Wales Summer Tour

First topic message reminder :

Original opening post answered, changed to tour thread...:

So Welsh summer squad has been anounced as :-

Wales squad

Forwards: Rob Evans (Scarlets) (25 Caps), Nicky Smith (Ospreys) (18 Caps), Elliot Dee (Dragons) (7 Caps), Ryan Elias (Scarlets) (2 Caps), Rhodri Jones (Ospreys) (16 Caps), Samson Lee (Scarlets) (38 Caps), Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Blues) (2 Caps), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs) (31 Caps), Adam Beard (Ospreys) (2 Caps), Bradley Davies (Ospreys) (62 Caps), Seb Davies (Cardiff Blues) (4 Caps), Aaron Wainwright (Dragons) (*uncapped), Cory Hill (Dragons) (15 Caps), James Davies (Scarlets) (1 Cap), Ellis Jenkins (Cardiff Blues) (6 Caps), Ross Moriarty (Gloucester) (20 Caps), Josh Turnbull (Cardiff Blues) (8 Caps).

Backs: Aled Davies (Scarlets) (8 Caps),  Gareth Davies (Scarlets) (32 Caps), Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues) (*uncapped), Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues) (15 Caps), Rhys Patchell (Scarlets) (8 Caps), Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets) (6 Caps), Owen Watkin (Ospreys) (4 Caps), Scott Williams (Scarlets) (55 Caps), Josh Adams (Worcester Warriors) (2 Caps), Hallam Amos (Dragons) (15 Caps), George North (Ospreys) (73 Caps), Tom Prydie (Scarlets) (5 Caps).

Red indicated "call-up".

Withdrawn from Original Named Squad or replaced due to injury:  Luke Charteris (Bath) (74 Caps), Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues) (11 Caps), Aaron Shingler (Scarlets) (17 Caps), Steff Evans (Scarlets) (9 Caps), Wyn Jones (Scarlets) (8 Caps).


2018 summer tour schedule
Saturday, 2 June KO 2200hrs BST [1700hrs local]

South Africa 20 - 22 Wales (Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, USA)

Team details:

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Saturday, 9 June KO 2040hrs BST [1640hrs local]

Argentina 10 - 23 Wales (San Juan del Bicentenario Stadium, San Juan)

Team details:

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Saturday, 16 June KO 2040hrs BST [1640hrs local]

Argentina 12 - 30 Wales (Estadio Brigadier López, Santa Fe)

Team details:

TV Coverage reported by WOL to be Channel 4, in their first outing into Rugby coverage before they take on some European coverage next season.

So... thread open for discussion on the Wales Summer tour 2018.


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So 3 out of 3. Great Summer Tour, have we learned anything, are Wales and England "Poles apart"...

[quote="ScarletSpiderman"]3 Samson Lee (didn’t feature)

And just for the Fail type audiences
1 Gethin Jenkins
12 Jamie Roberts / Gavin Henson[/quote]

Front 5 isn't going to change much but I think Owens will struggle to keep his place, Dee and Elias both looking very good. I find Owens to be hit and miss too often. Hill is at risk of being bumped out by Beard, Ball will struggle to get back in. The most changes will be in the back row and back 3.

I'm back on the idea of two 7s, although the opposition kind of dictates who that's going to be. We beat up Argentina in the forwards, that gave the smaller guys like Cubby the chance for a field day but as we all know he struggled against Leinster. I think he's going to find himself back down the pecking order for those reasons. Shingler and Navidi are still the best available IMO so I'm thinking perhaps a Scarlets style back-row, something like 6. Shingler 7. Warburton 8. Navidi - that's assuming Warburton is injury free and is back on good form. It's also an extremely physical back-row. If he regains his good form then I would like to see Ollie Griffiths also in with a chance at 7, and even if that happens he will struggle to get into the team.

Back 3, well Liam Williams was extremely underwhelming this season, it's been the case since he joined Saracens. Halfpenny hasn't played badly for Wales, but at the moment I just find him to be solid and unspectacular (like Scott Williams). Amos and Adams have played well all season. North may be finding some form again. Evans is the other in-form winger, while Hewitt has the worst luck ever. If Biggar comes good again then I would still like to see Patchell feature from 15, very good attacking player. The other options at 10 include Anscombe and Owen Williams, not bad.

