Welsh team discussion for 3rd place play off

I guess its probably worth discussing who would make the team this time round, we should really give it our all, to prove that we can take down one the top 2 teams.

15. Halfpenny
14. North
13. Davies
12. Roberts
11. Williams
10. Priestland
9. Phillips
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this is where it gets tricky, do we play:
6. Lydiate
7. Faleatau
8. Jones

Or:
6. Jones
7. Lydiate
8. Faleatau
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5. AWJ
4. Charteris
3. Jones if fit otherwise James
2. Bennett
1. Jenkins

16. Burns
17. Bradley Davies
18. Paul James
19. Andy Powell
20. Lloyd Williams
21. James Hook
22. Scott Williams

With the news that Sam Warburton wont be available it leaves our backrow in disarray as we have no out and out cover for openside, Lydiate has played there before and received a MOTM award when we last played Fiji, Faleatau has also played there but I think hes our best 8 this tournament.
Both Hook and Jones had shockers at 10, but I've gone with Hook on the bench as he offers cover in more positions.

Iron,

Started similar thread yesterday, for me it has to be our strongest side available which IMO is :

Halfpenny
North
Davies
Roberts
Williams

Priestland
Phillips

Jenkins
Bennett
Jones (if fit Mitchell if not)
AWJ (c)
Chartris
Jones
Faletau
Lydiate (Sam banned)

Burns
Davies
James
Powell
Williams
Jones
Williams

I'd go 6 Ryan, 7 Lydiate 8 Faletau personally.

Hope to goodness that Priestland is back fit though, neither Hook or Jones could get our backline working properly yesterday which was a shame

6- Lydiate.
7- Falatau.
8- Powell.

rugby,

I think Lydiate or Faletau or the only realistic options at 7 IMO.

Gatlands decision to only bring 1 specilaist 7 was doubted beforehand so I am glad its only in this game that we have to risk it as opposed to losing him for next Sunday if we had made it.

same for me, lydiate and fale-tawe did a great job after sam got sent off, toby especially was quite outstanding yesterday. ryan to 6, powell to bench, and rhys back to ten if hes recovered fully.

I would have Faletau at 7 - he's higher energy and I think that his positional play is better.

It says a lot about the quality of the current first choice Welsh backrow that I feel mildly depressed seeing Jones back in there. There really is a discernible decrease in quality between Jones and any of the other three. No offense.

1. Gethin
2. Bennett
3. Adam or Mitchell if hes not fit.
4. Luke
5. AWJ
6. Ryan
7. Lydiate
8. Toby
9. Phillips
10. Priestland
11.Shane
12.Jamie
13. JD
14. Georgie
15. Halfpenny

16. Lloyd Burns
17. Paul James
18. Bradley
19. Buggyboy
20. Lloyd Williams
21. Wellies
22. Scott Williams

Australia didnt look that great although the All blacks had a good night. I expect us to win. In fact I think the two matches next week are going to be a bit one sided. France are just not that good and I think the Blacks may just smash them. Waels are hopefully going to use the anger and dissapointment to really go for it againt the Ozzies. Even with Mitchell in the fr0ont row our scrum and lineout is more than capable of dominating the Aussie setpiece. Our defence is capable of holding out their runners and with Preistland running tyhe backline our outside half will take the correct decisions. Waels to win and win well and do the same in tyhe return in a few weeks.

Any news on Adam Jones? Haven't heard anything myself.

Pocock will probably have us in a heap of trouble without Warbs, crying shame as I was looking forward to that battle. Lydiate to switch for now, Ryan Jones at blindside, Powell on the bench. Priestland back in if fit and Stephen Jones on the bench.

Lydiate played 7 against them in the last AI and had a storming game, not sure if Pocock played or not though.

bedfordwelsh wrote:Lydiate played 7 against them in the last AI and had a storming game, not sure if Pocock played or not though.

Pocock played and scored last time. Also it was Warbs who played 7, getting replaced by Nugget in the second half.

Boys we will win our setpiece confortably. Pocock is a threat at the breakdown but I think he can be countered by playing Lydiate.

Our defence is tight enough to hold these ozzies out with limited ball and our backs are capable of cutting loose. I think this is a great game for us to target as a win and a good win at that.

wondering will pocock get sighted for the punch he threw in a ruck, cant remember who against, but definate contact around the face region

knows,

What game di Lydiate play 7 in then, I know he has done recently?

Think it might have been against Fiji last autumn when Warbs was out injured.

