Wales team to face New Zealand

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15. Rhys Priestland/Liam Williams/Leigh Halfpenny/Hallam Amos/James Hook/Gavin Henson/Matthew Morgan/Rhys Patchell
14. Hallam Amos/George North/Liam Williams/Eli Walker/Steff Evans
13. Tyler Morgan/Jonathan Davies/James Hook/Gavin Henson/Steffan Hughes/Gareth Maule
12. Jamie Roberts/Scott Williams/James Hook/Gavin Henson/Steffan Hughes/Gareth Maule/Jack Dixon
11. Hallam Amos/George North/Liam Williams/Eli Walker/Steff Evans
10. Gareth Anscombe/Rhys Preistland/Dan Biggar/James Hook/Sam Davies/Gavin Henson/Matthew Morgan/Rhys Patchell
9. Rhys Webb/Aled Davies/Gareth Davies/Lloyd Williams/Martin Roberts
8. Taulupe Faletau/Joe Bearman/Morgan Allen/Dan Baker
7. Sam Warburton/James Davies/Ellis Jenkins/Thomas Young/Dan Lydiate/Taulupe Faletau
6. Dan Lydiate/Ross Moriarty/Sam Warburton/Olly Cracknell
5. Alun Wyn Jones/Jake Ball/Bradley Davies/Luke Charteris
4. Alun Wyn Jones/Jake Ball/Bradley Davies/Luke Charteris
3. Samson Lee/Eifion Lewis-Roberts/Tomas Francis/Aaron Jarvis/Dillon Lewis
2. Ken Owens/Scott Baldwin/Kristian Dacey/Elliot Dee
1. Rob Evans/Gethin Jenkins/Paul James

Still don't rate Tom James, Matthew Morgan or Rhodri Jones. From what I've seen of all I don't consider any of them to be up to international standards, let alone players you'd put out against NZ.

I'd also have brought along Ellis Jenkins over Turnbull. A chance to bring a younger prospect over a club veteran who frankly doesn't look fit for this level. I appreciate we'd be thin on experience bringing both Moriarty and Jenkins but Turnbull doesn't have respectable experience at this level either and I simply can't see what he'd offer against the NZ breakdown.

Not a bad squad otherwise. Nice to have a few options again in midfield with Scott Williams back in.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:So you're suggesting that Warburton is pretending to be injured when he's with the Blues, is that it? Or that he just doesn't fancy it, and the Blues let him sit games out?

I am suggesting that he isn't as committed to his region as he is to Wales. Especially when you look at the stats of other players.

There are very few signs that the coaching team had the World Cup in mind when they drew up this squad - it was the same with the Six Nations squad. Why are we wasting time?

Id say its more the blues are not rushing him back until he's fully fit but gatland wants him in his squad regardless. After the world cup, his only game for the blues was one half against calvisano before playing against Ireland, where I personally thought he lacked sharpness, and felt at the time that he should have stayed with the blues for a bit

LordDowlais wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:So you're suggesting that Warburton is pretending to be injured when he's with the Blues, is that it? Or that he just doesn't fancy it, and the Blues let him sit games out?

I am suggesting that he isn't as committed to his region as he is to Wales. Especially when you look at the stats of other players.

You're using the number of games he plays as evidence of his commitment. That can't possibly reflect his commitment, unless you think he's crying off when he's with the Blues.

I can assure you that Sam Warburton is incredibly committed to both Wales and the Cardiff Blues.

Why are we wasting time indeed. The tour isn't the place to blood youngsters apparently. So when is? I'd have thought an end of season run out v England and the Chiefs game would be perfect time to do it.

Team cross fit wins again. Gatland is killing the Welsh team and its talent. Roll on 2019

Gatland is not killing the Welsh team and its talent, IMO. I think Gatland is, in fact, developing the Welsh team and its talent.

Yep.

Stick to putting links up/copy pasting articles if I was you.

RiscaGame wrote:Yep.

Stick to putting links up/copy pasting articles if I was you.

Why should I limit myself to putting links up/copy pasting articles when I can also add valuable comments to this forum?

international198 wrote:Gatland is not killing the Welsh team and its talent, IMO. I think Gatland is, in fact, developing the Welsh team and its talent.

A unique and refreshing argumentative structure. How you haven't yet made it into Parliament I will never know.

I think the squad is what was expected. I like Turnbull, like Moriarty, he adds a bit of dog at 6. I agree there should be another 7 there, Davies or Jenkins, but I'd have them at the expense of King.

Not sure about Walker either, maybe would have preferred Stef Evans instead.

Gats is neither the Messiah nor an idiot, he is somewhere between the two, but he has made the Welsh national team a consistent professional world force, as was his remit.

Warburton does seem to get injured for the Blues a lot, maybe during an international where there is more adrenaline flying around he can play through them more for Wales, but to say he is not committed in every game he plays is truly false.

A few of Gatlands favourites pretty lucky to be picked. Rhodri Jones is 3rd choice behind Pete the Meat at the Scarlets, Eli struggles to get a start for the Ospreys and Nipper can't get a start for Bristol in the Championship.

