Can Wales beat South Africa?

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Can Wales beat South Africa in their first game at the world cup?

Wales have come close on many occasions since their only victory over them in 1999. It seems to be a psychological blip even worse than the one that prevented Wales from beating England for all those years.

South Africas results haven't been the best of late & only managed to beat a 2nd string NZ side yesterday.

I think Wales can do it, but it will require a lot of things to go right for them. If the Welsh lineout is anything like it was against England or Argentina then we have no hope. Why they don't just throw it to the first man to secure possession is beyond me? The front 5 will need to be extremely aggressive & we will need at least SOME level of creativity between the centres. We can be confident in our back row. I think we should keep faith in Faletau he is the man in possession of the 8 shirt & he is full of enthusiasm and likes to go forward. Full back is going to be an extremely difficult decision as we will need someone who can cope with the boot of Francois Steyn. I would probably go with Preistland at 15 as he seems the most composed at the moment.

Even though I think that Hook should start at 10, we have serious problems in the centres. Defensively we are good, but there doesn't seem to be enough intelligence or spark between Davies & Roberts at the moment (Although Davies's inside pass to North yesterday was sublime). You would want someone like Hook or Henson at 12 & now we don't even have Henson. I think Roberts is more effective at 13 so I would want to see this midfield...

IF HOOK STARTS AT 10

10. HOOK
12. DAVIES
13. ROBERTS

IF JONES STARTS AT 10

10. JONES
12. HOOK
13. ROBERTS

I definitely want to see North brought in as much as possible, running angles or acting as another outside centre. He is a big weapon.

OzT wrote:

Draigoch wrote:Warbuton vs Brussow....crikey..

Wasn't Brussow injured Saturday and may be out for a while?

russow is fine, he had a cut above his nose.

Does that make him a cut above though

Yeah, a cut above the rest.........er sorry i mean a cut above the nose

That's beter Biltong - I was beginning to think you'd lost your sense of humour - Well ground out win on the weekend against tough opposition

RubyGuby wrote:That's beter Biltong - I was beginning to think you'd lost your sense of humour - Well ground out win on the weekend against tough opposition

Yeah well, I don't lose my sense of humour often, but last night I was cuaght off guard, can't remeber who it was, perhaps you who said North will run at our small wings, perhaps it was a joke but it was late night i was tired and didn't catch the humour, my bad.

Adam Jones, along with Warrbutton is Wales' most indispensable player. The difference he made to the scrum against the reputable Argies in comparison to the week before was unreal.

If we don't have a platform agains the Bok's we won't stand a chance, but with Adam back, we'll have that.

Wrap him up in cotton wool. Wales don't have the depth other teams have, I believe we can beat the best but we're going to need our World class 3 & 7 fit and on form.

Can't shake my doom and gloom feeling about kicking straight to the opposition. It has cost us so much in other games and we're still doing it as a first option. SOMEONE KNOWLEDGEABLE please explain this suicidal tactic( which no-one else seems to do anymore)

dummy_switch_pop wrote:Adam Jones, along with Warrbutton is Wales' most indispensable player. The difference he made to the scrum against the reputable Argies in comparison to the week before was unreal.

If we don't have a platform agains the Bok's we won't stand a chance, but with Adam back, we'll have that.

Wrap him up in cotton wool. Wales don't have the depth other teams have, I believe we can beat the best but we're going to need our World class 3 & 7 fit and on form.

Our lack of depth is a real worry. By his own admission, Warbs is ready for an injury and we have no 7 to replace him..I also question the wisdom of taking a prop who is still not fit and hasn't played rugby for 8 months.

It's keeping me awake at night! why kick in field to the opposition. Anyone out there with a sensible answer?

If we kick in field to the opposition we have a chance of gaining yardage when they run it back but only if we are up quick and are able to be offensive in the tackle gaining turnovers as against England. With our line out it's probably the best percentage option. Additionally this will keep the ball in play longer and maybe Wales are relying on superior fitness as they have shown recently. The problem against SA is that they are better in all departments and masters at retaining posession. We still have to try to do what's best for us though and the above just might be the best as I think we are equal to them behind the scrum. .