He had a MOTM award in that Fiji game and rightly so, he was probably our ONLY player that performed in that game

Ok knew it was one of them, still say he can do job there. Leave Toby at No8

15 James Hook
14 Leigh Halfpenny
13 George North
12 Jamie Roberts
11 Shane Williams
10 Rhys Priestland
9 Mike Phillips
8 Froby Faletau
7 Dan Lydiate
6 Ryan Jones
5 Luke Charteris
4 Alun-Wyn Jones
3 Craig Mitchell
2 Huw Bennett
1 Gethin Jenkins

16 Jonathan Davies
17 Lee Bryne
18 Williams
19 Andy Powell
20 Bradley Davies
21 Ken Owens
22 Paul James

I think it's a good game to try out that North / Roberts centre partnership Gatland was talking about.
We'll be playing Australia again on December the 3rd anyway, so may as well see if we can put the fear of god into them for that game!

Will Priestland be fit?

AlynDavies wrote:15 James Hook
14 Leigh Halfpenny
13 George North
12 Jamie Roberts
11 Shane Williams
10 Rhys Priestland
9 Mike Phillips
8 Froby Faletau
7 Dan Lydiate
6 Ryan Jones
5 Luke Charteris
4 Alun-Wyn Jones
3 Craig Mitchell
2 Huw Bennett
1 Gethin Jenkins

16 Jonathan Davies
17 Lee Bryne
18 Williams
19 Andy Powell
20 Bradley Davies
21 Ken Owens
22 Paul James

I think it's a good game to try out that North / Roberts centre partnership Gatland was talking about.
We'll be playing Australia again on December the 3rd anyway, so may as well see if we can put the fear of god into them for that game!

why fix whats not broken? besides do we really want hook at fullback considering how poor he has been, unchanged side to quarters, apart from injures/ban

Alyn,

Please explain why the hell you have put Hook at XV, even and out of form Byrne played better there recently than he has.

Halfpenny is now our 1st choice XV, should have been ages ago IMO. Yes we will have to look at replacing Shane post the WC but not by moving Halfpenny there so we can 'find a place for Hook'

welshy824 wrote:

AlynDavies wrote:15 James Hook
14 Leigh Halfpenny
13 George North
12 Jamie Roberts
11 Shane Williams
10 Rhys Priestland
9 Mike Phillips
8 Froby Faletau
7 Dan Lydiate
6 Ryan Jones
5 Luke Charteris
4 Alun-Wyn Jones
3 Craig Mitchell
2 Huw Bennett
1 Gethin Jenkins

16 Jonathan Davies
17 Lee Bryne
18 Williams
19 Andy Powell
20 Bradley Davies
21 Ken Owens
22 Paul James

I think it's a good game to try out that North / Roberts centre partnership Gatland was talking about.
We'll be playing Australia again on December the 3rd anyway, so may as well see if we can put the fear of god into them for that game!

why fix whats not broken? besides do we really want hook at fullback considering how poor he has been, unchanged side to quarters, apart from injures/ban

Fully agree, that's what I've been saying all along. Besides, this not being a final doesn't make it an experimental game so stick with the tried and tested, making changes only where necessary. Drop Hook though whatever the case.

ironmike, steven jones did not have a shocker. he missed 2 points, the worst player on the park was hook. every rating, pundit, unbiased fan says so. tycroes has picked a fair team, as for hook at 15 , another wind up I think!!

dont humiliate hook any further. perpignan are asking for a refund already.

I would just like to see the combination that's all.
We could still move 1/2p to full back and put Brew in at 14.

I said in a similar thread yesrterday that we have a shocking record against SH teams in the SH so we should go all out to try and get the proverbial monkey off our back.

Majority of the starting XV yesterday will still be here in 4 years time and if they can get use to winning against these sides how and away then it has to benefit them.

Priestalnd in if fit, Jones if not

Mitchell if Jones out

Lydiate to 7 R Jones in at 6

Powell on bench

that should be it

pretty much agree with that bedford. Have hooky on the bench I guess because he covers so many positions.

I still havent seen the wales france game yet so i will have to wait and see what Hook did wrong.
by the time i got home from work and went belting to both ends of the m4 for the dragons and scarlets games I havent had time to see it.

rugby,

TBH if Priestland is fit then I would have Jones on bench instead of Hook.

Hook wasn't dreadful, but he just didn't work. Neither him or Stevo got the backline going, but Stevo was better with his tactical kicking and pinning the French back. Both were doing the whole "shipping the ball on" without injecting any pace into the game or bringing in runners at speed.

Bedford - a yeah, i was thinking more if Jones was starting, Hook on the bench. Haven't heard anything else about Rhys' injury, but fingers crossed he's fit. We missed him more than Warbs and Adam yesterday I reckon.

rugby,

fair one.

For me the loss of A Jones was the overall biggest disruption as James got mullered everytime.

If Jones had lasted the course then I reckon our 7 man scrum could have held their 8 and allowed Roberts to stay in midfield come scrum time.

