WALES INTERNATIONAL: GAMES, SQUADS, TOURNAMENTS, CHAT - SUMMER TOUR & SEASON 2022/23

Here it is:

Springbok team to face Wales in Cape Town:
15 – Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 17 caps, 12 pts (1t, 2c, 1p)
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Toulon) – 19 caps 18pts, 50pts (10t)
13 – Lukhanyo Am (Cell C Sharks) – 27 caps, 25 pts (5t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 59 caps, 35 pts (7t)
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Cell C Sharks) – 26 caps, 100 pts (20t)
10 – Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 61 caps, 613 pts (6t, 83c, 131p, 4d)
9 – Jaden Hendrikse (Cell C Sharks) – 3 caps, 5 pts (1t)
8 – Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers) – 12 caps, 0 pts
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 59 caps, 25 pts (5t)
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Cell C Sharks) – 64 caps, 30 pts (6t)
5 – Lood de Jager (Wild Knights) – 57 caps, 25 pts (5t)
4 – Eben Etzebeth (Cell C Sharks) – 99 caps, 15 pts (3t)
3 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 47 caps, 5pts (1t)
2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Cell C Sharks) – 49 caps, 50 pts (10t)
1 – Trevor Nyakane (Racing 92) – 55 caps, 5pts (1t)

Replacements:
16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 48 caps, 55 pts (11t)
17 – Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers) – 60 caps, 5pts (1t)
18 – Vincent Koch (Wasps) 33 caps, 0 pts
19 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 52 caps, 5pts (1t)
20 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 20 caps, 5 pts (1t)
21 – Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 1 cap, 0pts
22 – Faf de Klerk (Canon Eagles) – 37caps, 25pts (5t)
23 – Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz) – 73 caps, 60 pts (12t)

That's a much stronger team.

Ouch!

Lots of caps on the bench too. SA are going in loaded!

Doesn't mean much if they don't play rugby.

SA are in good shape for the forseeable future. That's the strongest lineup I've seen from them in a while. Going forward they can just dripfeed in players from the 2nd Test Team and there wouldn't be any chances in intensity or performance.

Had to lock the last thread, due to going past 20 pages.

Yikes that's a team and a half

Are there any expected changes for Wales?

Get to the final U20s game and not a single player performs… Do that against SA and you’re toast - the scoreboard reflects that. They have very good ball-carriers.

Good fight back from Wales, scoring four tries in the second half to three.

Overall the Junior Boks did well.

Wales team to face South Africa: L Williams; Rees-Zammit, North, Tompkins, Adams; Biggar (capt), Hardy; G Thomas, Elias, D Lewis, Rowlands, Beard, Lydiate, Reffell, Faletau.

Replacements: Lake, W Jones, S Wainwright, Alun Wyn Jones, Navidi, T Williams, Anscombe, Watkin.

Dan Biggar and Dillon Lewis have passed their fitness tests then.

Not much I can say about the Wales team. They’ve gone for the same again. These guys have got us this far so why not keep it going.

What I will say is that I’ve been disappointed with our scrum halves for a while now. For Wales, scrum half used to be a real attacking weapon. Not so long ago (ok, maybe a number of years) we had a real tussle between, for example, Rhys Webb, Gareth Davies and Tomas Williams. All 3 were in form and firing and it was hard to know who to leave out. All 3 could create and score tries in their own way. But they’ve all gone off the boil in different ways. And Hardy coming through isn’t showing the levels of those 3 in their prime. We don’t seem to create much off 10 with Biggar so having a good livewire scrum half helps to hold the defence, and that can create some gaps if we do go off 10. It would be great to see our scrum halves having a dart but I think they’re playing to script a bit too much.

The Oracle wrote:Not much I can say about the Wales team. They’ve gone for the same again. These guys have got us this far so why not keep it going.

What I will say is that I’ve been disappointed with our scrum halves for a while now. For Wales, scrum half used to be a real attacking weapon. Not so long ago (ok, maybe a number of years) we had a real tussle between, for example, Rhys Webb, Gareth Davies and Tomas Williams. All 3 were in form and firing and it was hard to know who to leave out. All 3 could create and score tries in their own way. But they’ve all gone off the boil in different ways. And Hardy coming through isn’t showing the levels of those 3 in their prime. We don’t seem to create much off 10 with Biggar so having a good livewire scrum half helps to hold the defence, and that can create some gaps if we do go off 10. It would be great to see our scrum halves having a dart but I think they’re playing to script a bit too much.

What has happened to Babos ??? I think thats how you spell it, at your team ?

He was looking good when he first came onto the scene.

He has signed for Pontypool.

Similar team and I'm sure there will be similar tactics again. Be interesting still though. Hope Biggar and Lewis are fully fit.

RiscaGame wrote:He has signed for Pontypool.

Such a shame. He looked to be one who could kick on, but obviously not. Is the same happening with Morgan Lloyd ? He is yet to be offered anything with Dragons and he had an excellent tournament this month for Wales U20's.

I know he is playing for Cardiff MET in the BUCS super league, but I hope he is not another one who fails to live up to the hope and potential.

Not sure why I expected fresh impetus in the team, when it is needed in certain areas. Ah well. Not sure what people see in Watkin.

