Samoan Victory Will Help Concentrate Welsh Minds?

What a superb result today for the Samoans, and at the same time this has given Wales plenty to think about. Any lingering doubts Wales had will be completely banished after that performance. The fact is, Wales have to go into this World Cup hitting the ground running or they have little chance of progressing out of the group stage.

The August matches are NOT friendlies, but are matches which have to be won at all costs with Wales putting down a marker in terms of their number one match day 22, correct tactics, aggression, getting the correct mindset and so on. To be fair, both matches against England will be at least the equal of the six nations in terms of performance and intensity. Why? - because they have to be. The Argentinians will bring a similar game to the English which will suit Wales as it will ensure that our game has to be spot on at the breakdown and the set piece.

My question to everybody is "has this Samoan victory today helped or hindered the Welsh cause or does it cause even greater concern at the possibility of us getting smashed out of the world cup in the group stages?

What dya think.

I just think it confirms what we all knew...which is that the Samoans are no mugs and if you don't do your homework and don't approach it as you would for any other top team then you are going to get beat....and hurt.

Wales have to go out with the right attitude and game plan to get the right results in the WC and I mean for every team in our group. Lets not forget that SA and the 2 PI teams are not the only sides in our group.

I do worry, because Samoa and Fiji will be coming in to the WC with all of their top players, and when we have faced them in the past they have been missing players who would only have made the team stronger. Also they've had time to bond which is something that we're not used to when we see them in the AI's

We need to get our game plan sorted, identify where we want to play the game and how to go about it and execute with precision. We need to do this against all of the teams in our group because Namibia wont be mugs. They'll be physical just like every other team in our group.

On a positive note, if we manage to get out of the group then these games should set us in good stead to face who ever we may face in the quater finals.

According to a certain apparently Welsh poster on the match thread this morning, Samoa's win "let's Wales off the hook". I couldn't establish what it meant at the time, and I'm at a loss now.

Can anyone comment?

TheGreyGhost wrote:According to a certain apparently Welsh poster on the match thread this morning, Samoa's win "let's Wales off the hook". I couldn't establish what it meant at the time, and I'm at a loss now.

Can anyone comment?

It may be expressing a forlorn hope that Samoa have now become the bogey-team for Australia instead of Wales. It's true that in the World Cup, the winner of Pool C will play the runner-up of Pool D in the quarter-finals - and that could be Australia v Samoa again.
But it wouldn't help Wales at this World Cup, as for that to happen they'd almost definitely be out at the Pool stage.
Maybe the comment is not referring to this World Cup but to games in the years to come. If so, that's small comfort to me as a Wales supporter since the Cliff Morgan era!

I'm assuming Wales will be trying to avoid the wooden spoon in their group. The match up with Nambia is looking like the bottom of the group decider now.

Not sure if Namibia can pull it off, but they will be targeting victory against Wales as the other 3 side in the group are to good for them.

If Wales go into their World Cup pool with anything other than the thought that they were going to be in a right battle from start to finish (especially after 2007), then they will be knocked out. Maybe this match will show them just how tough Samoa as an opposition can be, but I'm sure that no-one in the Welsh camp were taken Samoa for granted and this result will just re-affirm what they believed, rather than teaching them something new.

Wales can beat Samoa, Fiji and Namibia, and they can do it with a bit of style and end up with bonus point victories against all three. But you don't do that by playing 7s style rugby, you do that by being very clinical in everything you do.

"Wales can beat Samoa, Fiji and Namibia, and they can do it with a bit of style and end up with bonus point victories against all three. "

Don't agree. I think Wales will be lucky to scrape victories over Samoa or Fiji.

But have they peaked too soon?

Samoa that is, not Wales!

Mr Thunder wrote:I'm assuming Wales will be trying to avoid the wooden spoon in their group. The match up with Nambia is looking like the bottom of the group decider now.

Not sure if Namibia can pull it off, but they will be targeting victory against Wales as the other 3 side in the group are to good for them.

As the rankings suggest too genius. Poor wum 1/10.

[quote="Risca Rev"][quote="Mr Thunder"]I'm assuming Wales will be trying to avoid the wooden spoon in their group. The match up with Nambia is looking like the bottom of the group decider now.

Not sure if Namibia can pull it off, but they will be targeting victory against Wales as the other 3 side in the group are to good for them.[/quote]

As the rankings suggest too genius. Poor wum 1/10.[/quote]

It seems the wums are starting to trickel into here

Mr Thunder wrote:I'm assuming Wales will be trying to avoid the wooden spoon in their group. The match up with Nambia is looking like the bottom of the group decider now.

Not sure if Namibia can pull it off, but they will be targeting victory against Wales as the other 3 side in the group are to good for them.

