Ball to start

That'll do me.

http://www.wru.co.uk/eng/news/29851.php#.UxnVa2GjhhF

How convenient, Charteris suddenly gets a neck injurie.  

After last weeks game he ( ball) should of been starting in the first place.

Great to see - was immense and deserves a 2nd start.

Award for the brightest headgear?

majesticimperialman wrote:How convenient, Charteris suddenly gets a neck injurie.  

After last weeks game he ( ball) should of been starting in the first place.

Huh?? What a cunning plan by Genius Gatland?

majesticimperialman wrote:How convenient, Charteris suddenly gets a neck injurie.  

After last weeks game he ( ball) should of been starting in the first place.

Your first sentence, are you for real? So we've made up an injury just to shoehorn Ball in.

Your second one, yes it was harsh to drop Ball but it would also have been harsh to drop Charteris.

Sorry for Charter is who is our best second rower.Ball will do a job and Coombs is more than useful on the bench.

The worry is the impact on our lineout, which was already a major concern. If they've been practising with Charteris all week and now Ball comes in at short notice, that is not going to help much. I don't remember them throwing to Ball once in the whole game vs France. In general terms, he looks a very promising player.

Interesting Western Mail assessment of the respective strengths of the teams player-by-player; red-tinted specs, but they saw Wales having a slight advantage in the front row, England a big advantage in the 2nd row, Wales an advantage in back row, England a big advantage at half-back, Wales as having an advantage in the rest of the backs. The trouble with this is that it is a team game, this player-by-player type of analysis can be misleading. How does it take account of England's ability to use the driving maul or Wales' ability to stop it, which are collective and not about individuals.

Interesting Western Mail assessment of the respective strengths of the teams player-by-player; red-tinted specs, but they saw Wales having a slight advantage in the front row, England a big advantage in the 2nd row, Wales an advantage in back row, England a big advantage at half-back, Wales as having an advantage in the rest of the backs.

Probably a fair assessment to be honest Blue note...but yes there are other factors that come in to play.

ball deserved to start after French game . thought gatland dropped a ball by not picking him   

To be fair to charteris, he does have an extremely long neck so the potential injury rate is probably quite high

majesticimperialman wrote:How convenient, Charteris suddenly gets a neck injurie.  

After last weeks game he ( ball) should of been starting in the first place.

yeah, Gats found a Quins coaching manual in the shed at the millie, says cheating to get your subs on is fine so thanks very much.

Neither Ball or AWJ is a lineout specialist which Charteris is (both usually jump front of the line). Whilst this change will strengthen the scrum it will weaken the team overall as there are far more lineouts than scrums.