Gavstar

In theory because we back our defence to be able to turn the ball over and create attacking threat from there.

I have a good feeling about Warbs as captain. I get the same impression of him that I got when Ryan Jones first came on the scene. Shame Ryan seems to have lost the joy of playing

Thanks for those words of comfort and wisdom RubyGuby, but unfortunately I cant see it happening against th SH sides. The team should develop their opposition lineout skills, which are nil at the moment.
We dont try to disrupt, or it seems to me even bother to read where the ball is going on their throw, whereas opposition teams work us out in a flash !!

WOW. The poll on this thread illustrates that 30% of 606v2 posters are living in a fantasy land.

TheGreyGhost wrote:WOW. The poll on this thread illustrates that 30% of 606v2 posters are living in a fantasy land.

By that, you mean they are Welsh?

Wales is a fantasy land - Fxxxing great place though

It was on the 21st May alright. Leinster abú.

De plane! De plane!

Strange thing is I work with a number of Saffers in th hospital who have some genuine concern about this game. They are ardent rugby followers like most Saffers and know their rugby inside out. However they see Wales as being able to cause a lot of problems for their team. Its strange when you actually talk face to face as opposed to having this sort of juvenile cyber existance. The resonance of the rugby discussion then takes on a greater maturity where mutual respect and reasoned debate are often the winners.

RubyGuby wrote:Strange thing is I work with a number of Saffers in th hospital who have some genuine concern about this game. They are ardent rugby followers like most Saffers and know their rugby inside out. However they see Wales as being able to cause a lot of problems for their team. Its strange when you actually talk face to face as opposed to having this sort of juvenile cyber existance. The resonance of the rugby discussion then takes on a greater maturity where mutual respect and discussion is often the winner.

Are you sure these Saffers weren't patients in that hospital ??

About time you got that sense of humour back Bilton. No they are not patients and in all seriousness I find them the best people to talk rugby with, it's in their blood and their awareness and appreciation of all things rugby. They have both passion and reason whilst so often most of the welsh have just passion (apologies to certain members on here) When we discuss rugby it could go on forever - I find it refreshing.

HURLEY_BURLEY wrote:Are you sure these Saffers weren't patients in that hospital ??

Absolutely mental!

RubyGuby wrote:About time you got that sense of humour back Bilton. No they are not patients and in all seriousness I find them the best people to talk rugby with, it's in their blood and their awareness and appreciation of all things rugby. They have both passion and reason whilst so often most of the welsh have just passion (apologies to certain members on here) When we discuss rugby it could go on forever - I find it refreshing.

Yeah, we do love to talk, live, eat and breath rugby.

That's why I never understood the Spitting Image song

You know just before the leopard is about to strike its prey it will often stop, and feign indifference, lick a paw and appear uninterested.

Don't be too fooled by your workmates. They are being ever so polite.

Quite simply put Wales are going to talk the talk like they've done for a long time now .But can they cash the cheques Gatland writes? We shall see. Too many people saw the Boks B's getting manhandled on tour and suddenly think they can beat the world champs. What people fail to understand is that Bok B's getting thrashed by Nz and Aus does not mean any random team will come and smack us .Wales in particular should know about this considering the two games played nowhere near full strength last year .Boks last year played twice without ,brusssow ,schalk ,fourie and Fdp to name just a few and they still won!!!

So i fail to see the logic in thinking the boks are weak enough to lose to Wales come September with a full contingent of stars and playing in more familiar territory.The Boks are not there for the taking dont kid yourselves as the Aussies almost found out 2 weeks ago when they escaped thanks to the Boks lack of match fitness after 8 weeks off. So unless your team has a silver fern or a wallaby and maybe even wears the Blue of France dont for a second think you'll catch them sleeping

Hallelujah, a fellow Bok Supporter.

I feel so emotional now, I had to do this on my own for too long.