Not sure how one would even go about breaking down this idiotic quote.

nottins_jones wrote:

Mr Thunder wrote:I'm assuming Wales will be trying to avoid the wooden spoon in their group. The match up with Nambia is looking like the bottom of the group decider now.

Not sure if Namibia can pull it off, but they will be targeting victory against Wales as the other 3 side in the group are to good for them.

Not sure how one would even go about breaking down this idiotic quote.

I wouldn't bother even trying

I'm sure that Wales were already very aware that there is no margin for error against this very talented Samoan side and this won't affect their build-up or preparation.

I was delighted when I saw their result against Australia, but I wasn't at all surprised. I've been expecting them to take a major scalp ever since I saw them tour the NH last autumn. They could have easily come off with two victories against Scotland and Ireland in two very close, hard-fought games that just went against them.

Don't forget they were also pretty good against England.

They're a good team. I think Wales are better in some key areas but I expect a close game.

I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to it.

I can't tell you how much we aren't looking forward to it....

But we do have a better front 5 than Aus so perhaps they can do some damage against the PI's. I think we can win it if we play tactically and our players execute it correctly on the day; but only by a small margin.

It's fantastic for Samoa, but lets also remind ourselves of one thing, in every previous match Samoa and Fiji have been massive underdogs against Wales. Lets see how they handle being evens, or even favorites. It's easy to be an underdog, but having the pressure of being expected to do well is very different.
Another thing worth noting is Australia have been throwing the ball around willy nilly for the past few years, that is exactly what you cant do against island teams. Wales won't play that style.

Yeah, the scrum and the control at 10 is where I think you will edge it. But if Census Johnston starts and Stephen Jones doesn't... well that would be interesting.

Big CJ is one of the key figures in this game. Didn't play earlier- excellent tighthead.

Alyn, I think those two teams are still underdogs realistically. Wales are favourites to go through behind South Africa.

The Welsh minds should already be focussed! The Welsh shouldn't even be complacent against Namibia! The Namibian captain Jacques Burger will be eyeing up Welsh players to smash. Wouldn't be surprised if Wales pick up an injury or two even if they win comfortably.

This is the pool of hard knocks and hits. Wales' success will depend on key players staying fit in my opinion.

Wales should qualify but they know they will need to be at the top of their game for the Fiji and Samoa games.

I would think that the Welsh minds would have been focused on how to beat the Samoans for some time.

This match shouldn't be the wake up call they need, but rather a serious reminder of what their task would be.

I don't think Namibia will be troubling us much. They're a 3rd tier team that shipped what was it, over a 100 points to South Africa in a world cup warm up then 80 odd points to France in that world cup? Why do you rate them, have they been poaching more South Africans for their team?

Wales won't be taking them lightly, Wales will be going for maximum points.

nottins_jones wrote:Wales won't be taking them lightly, Wales will be going for maximum points.

A true sign of respect would be to look for the win first.

luckless, what's the reason we're going to the World Cup? Is it just that we're turning up out of respect? I'm lost... I could have sworn we were going there with the intention of trying to win every game we played in an attempt to take the biggest prize....

Nottins_jones, my point is that you can come unstuck if you assume a match is won before it's kicked off. You might have seen Australia kicking early penalties for touch instead of at goal against Samoa the other day. You take care of winning the game before you start thinking of bonus points.

True enough, but I weren't indicating that a victory is in the bag. I'm mostly confident of a win over Namibia in our dreadful World Cup pool and I also believe it's the only bonus point win we could get (4 tries against SA, Samoa & Fiji is a no chance imo). But I suppose nobody is going to castrate me for saying we WILL win versus Namibia, their record of zero wins in the RWC speaks for itself and maybe it's just me but I can't see them getting their first ever win from this pool.

"Warren Gatland's Wales have been warned they will be facing a partisan crowd when they face Samoa at the World Cup after the South Sea islanders became the hottest ticket in town.

There has been a huge surge in demand to watch the Polynesians since their 33-22 demolition of Australia at the weekend.

Ticket sales have gone through the roof and their September 30 clash with holders South Africa sold out within a matter of hours of their historic away victory over the Wallabies."

The Wail



Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/rugbynation/rugby-news/2011/07/21/wales-world-cup-task-toughens-as-samoa-become-biggest-draw-91466-29091781/#ixzz1Sis66400

What a rubbish paper. You'd expect them to know that 'South Sea Islanders' isn't the most politically correct term.

Actually, it's no surprise that they didn't know.

The PI teams certainly look alot stronger for this WC than at any other time i have seen them. Wales have their work cut out for them but i am sure that they will step it up. Its just how much those games will take their toll on the Welsh players.