One thing I did find bit strange was when it was clear James was struggling why he and Jenkins didn't swap.

Gethin really sturggles as tight head, where as at least James does tend to get a lot of practice there for wales.

yeah that was a bit odd bedford.

Am in the middle of re-watching it now. Didn't realise we played the last 25mins without Lydiate! he went off for a blood injury and I don't think he ever came back on. Fair play to Ryan Jones he slotted in raelly well.

I think that's one thing that's come really good with this squad, we've got players who can come off the bench and maintain our high standard of play. There doesn't really seem too be a weak link.

"For me the loss of A Jones was the overall biggest disruption as James got mullered everytime."

From what I saw, the scrum still held its own until Warburton went off. Then it went downhill understandably, though in the second half we managed a few shock shoves on the French pack.

dear oh me alyn, you have been busy, you dont know what you missed,but all the posts on here will have already told you what hook did wrong, as will the newspapers today. WALES on SUNDAY gave him 4. Hauled off. they said.

watch scrum 5 tonight and i'm sure they will encapsulate the performance and youll see then why he should not be exposed in another position. let him sit the rest of this one out.

Martyn Williams is out there one week short of his 6 out.
Wonder if he is fit enough?

lauriehow wrote:Martyn Williams is out there one week short of his 6 out.
Wonder if he is fit enough?

With Lydiate, Toby and Ryan we have good enough players without needing Williams

We will just have to have all 3 of them play the 6.5 role (which they kind of do anyway) - reduce Faletau's use in carrying and use AWJ more in tackling to free up Lydiate then have all 3 spend a bit more time on turnovers.

Nugget would last about 5 mins at the intensity and pace that this RWC has been played.

6. Lydiate. 8. Ryan Jones. 7. Faletau.

Would actually be quite a combo.

Cas,

Just not in that order, we would lose so much go forward ball with Jones at 8 instead of Faletau so 6 Jones 8 Faletau 7 Lydiate

AlynDavies wrote:I still havent seen the wales france game yet so i will have to wait and see what Hook did wrong.
by the time i got home from work and went belting to both ends of the m4 for the dragons and scarlets games I havent had time to see it.

Well done Alyn mate .......proper fan of Welsh rugby

On a side issue how did the Dragons and the Scarlets do?

Back to the match, with a full compliment for 20 mins Hook didnt orchestrate one offensive move, but was turned over, and was off the pace and out of position on three occasions, and missed I think a fairly easy kick, which lost him the confidence of the forwards IMHO, after the red card, he played progressively worse missing another 40m kick contrasting with Parra slotting over a 36m effort which devastated Welsh optimism going into the interval. He played for 5 mins into the second half until he was hauled off.............. shades of the 6Ns match against France and against Scotland (after his 25 minute cameo). Jones came on and the Welsh defence shored up, and the forwards began to face off to their French counterparts, however the inovation whilst not as poor as Hook wasn't up to much, and he missed a relatively easy conversion albeit hitting the upright......... he did put in 3 telling kicks and a delightful grubber late on setting up promising possession in Les Blues 22, only for another turnover to cost him the chance of a drop-goal.

I think Hook should be rested for the final game, he needs to forget about this campaign now, and look to deconstruct his game with Perpignan and start from scratch, I am sure with slight tinkering he still has a future on the international stage.

3rd Place Play Off Team

15 Halfpenny
14 Brew
11 Williams

13 North
12 Roberts

10 Priestland (Jones if RP not fit)
9 Phillips

8 A Powell
7 Lydiate
6 Jones

5 AWJ
4 Charteris

3 Jones
2 Bennett
1 Jenkins

16 Burns
17 James
18 B Davies
19 Faletua
20 L Williams
21 Jones (Brew if Jones starts)
22 S Williams

We need our strongest team, same side apart from Priestland and Ryan from the start

FlyHalf - Great call on Hook for the past 6 weeks

I can't see australia having too much confidence going into this match. Their forwards have been dominated by all the tier one teams they have played against.

If Wales can dominate in the same vein then it is most likely the same under pressure performance from Cooper who have not had the best tournament.

It should be agood game nonetheless.

On Masterplan New Zealand 3 out of the five "experts" voted for a Wales win.

I think Wales will want this more as well.
Trouble with that is Oz are more likely to chance their arm and let loose, have fun etc. With Beale back that could go in their favour and they might want to end on a high, entertaining note and run everything...and if things click...

flyhalf, you are the most honest poster to date about hooks performance. i keep saying he was our worst player, but his fan club are either silent ((good sign, they know their man was sh**e) or they blame jones.
''deconstruct his game'' is a good idea flyhalf. but wales should look for 10's now and forget about hook.