they look better than last season. Booth seems to at least have a direction he's taking them in, but they need Myler to stay fit desperately.

Scarlets should be a lot better based on the players available. For a weekend when the internationals were away there were some serious players there. Delaney must be getting nervous with a tough set of games coming up.

Do we? Just about pros maybe. I'm eager to see new talent come through, but in the time Patchell, Sheedy, Jarrod, Thomas and Lloyd(and his younger brother) have passed through Cardiffs academy(Burnells the next, could be the pick imo), the other 3 have gotten round to Same Davies and Dan Jones.
The problem Cardiff and the dregs have, is 10s command the highest wage on any team, and if your 10 plays internationally, then you've got to sink maybe 10-15% of your entire bill into two players in one position, and if Pivac decides the west has found another pit to spunk money into, you could find yourself with no funding to cover those massive bills. So they can gamble and sign players they can't afford and risk not being able to pay thank to Pivac-19, or sign what they can afford. Throw in 17 players missing, all first teamers, and you've got yourself a mighty shit sandwhich.

Ospreys are the worst offenders I've seen, I can only imagine what they pay Fia, gashley, davies, Webb, King, lydiate, Evans, Venter, Myler, S.Williams, Watkin, Morgan and North. I could assemble a team to best that 10/10 with 1/3rd of the wage from the Currie cup, championship and Mitre 10 cup

As for Scarlets, to win at home, with a very favourable ref, against an italian team missing more players than any team in the britsh isles with a budget of £2.5m+ by one point really shows how thick as shit the welsh are when it comes to strategic thinking. Much the same as Ospreys, but enough regularly playing Llanelli boys to have a constant desire to win at least.

If any of our teams, Scarlets aside, want to win this league, then they have to play extremely pragmatic games. What use was there playing a full strength team against Ulster at not home, when we had a game against stuttering, thread bare conference rivals the next week? The mind boggles

I would like to see squads bolstered by a few more cost effective Saffers and Kiwis for sure. I understand the move to welsher squads but it leaves a band of solid pros missing where academy players have to fill the gaps. The Dragons have made a couple of big signings in Moriarty and Sam Davies that could have been filled more cost effectively, but I'd argue that they were marketing tools on one level (and there is a value in that), showing that we could attract welsh talent, and allowing us to sign others, as much as the talent they brought to their positions.

Once the Dragons are privately owned I would imagine they will start to look further afield rather than signing only welsh qualified. Could we not have spent on a big Saffer for the money we spent on Maksyimw and actually taken a step forward rather than sideways? We have the excuse that we're dictated to by the WRU for now...I'm sure it will change.

The Ospreys will surely start to change tack now they have their new owners. Can't imagine they will want to spend their money in the same way.

penguin wrote: ↑Tue Nov 10, 2020 4:20 pm I would like to see squads bolstered by a few more cost effective Saffers and Kiwis for sure. I understand the move to welsher squads but it leaves a band of solid pros missing where academy players have to fill the gaps. The Dragons have made a couple of big signings in Moriarty and Sam Davies that could have been filled more cost effectively, but I'd argue that they were marketing tools on one level (and there is a value in that), showing that we could attract welsh talent, and allowing us to sign others, as much as the talent they brought to their positions.

Once the Dragons are privately owned I would imagine they will start to look further afield rather than signing only welsh qualified. Could we not have spent on a big Saffer for the money we spent on Maksyimw and actually taken a step forward rather than sideways? We have the excuse that we're dictated to by the WRU for now...I'm sure it will change.

The Ospreys will surely start to change tack now they have their new owners. Can't imagine they will want to spend their money in the same way.

Ever since the french learned the expensive way many international welsh players are not very good, I firmly believe we over inflate the value of our players massively.
I'm not saying they're all terrible, but moriarty is never a £450k(that's more than double jamie georges salary fgs) and Scott williams even at his best is not a £300k player. Putting regulations into free markets seem to always pervert existing strategy and logistics rather than implement the change needed, and so much of this blame lies with our cap ruling, we've now tried to rectify this by implementing the banding scale, but this once again produces the same pervserions. By these merits, clubs have to pay Jonathon Davies and North far more than Gareth Anscombe, at club level two players their previous clubs couldn't wait to offload, vs a man carrying a team on his back. At this point though we just get back to the 'fuck the WRU and let the regions decide their own fate' argument and 'a B&I league solves all our problems'

To summarise, unless the regions start producing 7/8 high class pros each year to replace those snapped up, there's not much to be done, other than to mock the scarlets for being such a highly funded team and being so shit.

I must take back what I said about the 10s, after I've just seen the Irish have selected Billy Burns as their bench 10 for Friday, evidently it could be worse

Anyone who buys Lydiate and expects a ball carrier has not really paid attention. Anyone who buys Gethin Jenkins expecting a fearsome scrummager has not really paid attention. Anyone who signs James Hook as a 10 when he has been moved all over the place has not really paid attention. It wasn't the quality of player, it was a complete lack of awareness of what they were getting in most cases.

We do inflate prices - internal competition does most of the hard work there. (Although Jamie George on £200k does beg many Saracens related questions). Moving to a model more like the Irish would help...I'd want to see the WRU run like a proper business before we went all in like that, but in principle that's the way to stop us allowing agents to play everyone off against each other and get Scott Williams £300k when he's barely been mobile for the last 5 years.

All that said, there is enough quality (not jam packed, but enough) for Welsh regions to be playing a damn sight better than they are now. For me the lack of basics looks more like bad coaching than players not being up to it. If there was one area I would like to see money spent it is on coaching throughout the system. Leinster invested massively in that area, and although they have a big player base so it's not exactly like for like, they are reaping the benefits.

