Italy vs Wales Match Thread

[maestegmafia]

First topic message reminder :

SIX NATIONS: ITALY V WALES
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome Date: Saturday 23 February Kick-off: 14:30 GMT
Coverage: Watch live on BBC One Wales, BBC One HD, Red Button and online; listen on BBC Radio Wales & online and BBC Radio Cymru; live text commentary on BBC Sport website; watch again on BBC iPlayer; highlights on Sunday's Scrum V

Wales team to face Italy:

Leigh Halfpenny. Alex Cuthbert, Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, George North, Dan Biggar, Mike Phillips; Gethin Jenkins, Richard Hibbard, Adam Jones, Andrew Coombs, Ian Evans, Ryan Jones (captain), Justin Tipuric, Toby Faletau

Replacements: Ken Owens, Paul James, Craig Mitchell, Alun Wyn Jones, Sam Warburton, Lloyd Williams, James Hook, Scott Williams.



Italian Team to Face Wales:

Andrea Masi (Wasps); Giovanbattista Venditti (Zebre), Tommaso Benvenuti (Treviso), Gonzalo Canale (La Rochelle), Luke McLean (Treviso); Kristopher Burton (Treviso), Edoardo Gori (Treviso); Andrea Lo Cicero (Racing Metro), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Treviso), Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester, capt), Antonio Pavanello (Treviso), Francesco Minto (Treviso), Alessandro Zanni (Treviso), Simone Favaro (Treviso), Manoa Vosawai (Treviso).
Replacements: Davide Giazzon (Zebre), Alberto De Marchi (Treviso), Lorenzo Cittadini (Treviso), Quentin Geldenhuys (Zebre), Paul Derbyshire (Treviso), Tobias Botes (Treviso), Luciano Orquera (Zebre), Gonzalo Garcia (Zebre).

[nathan]

another example of phillips slooooooooooooooow ball there.

[B91212]

Jenkins looks revitalized now his move back to Cardiff has been announced

[thebluesmancometh]

Great tap Canale...

[IanBru]

Brilliant from Canale - instruction video quality.

[thebluesmancometh]

Can't argue with you that time nathan

[Cari]

Stupid box kick.

[Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler]

Shouldve been a welsh linout surely ...but great saving tackle

[mankiaow]

Any links for overseas??

Check your PM box.

Nice one Halfapee!!!

Can I have an oveseas link please?

[thebluesmancometh]

Thats why noone wants to play rugby, everytime the ball goes outside 10 it's fumbled!!

[nobbled]

It's insane - both sides make far more yards when they don't have the ball.

[Cari]

Any links for overseas??

Check your PM box.

Nice one Halfapee!!!

Can I have an oveseas link please?

Check your PM.

[nathan]

Jenkins the fittest man in the squad?

[100%beefy]

Has Cotter eaten something? Or drunk something? Or has he got Norovirus?

no he just got smart and decided he didn't want to watch this drudgery

[Cari]

Halfapee missed one.

[Guest]

Jenkins the fittest man in the squad?

Fat Fit!

[nathan]

jiffy changed that mid-sentence then. lol

[thebluesmancometh]

nathan

I can tell you Jenkins was the fittest forward in world rugby a few seasons ago, a little older now though!!

Theres a famous cross country run involving the whole squad a few seasons ago and 1/2p was the only man back before Jenkins!!

[nathan]

nathan

I can tell you Jenkins was the fittest forward in world rugby a few seasons ago, a little older now though!!

Theres a famous cross country run involving the whole squad a few seasons ago and 1/2p was the only man back before Jenkins!!

i thought his fitness had gone downhill since bench waming in france. Didn't know he used to be that fit though.

[thebluesmancometh]

He was immense, but ye he has lost a bit of pace and engine performance in the last 2 seasons, not helped by the french method of training either!

[Guest]

Well this kicking is just gash now.

[nathan]

agh, the tapping the head drives me insane!!

[thebluesmancometh]

See, both teams have sent ball carriers down the 10 channel to give up posession.

[Guest]

Still 3 points in it. We need to do something different to get some tries, or we could be caught easily with a sucker punch and find ourselves chasing this game.

[100%beefy]

conditions or not this is one of the worst halves of rugby i have ever seen

[Cari]

It's all gone a bit messy now. The U20s did better last night playing in a swamp.

6-9 at HT.

[thebluesmancometh]

But Griff at 3 points it's too risky.

