Progress! What Progress? Wales

Hi all,

My First post in a long time. Watching Wales on Saturday made me feel confused, sad and angry all at the same time. My frustration is not in its infancy. In 2011 Wales were lauded for their performances with such a young team. And rightly so. Faletau, Warburton, Scott Williams, Jon Davies and Halfpenny to name a few, were starting out in their international careers, Roberts was a colossal in 2009, breaking tackles and making big ones too. The future was bright and to an extent it has been.

But, and it's a big but....how much progress has some of the players above actually made? How much have the coaches? My answer to that question would be little. Players as well as coaches have a responsibility to develop themselves. This has not happened.

Looking at the performance on Saturday, this magnified the need for a freshening up of the coaching staff as well as the playing personnel.

Kicking:
Wales have a very limited tackle kicking game. Not just because of the tactics, but the amount of players who are comfortable to do so. Neil Jenkins and Rob Howley are responsible for the tactics but players are responsible for the execution.

Biggar: a player who guided Wales to victories in the World Cup. I will not deny that his performances were excellent in a limited gameplay because of limited personnel.

On Saturday, in defensive positions, Wales hit up off line outs, move the ball out the same way and then kick to the far touch lines. Same tactic. Poor tactic. Doing this means that Biggar has to execute a longer kick for a smaller gain.

There is also a lack of kicking variety. There are no short contestable kicks. Biggar often kicks aimlessly long and high, while he wins some of these kicks it offers opportunities to a counter attack like England excellently executed for huge gains. NZ will for tries.

Biggar has a poor passing range and creative influence. Anscombe must start.

Roberts is equally poor at handling. Tremendous in defence but his selection cries a negative tactical approach. Wales must employ another skilful second reviewer. Whisper it...not Henson but a Henson.

Alun Wyn: looked hugely off the pace after a long time out. For me. A poor six nations and a player living on reputation. Bradley Davies is a man of form and should be selected. A Suprise partner would be James King. A mobile player who is on form.

I could go on....Neil Jenkins, Rob Howley and McBryde are past their sell by date. Wales should look to replace these support staff to freshen up the squad.

I'm hoping a team like this will be selected....it won't but I can dream....

1) Rob Evans
2) Ken Owens
3) Samson Lee
4) Bradley Davies
5) James King
6) Ross Moriarty
7) Sam Warburton/Ellis Jenkins
8) Faletau
9) Webb
10) Anscombe
11) Tom James
12) Scott Williams
13) North
14) Steff Evans
15) Liam Williams

16) Baldwin 17) Jekins 18) Francis 19) Wyn Jones 20) Turnball 21) G Davies 22) S Davies (not in squad) 23) Matthew Morgan

I recognise some of these players aren't in the squad...just hoping to see a side like this soon!

Apologies for the awful grammar..,I blame spell check or whatever it is on iPhone

Oh dear! I just wish for the life of me I stopped reading at James King.

King at lock? No chance. He's been shunted there by Tandy for the Ospreys and while he did ok at lineouts, the scrum suffered. The guy is a great Blindsde, and cruelly overlooked imo.

JPermian88 wrote:Hi all,

My First post in a long time. Watching Wales on Saturday made me feel confused, sad and angry all at the same time. My frustration is not in its infancy. In 2011 Wales were lauded for their performances with such a young team. And rightly so.  Faletau, Warburton, Scott Williams, Jon Davies and Halfpenny to name a few, were starting out in their international careers, Roberts was a colossal in 2009, breaking tackles and making big ones too. The future was bright and to an extent it has been.

But, and it's a big but....how much progress has some of the players above actually made? How much have the coaches? My answer to that question would be little. Players as well as coaches have a responsibility to develop themselves. This has not happened.

Looking at the performance on Saturday, this magnified the need for a freshening up of the coaching staff as well as the playing personnel.

Kicking:
Wales have a very limited tackle kicking game. Not just because of the tactics, but the amount of players who are comfortable to do so. Neil Jenkins and Rob Howley are responsible for the tactics but players are responsible for the execution.

Biggar: a player who guided Wales to victories in the World Cup. I will not deny that his performances were excellent in a limited gameplay because of limited personnel.

On Saturday, in defensive positions, Wales hit up off line outs, move the ball out the same way and then kick to the far touch lines. Same tactic. Poor tactic. Doing this means that Biggar has to execute a longer kick for a smaller gain.

There is also a lack of kicking variety. There are no short contestable kicks. Biggar often kicks aimlessly long and high, while he wins some of these kicks it offers opportunities to a counter attack like England excellently executed for huge gains. NZ will for tries.

Biggar has a poor passing range and creative influence. Anscombe must start.

Roberts is equally poor at handling. Tremendous in defence but his selection cries a negative tactical approach. Wales must employ another skilful second reviewer. Whisper it...not Henson but a Henson.

Alun Wyn: looked hugely off the pace after a long time out. For me. A poor six nations and a player living on reputation. Bradley Davies is a man of form and should be selected. A Suprise partner would be James King. A mobile player who is on form.

I could go on....Neil Jenkins, Rob Howley and McBryde are past their sell by date.  Wales should look to replace these support staff to freshen up the squad.

I'm hoping a team like this will be selected....it won't but I can dream....

1) Rob Evans
2) Ken Owens
3) Samson Lee
4) Bradley Davies
5) James King
6) Ross Moriarty
7) Sam Warburton/Ellis Jenkins
8) Faletau
9) Webb
10) Anscombe
11) Tom James
12) Scott Williams
13) North
14) Steff Evans
15) Liam Williams

16) Baldwin 17) Jekins 18) Francis 19) Wyn Jones 20) Turnball 21) G Davies 22) S Davies (not in squad) 23) Matthew Morgan

I recognise some of these players aren't in the squad...just hoping to see a side like this soon!

I'm not surprised you were confused if you watched on Saturday, since the match was on Sunday.

Sorry but why the hell would you have King in the and row when we have Charteris, Davies AWJ and Ball?

Also North is not a centre?

Amos was one of the very few who done himself any justice last week.

A bench with Davies and Morgan is as bad as the one with Priestland and Anscombe.

Did Turnbull do anything to prove he's go what's required at this level?

The team above would be smashed in NZ. King, James, Evans, Morgan, Turnbull are simply not good enough to be test players. North is not a centre.

I completely agree that players and the team have not developed and that the coaching team is stale and should be replaced. Enough of our players are still quality internationals who need a fresh approach and a new voice at the top. Gatland has been a great coach for Wales, but is no longer getting anything out of this team.

bedfordwelsh wrote:Amos was one of the very few who done himself any justice last week.

Yes, but he's no Tom James!

I agree that we haven't progressed tactically in years. It's actually disgraceful that we haven't; these coaches are getting paid a hell of a lot of money.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:Amos was one of the very few who done himself any justice last week.

Yes, but he's no Tom James!

I agree that we haven't progressed tactically in years. It's actually disgraceful that we haven't; these coaches are getting paid a hell of a lot of money.

Thank god for that.