Wales v Australia, 5 November

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WALES v AUSTRALIA  
5 November 2016
KO: 14:30 GMT
Principality Stadium, Cardiff

Live on BBC Sports

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)

A. Head to Head

39 Played 39
10 Won 28
1 Drawn 1
28 Lost 10
596 Points 912

B. Recent Form

10 October 2015:
Twickenham Stadium
15 – 6 to Australia
2015 Rugby World Cup Pool A

8 November 2014:
Millennium Stadium
28 – 33 to Australia
2014 Autumn International

30 November 2013:
Millennium Stadium
26 – 30 to Australia
2013 Autumn International

1 December 2012:
Millennium Stadium
12 – 14 to Australia
2012 Autumn International

23 June 2012:
Sydney Football Stadium
20 – 19 to Australia
Welsh Tour of Australia

16 June 2012:
Etihad Stadium
25 – 23 to Australia
Welsh Tour of Australia

9 June 2012:
Suncorp Stadium
27 – 19 to Australia
Welsh Tour of Australia

3 December 2011:
Millennium Stadium
18 – 24 to Australia
2011 Autumn International

C. Teams


WALES 

15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Samson Le, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Gethin Jenkins

Replacements: 16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Cory Hill, 20 James King, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Sam Davies, 23 Hallam Amos

AUSTRALIA  

15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Reece Hodge, 11 Henry Speight, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Lopeti Timani, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 David Pocock, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (c), 1 Scott Sio

Replacements: 16 Tolu Latu, 17 James Slipper, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Scott Fardy, 21 Nick Frisby, 22 Quade Cooper, 23 Sefa Naivalu

Ah Mikey take a breath. I thought the same. Wales were a disgrace. They are much better than that. They made Australia look like world beaters. They definitely arent.

mikey_dragon wrote:

GunsGerms wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:The last two times NZ have lost to NH opposition their kicker had a bad day with a boot and they made some very uncharacteristic errors. Both NH teams gained a big lead early on in each match, then at some point in the 2nd half NZ went on a major burst and scored 3/4 tries - only for the NH opposition to get one back near the end thus sealing the game. The only thing people will remember from this is that England beat NZ in 2012 and Ireland beat NZ in 2016.

Beauden Barret had one of his best days this year with his boot v Ireland. He is statistically the worst goal kicker in international rugby this year but the second best in the Autumn Internationals based on his performance against Ireland:

http://goalkickers.co.za/

Interesting - but without seeing the match I hear had a bad day. I know he missed one conversion for definite, did he miss many penalty kicks at goal?

He only missed one shot at goal in total which is actually unusually good for him as he is a dreadful goal kicker. some of the kicks were hard too.

For England at the time it seemed like a great moment that we could really build on. We did stop NZ from playing (nilled them in the 1st half) then found a way to up the tempo after NZ started to catch up. Add in a couple of exceptional individual performances (Manu...) and we got a healthy win.

But instead it was something of a high point. We didn't actually move on from there at all.

BamBam wrote:Well that escalated

haha yes. I thought Majesticimperial was welsh.

lostinwales wrote:For England at the time it seemed like a great moment that we could really build on. We did stop NZ from playing (nilled them in the 1st half) then found a way to up the tempo after NZ started to catch up. Add in a couple of exceptional individual performances (Manu...) and we got a healthy win.

But instead it was something of a high point. We didn't actually move on from there at all.

That as all ways been England's problem. We put in a great performance for one game one season. and fall back into the nearly mode.

But this year under Eddie Jones England ( for now any way ) seems to have gotten better each game. i guess this autumn will test just how good England as become under Eddie Jones.

GunsGerms wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

GunsGerms wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:The last two times NZ have lost to NH opposition their kicker had a bad day with a boot and they made some very uncharacteristic errors. Both NH teams gained a big lead early on in each match, then at some point in the 2nd half NZ went on a major burst and scored 3/4 tries - only for the NH opposition to get one back near the end thus sealing the game. The only thing people will remember from this is that England beat NZ in 2012 and Ireland beat NZ in 2016.

Beauden Barret had one of his best days this year with his boot v Ireland. He is statistically the worst goal kicker in international rugby this year but the second best in the Autumn Internationals based on his performance against Ireland:

http://goalkickers.co.za/

Interesting - but without seeing the match I hear had a bad day. I know he missed one conversion for definite, did he miss many penalty kicks at goal?

He only missed one shot at goal in total which is actually unusually good for him as he is a dreadful goal kicker. some of the kicks were hard too.

Fair enough, sounds like NZ didn't get much opportunity to take penalty kicks at goal. Nobody was trying to take anything away from Ireland who put in the performance of their life - I've nothing but commendation for them for making me believe again! When you compare that NZ performance to their usual, particularly their usual form this year it was uncharacteristically poor. If anything Ireland should be commended even more for beating the best All Blacks team I've ever seen.

majesticimperialman wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

majesticimperialman wrote:I do not have an anti Welsh chip[ on my shoulder. I was saying it as i seen it. You welsh faggot you.

Clearly you do, you must have forgotten all your snide remarks and comments since the game... well since forever really. You're one of the most welsh-obsessed on here, plus you're unbelievably stupid so why you bother on here I don't know.

Just to wind you up.

So the reason you post on here, and post mostly one-eyed remarks, anti-welsh comments and snide remarks at everyone involved in the Wales team set-up is to wind me up? That's not Wales-obsessed then, that's mikey-obsessed. I'd be flattered if I wasn't so worried. Thanks but no thanks, I suggest taking up a hobby like carpet-fitting, it's well up your street!