I have a funny feeling that Biggar isn't fit & may pull up before kick off & we then have Anscombe starting.

I didn't expect any changes as the series is on the line. Still not sold on Tompkins, would have preferred to see Williams in there but that's personal opinion. From a selfish point of view, being a Scarlets fan, we should have Davies, Williams, O'Connor & Patchell fresh for the start of the season.

I don’t think form or injuries matter to Pivac, it seems he doesn’t take any of that into consideration when selecting a squad/team. Can’t fault the effort of all the players picked, they’ve been putting in big shifts. Expected to see Hardy on the bench or dropped after last week, thought he had a shocker.

mikey_dragon wrote:I don’t think form or injuries matter to Pivac, it seems he doesn’t take any of that into consideration when selecting a squad/team. Can’t fault the effort of all the players picked, they’ve been putting in big shifts. Expected to see Hardy on the bench or dropped after last week, thought he had a shocker.

I know you don't rate Pivac etc but to be fair we have done well this tour. The big question will be in the Autumn now if he picks players playing better than those who are in the current starting XV.

Bad news for Wales, with Anscombe being ruled out by injury. Patchell comes on to the bench.

Come on Wales it is down to you now England won and Ireland have also won so it is down to you now proove that last weeks win was not a fluke.

You can do it.

Wales not really in the game so far

Much better from Wales and a nicely built try. Worrying injuries already and the pitch surface looks like it could be a source of more

That pitch looks shocking ...

Wales weathered the early storm and have been looking better in the 2nd quarter

The Boks look to have too much power up front.

Wales still have a chance but that won't help ...

Heaf wrote:That pitch looks shocking ...

I don’t think any of the three have been great.

Who ever says Wales is a poor team needs to wake up. Very competitive game so far, much more attacking intent by both teams.

Old Man wrote:Who ever says Wales is a poor team needs to wake up. Very competitive game so far, much more attacking intent by both teams.

The Oracle wrote:

Old Man wrote:Who ever says Wales is a poor team needs to wake up. Very competitive game so far, much more attacking intent by both teams.

 

keep the faith my friend

I went into this series saying we were poor but they’ve been far more competitive than I imagined we would be. Not sure where we’ve got the improvement from, but it is very much welcomed after such a poor 6 Nations and a disastrous season for the club sides.

Forward pass called, then penalty at the scrum then free kick and then another penalty.

Frak it

Wales got a bit fortunate with that try called off (right call btw). Just keep hacking and keep the defense switched on. Boks looking good.

Every time I see those pics of the stadium from the outside with Table Mountain in the background reminds me how much I miss the place....

Hope the officials from the Oz v England match are watching to see what a forward pass looks like

Referee has been loathe to card Wales intheir 22

Bloody hell, I am seeing better quality Rugby in the last 10 minutes than I saw in the entire Oz-England match. Hope this goes down to the wire, this is good fun.

Yeah, very competitive match

Well done to Wales, very tough team to beat. Stopped the Boks maul, scrum until the last test. Won most of the aerial battles until tonight.

You can be proud. Better display of intent from the Springboks tonight.

Well done Old Man. A game too far for us today.

Cheers Oracle, even thought the scoreline wasn't as tight I think both teams left their best for last from the perspective of throwing the ball around

Unlucky Wales - if they'd managed to put the first match to bed would have been an historic series win in SA, but they can't be too unhappy overall with how this tour went.

Congrats Old Man.

Pleased with the effort there. If we can live RSA over three tests, it does frustrate me over the six nations further. Particularly with three home games.

Other positives - we haven’t had the myriad injuries I was predicting. So we should have the vast majority of that squad having a good pre-season and starting the season for their clubs.

I think they’re still pretty thrashed though Oracle. I guess it’s a level playing field this year. So Dragons really should look to start with a bang, with only Rowlands playing regularly.

Haven’t seen the game yet. Looks like Hardy and Lewis aren’t getting a good rating score, not surprised with Hardy. If Tomos Williams could tackle I’m sure he’d be one of the top 3 scrum-half’s in world rugby!

Well like I suspected Rowlands can play 6. That might be something to keep in mind when we next play SA and France.

Hardy has been average all series, his passing is too slow. Is there any reason that Pivac persists with it? Maybe I’m missing something.

Nice to see Basham finally get a chance, through injury though. A large number of the squad may as well not toured.

In the coming seasons we hopefully get a few U20s to come in. Jenkins, Christ, Grady and Hawkins spring to mind. Hawkins can have Tompkins’ shirt - will be good if Joe can also play 13 as we have too many 12’s.

Well the results were better than expected, however we are still struggling for depth in some positions. Was good to see Wainwright do well, though in his eagerness to impress he gave away a couple of silly penalties on Saturday.

From a Scarlets point of view, was good to see Wyn scrummaging well, Hardy was good for the second test but struggled badly Saturday; I have to wonder why Gareth Davies wasn't given a chance. We should be good for the bulk of the players who toured (& didn't play) to be back for a good pre season.

I think we need to build in a mid week game or two so that players do actually play rugby when on tour.

I have not watched any of the gams due to not having
SKY sports. What i would like to know is, is there any person who should not play again for Wales Or do you expect every one to be in the next 6nations??