At 3-9 I thought the chance to try things were there, but we didn't capitolise!

[Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler]

Gethin must be crackered, more work this half than hes done all season

[tigertattie]

Terrible game.

Weather is making it bad

Commentary is making it bad.

Both teams being knickers is making it bad.

[nathan]

Italy's scrum has been dominate all tournament?

[Dave.]

One for the purists, this.

[nobbled]

Conditions are awful - Wales have been better all half - better scrum, better lineout, better with ball in hand, better at the breakdown...

But only 3 points ahead. Halfpenny has been great in the main but even his kicking has become a bit crap. Should be a Wales win but not a game at all - easily the worst of the competition so far. Still a half to go though!

[thebluesmancometh]

The problem is the onus is on Wales to do something to try to win this game, Italy can play a safe game because of the weather and wait for the odd points here and there.

It's a double edged sword, the ball going wide will be strewn with errors, but keeping it tight and playing for teritory is keeping Italy in the game!

[Guest]

But Griff at 3 points it's too risky.

At 3-9 I thought the chance to try things were there, but we didn't capitolise!

Yeah, I can see both arguments. But if we just carry on like this, we can easily give penalties away at scrum time (nearly did then), and then all of a sudden we're behind with no way of getting back in apart from changing the tactics. I always think it's harder to change tactics successfully when chasing the game than when in front.

For all this possession and territory we're very close in score. Too close. Attack is the best form of defence IMO (squirms with embarrassment about that cliche!), and as the Italians are not the best counter attackers then why not run it a bit more?

[wales606]

Not sure what to say about that first half

Front 5 have been very good, scrum has been dominant - yet, he have gained as many points as Italy from the scrum.

Wales have been dominant in general, but only lead by 3.

Roberts has touched the ball 3 times and knocked on 3 times

Jonathan Davies hasn't touched the ball.

Too many handling errors.

Biggar's kicking has been good, bar a few.

[AlastairW]

Was always going to be an arm wrestle when I saw that weather.

Good scrums from Wales, and Gethin is having a winner! I was expecting Castro to fold him in half every scrum.

[wales606]

AWJ and Warburton to come on soon, Coombes and Tipuric are not having their best game

[wales606]

If Gethin keeps it up, is Healy in trouble for the Lions shirt?

He has gotten better with every game now that he is actually playing rugby.

[thebluesmancometh]

The problem is, if we keep it as is Poite is a lottery at the scrum, and he's worth 9 points to both teams normally with scrum penaltys alone!

Wales need to give the wider chanells a go, look to exploit the 13 shoulder, but passes will be safe and not slick at all.

If nothing else Italy will be shocked by the ball going wide.

[Looseheaded]

Is JD2 even on the pitch?

[wales606]

I would consider putting Scott Williams on, but he hasn't actually played for weeks

[nobbled]

Hate to say this....really hate it....but Jiffy hasn't done a bad job - frankly much better than usual.

[thebluesmancometh]

Wales

With this arm wrestle I'd give Jones/Tipuric and Coombs at least 15 of the 2nd half. Then with our bench we should have too much fire power... surely!

[Guest]

Gethin is being helped, IMO, at scrum time with Hibbard. Hibbs is a good scrummaging hooker, so perhaps they're ganging up on Castro. Gethin usually is not the best scrummager, and Coombes behind him is inexperienced, so Hibbard is the key for me.

[wales606]

Jonathan Davies stats on ESPN are hilarious - all 0s, not even any tackles.

Roberts has 2 tackles (1missed), 2 turnovers conceeded and 3metres made

[thebluesmancometh]

Griff

Jones is coming across too, all front 3 of Wales are on Castro's shoulders, plus Jones is capable of holding any LH off!!

[Looseheaded]

Commentary team changing so often it's as if Saint Andre is managing it...

[wales606]

Hate to say this....really hate it....but Jiffy hasn't done a bad job - frankly much better than usual.

Because he is the commentator now, rather than the analysist/welsh pundit

[wales606]

Commentary team changing so often it's as if Saint Andre is managing it...

So Jonathan Davies is Michalak? Keeps getting picked.

[thebluesmancometh]

Everyones talking Wales scrum dominance but isn't it 6-6 from scrum pens?

[nathan]

Hate to say this....really hate it....but Jiffy hasn't done a bad job - frankly much better than usual.

Because he is the commentator now, rather than the analysist/welsh pundit

not anymore!

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