GunsGerms wrote:

majesticimperialman wrote:I do not have an anti Welsh chip[ on my shoulder. I was saying it as i seen it. You welsh faggot you.

That's really not nice. Apologise for that.

It's actually good food around these parts.

So to change the tone...how much judo are England going to display against South Africa?  I'm looking forward to that stuff.

SecretFly wrote:

Cyril wrote:

England could easily be World No.1 by the end of the A1s the way NZ are playing.

Jesus Cyril, you never take a break

I congratulated Ireland after the game and now it's back to the war of attrition and devaluing your win.

Cyril wrote:

SecretFly wrote:

Cyril wrote:

England could easily be World No.1 by the end of the A1s the way NZ are playing.

Jesus Cyril, you never take a break

I congratulated Ireland after the game and now it's back to the war of attrition and devaluing your win.

That's why I'd vote for you over Trump, Cyril. You got integrity.

The response to the Aus game smacks a bit of the past welsh mindset of ‘when we’re winning we’re the best’ & ‘when we’re losing we’re the worst’. Just as likely to have been a bad day at the office for Wales & a good ‘un for Aus – they are the 3rd best team in the world after all (3rd best Martyn). And as for Gats, he has won Wales a cabinet full of silverware.

Mind you, physicists have now added the inevitable outcome of a Wales/Aus game to the speed of light in vacuum c, the gravitational constant G and Planck's constant h in their list of physical constants. And even soothsayers have dropped the Ides of March and a blood red moon as portents of the apocalypse in favour of 'The Day Wales Beat Aus'. Funny old game.

I think you might have been reading Howley's post match comments, which only reinforces what an amateur the guy is.

I guess when Argentina smash Wales this week they will have to put a strong team out vs Japan. otherwise they will be 0-4 by the end of the Autumn Internationals.

Personally I think it will be 0-4 regardless. I'd love to be wrong, but when I am ever that?

I think Wales will be planning about 50 intercepts on those outlandishly cocky Argentinians The way those guys fling the ball around, it's just begging for a concerted team interception effort from Wales.

If it does end 0-4 surely Howley will have ruled himself out of the job once Gatland has had enough and moved back to NZ.

Silver lining and all

TightHEAD wrote:If it does end 0-4 surely Howley will have ruled himself out of the job once Gatland has had enough and moved back to NZ.

No because he has had to deal with so many injuries, I mean this week alone we have had to call up two uncapped players into the squad to cover players that have been lost through injury. Also, providing he goes for the job, I would expect it to come out that Gats has had a major hand in selecting the match day teams etc. Or any other weak excuse to pass the buck.

Before the AIs started I said that we had to win a minimum of 3 for the series to seen as a success but expected to lose 3.

I still think we will beat Japan but fully expect us to now lose to Argentina and SA and the way our games fall in the 6 Nations it wouldn't surprise me one bit if we were whitewashed there.

Unfortunately even then the idiots in the Union still wouldn't sack Howley and Co and we'll still be getting the 'we will learn from these games'.

I'm not sure who it was, but he definitely got TRUMPED.

He shouldn't be allowed back after what he wrote. Disgusting and despite being asked to apologise more than once, didn't bother. Bit disappointed that nobody complained about it before me. Guess I'm too modern day PC or whatever.

Can't wait for the team announcement today (I assume). Most of the players given the chance to redeem themselves, I bet. Classic Howler and Cement. Then they tend to win and a lot of fickle Welsh fans tend to forgive the last game for a bit, whilst the cracks are papered over and all is well until the next time.

RiscaGame wrote:He shouldn't be allowed back after what he wrote. Disgusting and despite being asked to apologise more than once, didn't bother. Bit disappointed that nobody complained about it before me. Guess I'm too modern day PC or whatever.

Can't wait for the team announcement today (I assume). Most of the players given the chance to redeem themselves, I bet. Classic Howler and Cement. Then they tend to win and a lot of fickle Welsh fans tend to forgive the last game for a bit, whilst the cracks are papered over and all is well until the next time.

Rev I think the announcement is tomorrow.

I sometimes complain but didn't bother because it always falls on deaf ears. I understand why you did though, I'm backing you like Farage backs Trump.

The classic redemption card, unfortunately Howley picked that up from Gatland meaning that once we're shot of Howley we should also be rid of Gatland... 12 years is too much.

RiscaGame wrote:He shouldn't be allowed back after what he wrote. Disgusting and despite being asked to apologise more than once, didn't bother. Bit disappointed that nobody complained about it before me. Guess I'm too modern day PC or whatever.

Can't wait for the team announcement today (I assume). Most of the players given the chance to redeem themselves, I bet. Classic Howler and Cement. Then they tend to win and a lot of fickle Welsh fans tend to forgive the last game for a bit, whilst the cracks are papered over and all is well until the next time.

Cracks being papered over is something that happens in many teams. It's sadly not easy to fix cracks. Especially if you don't have the coaches or personnel to do so.

The back up to Faletau issue is very difficult to resolve.

Wales aren't as bad as some think - losing L.Williams,Davies, Warburton,AWJ and Faletau was always going to hurt Wales' competitiveness.

Not as if Wales have the strength in depth to deal with such losses.

You need to see this AIs as an opportunity to try out new players, find the right replacements to key players. Build for the future.

Most teams would struggle to replace someone like Faletau I think.

Losing Williams would be like England losing Brown.

AWJ is a totem for Wales like POC was for Ireland.

I think Moriarty is good cover mind. I'd start him at 6 when Faletau returns - Lydiate is done.