If Warbs is available then he plays is the way I see it. Best open-side we have without doubt, though I would've liked to have seen one of Navidi, Ellis Jenkins or Cudd go on tour ahead of Turnbull.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:There are very few signs that the coaching team had the World Cup in mind when they drew up this squad - it was the same with the Six Nations squad. Why are we wasting time?

I don't see why they would so soon after the 2015 world cup. However we have some young players in the team as starters already, and going forward guys like Dillon Lewis, Adam Beard, Rory Thornton, Jack Dixon, Tyler Morgan; there's other youngsters breaking through or on the verge of doing so at their regions and you can bet they're all part of Galtand's plan going forward, some of those have already been in the Wales squad. This tour wasn't the time to bring them on IMO. I wouldn't call this a waste of time, and I'm sure the players don't see it that way, they'll be thinking of winning a test match. Given how rusty we're going to be we're lucky to have that England game first...

Looks like a predictable and experienced squad. I think Gatlands got it right in that he's playing it conservatively. NZ's traditionally been a grave yard for touring Welsh sides. They haven't really been competitive in the 3 tours to date. I think this side will be competitive. If things go their way I can see them winning a test, maybe even the series. Of course being a kiwi I expect a 3 zip result. I also think if worst comes to worst this team won't fold. I think that could be even more important in the build up to 2019 for this Welsh side than winning.

It's difficult, even for kiwis such as myself, to get a feel for how the next AB's squad will compete. The 5 super XV side all look relatively strong and a range of new talent is emerging. The coaching group has said they want to improve on last year. There are, however, a number of potential weaknesses that could be exposed (e.g. defense of the rolling maul, place kicking, etc).

Not grey and not a ghost wrote:Looks like a predictable and experienced squad. I think Gatlands got it right in that he's playing it conservatively. NZ's traditionally been a grave yard for touring Welsh sides. They haven't really been competitive in the 3 tours to date. I think this side will be competitive. If things go their way I can see them winning a test, maybe even the series. Of course being a kiwi I expect a 3 zip result. I also think if worst comes to worst this team won't fold. I think that could be even more important in the build up to 2019 for this Welsh side than winning.

It's difficult, even for kiwis such as myself, to get a feel for how the next AB's squad will compete. The 5 super XV side all look relatively strong and a range of new talent is emerging. The coaching group has said they want to improve on last year. There are, however, a number of potential weaknesses that could be exposed (e.g. defense of the rolling maul, place kicking, etc).  

https://t.co/8fZz9G0jWP your journos dont seem to agree

GavinDragon wrote:

Not grey and not a ghost wrote:Looks like a predictable and experienced squad. I think Gatlands got it right in that he's playing it conservatively. NZ's traditionally been a grave yard for touring Welsh sides. They haven't really been competitive in the 3 tours to date. I think this side will be competitive. If things go their way I can see them winning a test, maybe even the series. Of course being a kiwi I expect a 3 zip result. I also think if worst comes to worst this team won't fold. I think that could be even more important in the build up to 2019 for this Welsh side than winning.

It's difficult, even for kiwis such as myself, to get a feel for how the next AB's squad will compete. The 5 super XV side all look relatively strong and a range of new talent is emerging. The coaching group has said they want to improve on last year. There are, however, a number of potential weaknesses that could be exposed (e.g. defense of the rolling maul, place kicking, etc).  

https://t.co/8fZz9G0jWP your journos dont seem to agree

I'm a glass 1/2 empty kind of guy.

Yeah we can definitely get NZ with out rolling maul, but first we need to get the field position and actually win our own lineout ball... An advantage I think Dee has over the current hookers is that he is a more accurate thrower.

Trivial things like throwing accuracy don't matter if you play for a struggling region...

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Trivial things like throwing accuracy don't matter if you play for a struggling region, apparently.

While I think Dee is unlucky not to be in the squad. He was never going to start a match.

Maybe not, but I still can't accept that Kristian Dacey is the better player of the two.

Well there was the Chiefs game in Waikato...

Its dog lumps from Gatland, Cardiff were god awful last season but still had all the usual suspects selected

Apparently all the region's coaches have a meeting with Gatland in Lyon this week to discuss improving the regions for next season.

I assume they will just clone Roberts and Davies and bash it up the middle ocassionaly throwing passses into the crowd

The problem being that some idiots, ones from the Scarlets and 'London Welsh' regions for example, actually come on here and pedal that bollox.

chris_501 wrote:WALES SQUAD:

FORWARDS: Rob Evans (Scarlets), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Paul James (Ospreys) Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Kristian Dacey (Cardiff Blues), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Luke Charteris (Racing Metro), Bradley Davies (Wasps), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons), James King (Ospreys), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Ross Moriarty (Gloucester), Josh Turnbull (Cardiff Blues), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues, CAPT).

BACKS: Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues), Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues), Dan Biggar (Ospreys), Rhys Priestland (Bath Rugby), Jonathan Davies (Clermont Auvergne), Tyler Morgan (Newport Gwent Dragons), Jamie Roberts (Harlequins), Scott Williams (Scarlets), Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons), Matthew Morgan (Bristol), Tom James (Cardiff Blues), George North (Northampton Saints), Eli Walker (Ospreys), Liam Williams (Scarlets).