Where the feck are you lot going with this, if you read the thread I'm guessing Boks by 15 and Wales have a 50/50 match against Samoa - That 50% each just in case you cerebral boys think I'm suggesting that'll be the score line. Maybe it's only the ones with the grey matter that get to travel.

Is that the second one on here? Unbelievable!

hahahahaha help has arrived boet! i'd been jumping from forum to forum after 606 was closed until i stumbled onto this one

dont get me wrong , Wales have the potential to win .. but will they win ? Boks have too much to prove this year after a horrible 2010.That plus the new defence system which still needs to be slightly perfected but is looking good already

That's a bit better BullsBok - I was beginning to think that Bok was afrikaner for hit - Good luck v Wales

That scrambling defence worked on Saturday, but I wouldn't have thought they'd been too pleased that they had to make a few last ditch tackles, good as they were. Wouldn't do to have the line pierced quite so easily against a quicker side, as usually once thru the line they will usually touch down.

You were not the only SA supporter on here were you biltong? Sure there are a few

Bullsbok wrote:hahahahaha help has arrived boet! i'd been jumping from forum to forum after 606 was closed until i stumbled onto this one

Welkom Boet. I am outnumbered by about 3million welsh to 1 and 5million Irish to one.

There are a few Ozzies and New Zealanders here that help me out from time to time, but my hands hurt from all the lone ranger battles I have had to fight.

OzT, I saw another south african supporter White Lightning a while back, but not again since.

Yer the 23 linebreaks statistic was a bit shocking tbh.But seeing as only one of those linebreaks was turned into a try thanks to some die hard scrambling i'm reasonably happy.

Funny enough the Welsh game against England featured some never say never defense from the welsh which could mean the Sep 11 game could be a tight affair dominated by kickers . In that case i'm very glad it'll be Morne Steyn with Bok kicking duties.

In fairness, i cant see Wales beating SA. They can do but they wont. Its just like Ireland v France, we can beat them but we dont.
I have no idea why, it just happens that way

I just subjected myself to the Wales Agentina game and it was pretty much all Argentina in that first half which is damn good for a side that hasn't played any footy as a unit. For long periods against England Wales couldn't get the ball either. Scrambling defence is fine for a while but if you're doing it all night something's wrong. Wales are going to need plenty of ball to have any chance against SA and they're going to have to commit more to the breakdown. I was impressed by Hook's ripping skills... it looks good when it comes off, not so much when it doesn't

It was nice to see the Argentines emotional hearing their anthem, I fall asleep whenever I'm reminded that I'm girt by sea.

"Biltongbek & Bullsbok"
Say that 10 times fast after 6 pints of Castle lager !

Anyway, as a neutral Irish poster, I cannot see how Wales can beat S.A. Wales have not shown anything in the last yr or two to suggest they can do that. No offence Welsh fans. I will be cheering for ye and all - I just think ye are getting a bit carried away in the last few weeks.

HURLEY_BURLEY wrote: No offence Welsh fans. I will be cheering for ye and all - I just think ye are getting a bit carried away in the last few weeks.

Says somebody from a country of people that have been talking up a probable semi final place on the basis of one near annual beating of England . I actually think our recent wins haven't altered anything and we'll still have to dig very deep to beat Samoa and Fiji. I don't see us beating SA, but you never know.

biltongbek wrote:I used that match because Welshjohn was telling me about the Springbok team then being a better one than the current team.

I think they were playing a lot better than the side are currently even though there hasnt been a great deal of change in personnel. Surely you'd be the first to admit their form hasn't been as good as it was around that time. They were nearly unbeatable with their first choice line-up.

Full Credit wrote: I fall asleep whenever I'm reminded that I'm girt by sea.

LOL!!!

but abounded in nature's gifts!!!!!!

OzT wrote:

Full Credit wrote: I fall asleep whenever I'm reminded that I'm girt by sea.

LOL!!!

but abounded in nature's gifts!!!!!!

Aw common.. could have been worse... could've been song of australia, wlatzing or GSTQ!!!!

Hurley Burley - your cheering is appreciated mate, will reciprocate without doubt - good luck