Wales team to face Ireland
1. Rhys Carre (Cardiff Blues (10 Caps)
2. Ryan Elias (Scarlets) (15 Caps)
3. Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs) (49 Caps)
4. Will Rowlands (Wasps) (2 Caps)
5. Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys) (140 Caps) (CAPT)
6. Shane Lewis-Hughes (Cardiff Blues) (1 Cap)
7. Justin Tipuric (Ospreys) (77 Caps)
8. Taulupe Faletau (Bath) (78 Caps)
9. Gareth Davies (Scarlets) (55 Caps)
10. Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints) (85 Caps)
11. Josh Adams (Cardiff Blues) (26 Caps)
12. Owen Watkin (Ospreys) (23 Caps)
13. Jonathan Davies (Scarlets) (83 Caps)
14. Liam Williams (Scarlets) (64 Caps)
15. Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets) (91 Caps)

REPLACEMENTS:

16. Elliot Dee (Dragons) (29 Caps)
17. Wyn Jones (Scarlets) (26 Caps)
18. Samson Lee (Scarlets) (42 Caps)
19. Jake Ball (Scarlets) (46 Caps)
20. Aaron Wainwright (Dragons) (23 Caps)
21. Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues) (28 Caps)
22. Callum Sheedy (Bristol) (*Uncapped)
23. George North (Ospreys) (96 Caps)

I'm prepared.

Uninspiring. However I didn't expect many changes - the thing I want to see is energy. We looked asleep against Scotland, particularly in attack, so we need to show spirit.

That said, I feel like Pivac should go for it in terms of style - if you want to play expansively then wouldn't it make sense to play one of the more attacking 10s, and the best passing 12 in Tompkins? Wouldn't it be worth seeing if Liam Williams can ignite things from 15? Biggar and 1/2p are quality at what they do, but they set us up for attritional rugby, rather than try scoring. Ah well...let's see what this week brings.

Theflier wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 12:04 pm

I'm prepared.

Pivacs on the ropes, he's knows it, we know it, the players know it. Play young kids, well they just want to show off and win favour, the oldies know they could be out with him.

Kick, chase, rinse, repeat, hope Sexpiss goes off so Burns can snatch us a win from the jaws of defeat

Theflier wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 12:14 pm Pivacs on the ropes, he's knows it, we know it, the players know it. Play young kids, well they just want to show off and win favour, the oldies know they could be out with him.

Kick, chase, rinse, repeat, hope Sexpiss goes off so Burns can snatch us a win from the jaws of defeat

I wonder if we'll see something like 2017....Ireland give us a bit of a drubbing, build up a lead. That time we played a bit of rugby and deserved to come back into it, with that agonising intercept thrown by Anscombe the difference. This time I expect them to be 18 odd points ahead, they get bored/Wales backline looks better with Sheedy at 10 and Liam Williams at 15, and we start to look like we can play rugby. We lose but it looks better because we actually score some tries. Pivac then declares that we're on the right track.

Sheedys good, but he's no Jarrod or Anscombe, a really motivated defence shuts him down fast, and he doesn't have the running game to beat it, couple that to Gareth "rugby pitches only go left" Davies and Lloyd "passing ain't allowed, its box kicking time" Williams and he's up against it, that's before we mention the complete lack of attacking ability outside them that they have now become the embodiment of every peace treaty ever signed.

Our only hope is someone boots the ball at Sextwats face early on. Not for victory, but sheer rapturous euphoria

Oh well at least the Cubby train has been permately derailed. Ellis can't come back quick enough.

Ire by 30

Welsh rugby may might not recover any time soon.
Robert Butcher has been appointed chairman of the Welsh Rugby Union.
He has had a long association with Bargoed RFC as a member of the club’s committee. And as a teacher working for Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council.

Not the biggest point, but I thought that Parry looked pretty good when he came on against Scotland - seems pretty unfortunate to drop out of the squad entirely, when Elias continues to be mediocre.

Also, I was thinking about what made Scarlets so successful under Pivac - one of the things was the number of jackallers in the team. Obviously Beirne was outrageous, and you expect your 7 to be a good jackaller as James Davies is but they also had guys like Wyn Jones, Ken Owens, Josh Macleod or Will Boyde, John Barclay who were all pests at the breakdown.

With Wyn Jones on the bench, no Dillon Lewis (who is also fantastic for a prop at jackalling), and no others in the forwards who you would say it's a forte except for perhaps Elliot Dee, is he missing a vital component in getting his game going? Feels like he's stuck between ways of playing right now...

1995 - 1991 - 2020

frodder wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 3:42 pm 1995 - 1991 - 2020

That's a bit cryptic. Is this morce code for 'GET HELP'? If so, blink once for yes, and two for no.

Jeff the Bear wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 6:30 pm

frodder wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 3:42 pm 1995 - 1991 - 2020

That's a bit cryptic. Is this morce code for 'GET HELP'? If so, blink once for yes, and two for no.

The Druid wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 6:40 pm

Jeff the Bear wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 6:30 pm

frodder wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 3:42 pm 1995 - 1991 - 2020

That's a bit cryptic. Is this morce code for 'GET HELP'? If so, blink once for yes, and two for no.

Years of shite in descending order

frodder wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 7:48 pm

The Druid wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 6:40 pm

Jeff the Bear wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 6:30 pm That's a bit cryptic. Is this morce code for 'GET HELP'? If so, blink once for yes, and two for no.

Years of shite in descending order

2007?