Not many new faces. In fact none.

Maybe 10 players with real class, maybe another 10 second tier test players, the rest decent club standard at best (a few not even that). The front five will not stand up to NZ and the backline is not creative enough. Another plucky effort by a NH side at the end of a long season getting nilled by the best squad in the world, warming up for the Rugby Championship.

AB's aquad announced:

ll Blacks squad to face Wales:
Forwards
Hookers
Dane Coles (Wellington, 36 Tests)
Codie Taylor (Canterbury, four Tests)
Nathan Harris (Bay of Plenty, two Tests)
Props
Wyatt Crockett (Canterbury, 45 Tests)
Charlie Faumuina (Auckland, 33 Tests)
Owen Franks (Canterbury, 78 Tests)
Joe Moody (Canterbury, 11 Tests)
Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Auckland, new cap)
Locks
Brodie Retallick (Hawke's Bay, 47 Tests)
Luke Romano (Canterbury, 22 Tests)
Patrick Tuipulotu (Auckland, seven Tests)
Samuel Whitelock (Canterbury, 73 Tests)
Loose Forwards
Sam Cane (Bay of Plenty, 31 Tests)
Elliot Dixon (Southland, new cap)
Jerome Kaino (Auckland, 67 Tests)
Kieran Read, captain (Canterbury, 84 Tests)
Ardie Savea (Wellington, new cap)
Liam Squire (Tasman, new cap)
Backs
Halfbacks
Tawera Kerr-Barlow (Waikato, 20 Tests)
Aaron Smith (Manawatu, 47 Tests)
First five-eighths
Beauden Barrett (Taranaki, 36 Tests)
Aaron Cruden (Manawatu, 37 Tests)
Lima Sopoaga (Southland, one Test)
Midfielders
Ryan Crotty (Canterbury, 15 Tests)
Malakai Fekitoa (Auckland, 13 Tests)
Charlie Ngatai (Taranaki, one Test)
Seta Tamanivalu (Taranaki, new cap)
Outside backs
Israel Dagg (Hawke's Bay, 49 Tests)
Damian McKenzie (Waikato, new cap)
Waisake Naholo (Taranaki, three Tests)
Julian Savea (Wellington, 41 Tests)
Ben Smith (Otago, 48 Tests)

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11646963

Weird to think of an All Blacks squad with no McCaw, no Carter and no Conrad Smith

EDIT: FFS, SwiftKey. It's McCaw. Not McCarthy. Stop changing valid things I've typed.

Or Nonu or Woodcock....

This is what makes the first test so exciting, its a new team. its a new era, and I like Hansens attitude, he wants the 2016 team to be better than the 2015 team.

Strap yourselves in, the ride might get bumpy but its going to be good.

aucklandlaurie wrote:
Or Nonu or Woodcock....

This is what makes the first test so exciting, its a new team. its a new era, and I like Hansens attitude, he wants the 2016 team to be better than the 2015 team.

Strap yourselves in, the ride might get bumpy but its going to be good.

It'll get as bumpy as a merc doing 50mph over a speedbump this summer, no straps required against Wales!!

Sadly I don't think any of the Welsh players are good enough to get into the New Zealand squad.  
Weighing everything up the ONLY hope Wales may have is if New Zealand pick Ofa Tu’ungafas and Sampson Lee plays, because Wales beat New Zealand U20's a few years ago and it was Sampson bending Tu’ungafas into all sorts of funny shapes was the reason Wales won.  All our points came from scrums wn by Lee.  

Then again knowing the New Zealand coaching systems those defects have probably long since been rectified.  Man for man I just can't see how Wales can compete.

There is no way Hansen would start a game with Tu'ungafasi. he is only there to go on the bottom of a team sheet as being both a tighthead and a loosehead prop.

I'm guessing first test team will look something like:
1. Wyatt Crockett
2. Dane Coles
3. Owen Franks
4. Brodie Retallick
5. Samuel Whitelock
6. Jerome Kaino
7. Sam Cane
8. Kieran Read
9. Aaron Smith
10. Lima Sopoaga
11. Julian Savea
12. Ryan Crotty
13. Malakai Fekitoa
14. Waisake Naholo
15. Ben Smith

16. Charlie Faumuina
17. Codie Taylor
18. Joe Moody
19. Luke Romano
20. Ardie Savea
21. Tawera Kerr-Barlow
22. Beauden Barrett
23. Charlie Ngatai

Will play some part in the series
Nathan Harris
Patrick Tuipulotu
Elliot Dixon
Liam Squire
Aaron Cruden
Seta Tamanivalu
Israel Dagg

Project player
Ofa Tu'ungafasi
Damian McKenzie

Obviously depending on injury (I think Whitelock and Ngatai are under injury clouds). I'm guessing conservative appointments. There's a form arguement for the likes of Savea and Elliot to start, but I think they'll start with old hands to maintain the gameplan. I'm guessing Sopoanga will start, given the others have had problems with goal kicking. I''m also guessing Crotty will start, based on experience and his kicking, (3rd option in the backs as neither Naholo or Savea kick).