Worst 15 of the six nations so far

First topic message reminder :

1. Gethin Jenkins - rusty performance from Melon
2. Matthew Rhys - Good player, bad game
3. Mike Ross - quiet game for Ross
4. Richie Grey - Come on Richie looks like youre gonna miss the plane.
5. Jim Hamilton - God how Scotland could do with Hines.
6. Dave Denton - Didn't start but came on early. Once highly rated but no way he is a Lion on that performance. Thought 8s could pass.
7. Sam Warburton - what happened to this guy.
8. Johnnie Beattie - Bad day at the office
9. Mike Phillips - wasn't terrible but well below par for a guy who usually relishes playing v Ieland
10. Freddy Michelak - God he was awful. Jackson wasn't far off.
11. Mike Brown - responsible for one Scotland try, Rob Kearney was very quiet but didn't make any mistakes so Brown takes it.
12. Jamie Roberts - offered very little
13. Jonathan Davies - Very good player but his worst game in a while
14. Wesley Fofana - His worst game for a while. Subbed off after 52 minutes.
15. Alex Goode - leaky defense v Scotland. Is he fit?

Another poor display at scrum half by Phillips. It's a shame he didn't think to change position earlier in his career as he might have been pretty decent somewhere else on the park.

There you go ^^^ if Cyril agrees with you, you must be wrong

bluesman, hardly anyone (including most Welsh fans) agree with you about Phillips.

You do have a pretty odd view on rugby that seems removed from reality.

Disagreeing with a number of internet posters does not make my views removed from reality.

Critisicm of Phillips is not new, and not something I havn't done previously, but the reasons for criticism do not hold up

Exeter need your touch Bluesman......Phillips is still available

Phillips pass is generally ok, it's his service that is poor.

An opinion is just an opinion, nobody is more right than anybody else.

For me Phillips is poor SH.

1. He takes an age to get rid of the ball - I understand he sometimes has to dig for it but he then procedes to look up, back down, up again, take a step, pass. TOO SLOW

2. His picks and goes way too much - he doesn't look to bring in the defence, he doesn't look to go round the defence, he runs straight into nearest forward and ends up at the bottom of the ruck whilst its left to a forward to step in to distribute.

Those are two reasons I think Phillips is a poor scrum half.

Phillips, Heaslip....nailed on

Phillips is a mediocre scrum half technically, but a phenomenal player. He bosses the tight, gets up the opponents nose, leads by example and intimidates the opponents physically. He was vital to the welsh win.

Mike Phillips is a good SH for a struggling team - his defence, confrontational nature and sheer physicality will help them go forward. For a team hoping to be one of the best in the world he would be a shocking selection.

Heaslip has to be in there, we learnt the basics of catching a high ball at age 7, apparently he still hasn't.

Wales can give him terrible ball and not worry about it. What we need is Peel on the bench not Williams.

Phillips was excellent, although I do think there were a couple of occassions where he should have injected some speed into his passing. In this XV though he does not belong.

I think a few guys played themselves into contention for this team over the weekend (noting I've not seen the France v Wales match yet) -
Orquera for Italy, with his hero to zero performance (noting that had the pass Hogg intercepted gone to hand, the match would have been quite different).
Heaslip - Supposedly the favourite for the Lions 8 shirt and a candidate for captain, but two very basic drops of restarts and otherwise was far from the outstanding back rower on the pitch.
Healy - Actually played well, when he was concentrating on playing rugby rather than stamping on opponents and generally being involved in every bit of handbags going.
Ashton - Not a match for him to show his strengths, but it did highlight some of his weaknesses.
ROG - Even his previous great asset of kicking from hand seems to have left him, while otherwise he's a liabiity ball in hand.

Morgannwg wrote:Phillips was excellent, although I do think there were a couple of occassions where he should have injected some speed into his passing. In this XV though he does not belong.

Welsh fans' criticism of Phillips is misplaced. Only in Wales would we find a player with this much commitment and power, capable of stopping Picamoles in his tracks and making 'hard yards' against any opposition - and then call for him to be replaced by anyone with 'fast service' or some such pubtalk. 'Fast service', if there is such a thing, is completely irrelevant when you play the current Welsh way.

Any team needs a ball carrier that can drop a shoulder and bump defenders off for fun. We just do it with our scrumhalf, rather than a backrow player!

Casartelli wrote:

Morgannwg wrote:Phillips was excellent, although I do think there were a couple of occassions where he should have injected some speed into his passing. In this XV though he does not belong.

Welsh fans' criticism of Phillips is misplaced. Only in Wales would we find a player with this much commitment and power, capable of stopping Picamoles in his tracks and making 'hard yards' against any opposition - and then call for him to be replaced by anyone with 'fast service' or some such pubtalk. 'Fast service', if there is such a thing, is completely irrelevant when you play the current Welsh way.

Any team needs a ball carrier that can drop a shoulder and bump defenders off for fun. We just do it with our scrumhalf, rather than a backrow player!

That's great if it's your centres or flankers, not so good in your scrum half though! Especially when he's too slow at his other jobs!

Casartelli wrote:

Morgannwg wrote:Phillips was excellent, although I do think there were a couple of occassions where he should have injected some speed into his passing. In this XV though he does not belong.

Welsh fans' criticism of Phillips is misplaced. Only in Wales would we find a player with this much commitment and power, capable of stopping Picamoles in his tracks and making 'hard yards' against any opposition - and then call for him to be replaced by anyone with 'fast service' or some such pubtalk. 'Fast service', if there is such a thing, is completely irrelevant when you play the current Welsh way.

Any team needs a ball carrier that can drop a shoulder and bump defenders off for fun. We just do it with our scrumhalf, rather than a backrow player!

Don't really get that. Your only (limited) bosh merchant is Roberts. You have no FH (altho Biggar is some improvement), JD & 1/2p are footballers and the 2 wingers are speedsters. I'd have thought Wales were crying out for a SH who could bring their 3/4s into the game. Phillips just kills too many opportunities.

Barney McGrew did it wrote:

Casartelli wrote:

Morgannwg wrote:Phillips was excellent, although I do think there were a couple of occassions where he should have injected some speed into his passing. In this XV though he does not belong.

Welsh fans' criticism of Phillips is misplaced. Only in Wales would we find a player with this much commitment and power, capable of stopping Picamoles in his tracks and making 'hard yards' against any opposition - and then call for him to be replaced by anyone with 'fast service' or some such pubtalk. 'Fast service', if there is such a thing, is completely irrelevant when you play the current Welsh way.

Any team needs a ball carrier that can drop a shoulder and bump defenders off for fun. We just do it with our scrumhalf, rather than a backrow player!

Don't really get that. Your only (limited) bosh merchant is Roberts. You have no FH (altho Biggar is some improvement), JD & 1/2p are footballers and the 2 wingers are speedsters. I'd have thought Wales were crying out for a SH who could bring their 3/4s into the game. Phillips just kills too many opportunities.

What have you seen, heard or read over the past 5 seasons that suggests, in any way, that it is part of the Welsh gameplan to "bring threequarters into the game"?