It will be interesting to see how Rhun Williams goes next season at Cardiff Blues, he has looked very promising before his injury, and is a big lad for a youngster, hopefully he can kick on like some of the other young guys have, he could very well add some much needed competition for the back three spots.

I don't see Rhun Williams troubling the selectors.

mikey_dragon wrote:I'm back on the idea of two 7s, although the opposition kind of dictates who that's going to be. We beat up Argentina in the forwards, that gave the smaller guys like Cubby the chance for a field day but as we all know he struggled against Leinster. I think he's going to find himself back down the pecking order for those reasons. Shingler and Navidi are still the best available IMO so I'm thinking perhaps a Scarlets style back-row, something like 6. Shingler 7. Warburton 8. Navidi - that's assuming Warburton is injury free and is back on good form. It's also an extremely physical back-row.

Navidi did brilliantly in the absence of other players - much better than I thought he would - but Faletau's a shoo-in, surely?

Moriarty, Jenkins, Faletau.

That will sh*t anyone up

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:I don't see Rhun Williams troubling the selectors.

Why's that ?

I just don't think he's Test standard.

I’d forgotten all about Navidi! And how could I?! He’s been one of my favourite players for Wales this year.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:I just don't think he's Test standard.

Well of course he's not, yet. He is only young. He has a lot to learn, that's why I said it would be interesting to see how he goes next season. He has all the attributes to play in the back three, quick, big, good hands, strong and can tackle.

He is not quite there yet, but with a full season behind him, who knows ?

I bet you would have said the same about players like Josh Adams, Thomos Francis and Cory Hill before they were tried as well.

You'll have seen more of him than I have Dowlais, but he's ordinary from what I've seen. I don't remember him doing much for the under-20s either.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:I'm back on the idea of two 7s, although the opposition kind of dictates who that's going to be. We beat up Argentina in the forwards, that gave the smaller guys like Cubby the chance for a field day but as we all know he struggled against Leinster. I think he's going to find himself back down the pecking order for those reasons. Shingler and Navidi are still the best available IMO so I'm thinking perhaps a Scarlets style back-row, something like 6. Shingler 7. Warburton 8. Navidi - that's assuming Warburton is injury free and is back on good form. It's also an extremely physical back-row.

Navidi did brilliantly in the absence of other players - much better than I thought he would - but Faletau's a shoo-in, surely?

Supposedly, no back-row is a shoo-in right now. Faletau might be one of our best players but didn’t feature much last season and like you’ve alluded to, other guys did well in his absence. I rated Navidi long ago and Shingler has been one of the best blindsides in Europe over the last two seasons so they aren’t guys I’d want to see dropped, however Shingler is out until December and not sure about Navidi but he misses the beginning of the season.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:You'll have seen more of him than I have Dowlais, but he's ordinary from what I've seen. I don't remember him doing much for the under-20s either.

He was okay but can’t see him being in contention even if fit, and he’s skinny. Jarrod Evans looks very good,his form has shunted Anscombe to 15.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:We will see how weak Argentina are on Saturday.  The Scots, who lost to the USA, are playing them.  If Scotland win the yes they are poor, if not then maybe there should be praise heaped on our lads.

Not just poor very poor, Argentina are in an awful place & perspective should be had here.

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:We will see how weak Argentina are on Saturday.  The Scots, who lost to the USA, are playing them.  If Scotland win the yes they are poor, if not then maybe there should be praise heaped on our lads.

Not just poor very poor, Argentina are in an awful place & perspective should be had here.

Unfortunately that result really has put some perspective things for me. Scotland fielded a side missing a few of their star names, in key positions, and walked away with a bigger win than us. That doesn’t take away from the Welsh results in anyway, but I hope it’ll stop us getting too carried away with the hopes the Welsh setup have turned a corner.

I know what you mean, SS, but even though Argentina wee poor we’ve played many poor teams, at home, with our second string and really struggled (thinking the ‘lesser’ autumn international). Georgia, Fiji, Japan, etc. That’s just what we do! So for our 2nd string to go away from home and get 3 wins is still a good achievement and, for me, signs that we’ve got some depth and yes perhaps turned a corner a little.

Our strength in depth has improved a little for sure. That will be vital for those damned midweek games in the world cup. The first team needs to improve going into next season though, and they need to beat Australia in the autumn.

It was the Puma's last game with a coach who has quite obviously lost the locker room, they really didn't want to be there.