Wales 2018/2019 - Fixture list included and squad to be added

First topic message reminder :

Never too early right? Warren Gatland, one of the leading coaches in world rugby, will step down after the 2018/19 season with fellow Kiwi and current Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac succeeding him. Gatland is Wales’ longest serving head coach in the professional era.

2018 AUTUMN TESTS

(at Principality Stadium, Cardiff)

Saturday, 3 November

Wales v Scotland (14:45 GMT)

Saturday, 10 November

Wales v Australia (17:20 GMT)

Saturday, 17 November

Wales v Tonga (14:30 GMT)

Saturday, 24 November

Wales v South Africa (17:20 GMT)

2019 SIX NATIONS

Friday, 1 February

France v Wales (Stade de France; 20:00 GMT)

Saturday, 9 February

Italy v Wales (Stadio Olimpico; 16:45 GMT)

Saturday, 23 February

Wales v England (Principality Stadium; 16:45 GMT)

Saturday, 9 March

Scotland v Wales (Murrayfield; 14:15 GMT)

Saturday, 16 March

Wales v Ireland (Principality Stadium; 14:45 GMT)

2019 RUGBY WORLD CUP WARM-UPS

Sunday, 11 August

England v Wales (Twickenham; ko tbc)

Saturday, 17 August

Wales v England (Principality Stadium; ko tbc)

Saturday, 31 August

Wales v Ireland (Principality Stadium; ko tbc)

Saturday, 7 September

Ireland v Wales (Aviva Stadium; ko tbc)

2019 RUGBY WORLD CUP - Pool D

Monday, 23 September

Wales v Georgia (Toyota Stadium, Toyota City; 11:15 BST)

Sunday, 2 September

Wales v Australia (Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo; 08:45 BST)

Wednesday, 9 October

Wales v Fiji (Oita Stadium, Oita; 10:45 BST)

Sunday, 13 October

Wales v Uruguay (Kumamoto Prefectural Athletic Stadium, Kumamoto City; 09:15 BST)

*Note that dates and times are subject to change

Not out of ordinary to hope for an autumn clean sweep and if we are to do well at the World Cup then that way of thinking becomes necessity. Australia will be our toughest game, SA will be twice as good as the last 5 SA teams we’ve played against. 6N starts with two away games with France up first - that I think we can win but need to move away from the attritional play, it didn’t work last season. Should be a close tournament with also what I suspect will be an improved Italy. Those RWC warm-ups will be brutal, but if held in August then all teams should be at full strength injuries permitting. Pretty good preparation, but need to win all home games at least.

If the World Cup fixture list is correct then it works in our favour. Hopefully we go in on the back of some momentum, we face a tough but very winnable game first up. Short turnaround between Fiji and Uruguay, but Uruguay is the team you’d like to make changes against. I think we should make some wholesale changes for that, perhaps a similar team to what recently faced off against the Puma’s. We should still get maximum points.

My extended Wales squad for the entire season (players added and removed at Gatlands discretion at different points throughout the season).
Prop: Rob Evans, Nicky Smith, Wyn Jones, Samson Lee, Tomas Francis, Leon Brown, Dillon Lewis
Hooker: Ken Owens, Elliott Dee, Ryan Elias, Scott Otten
Lock: Alun Wyn Jones, Bradley Davies, Cory Hill, Jake Ball, Adam Beard
Back row: Aaron Shingler, Ross Moriarty, Taulupe Faletau, Josh Navidi, Justin Tipuric, Ellis Jenkins, Ollie Griffiths
Scrum half: Gareth Davies, Tomos Williams, Rhodri Williams, Jonny Evans, Rhys Webb
Outside half: Rhys Patchell, Gareth Anscombe, Dan Biggar, Jarrod Evans, Dan Jones
Centre: Hadleigh Parkes, Jonathan Davies, Owen Watkin, Scott Williams, Cory Allen
Back three: Liam Williams, George North, Steffan Evans, Josh Adams, Hallam Amos, Dafydd Howells, Leigh Halfpenny

Actual squads to be added below each time they are announced.


Under Armour Series: Wales v Scotland, Australia, Tonga & South Africa
Venue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff Dates: Saturdays 3, 10, 17 & 24 November

Forwards: Rob Evans (Scarlets), Wyn Jones (Scarlets), Nicky Smith (Ospreys), Elliot Dee (Dragons), Ryan Elias (Scarlets), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Leon Brown (Dragons), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Blues), Jake Ball (Scarlets), Adam Beard (Ospreys), Bradley Davies (Ospreys), Cory Hill (Dragons), Alun Wyn Jones (capt, Ospreys), Ellis Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Dan Lydiate (Ospreys), Ross Moriarty (Dragons), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Aaron Wainwright (Dragons).
Backs: Aled Davies (Ospreys), Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues), Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues), Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints), Rhys Patchell (Scarlets), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Tyler Morgan (Dragons), Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets), Owen Watkin (Ospreys), Josh Adams (Worcester Warriors), Steffan Evans (Scarlets), Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets), Jonah Holmes (Leicester Tigers), Luke Morgan (Ospreys), George North (Ospreys), Liam Williams (Saracens).
https://www.606v2.com/t67927p50-wales-2018-2019-fixture-list-included-and-squad-to-be-added#3743020

I can’t pretend to have followed Humphries since he went North, but a few people I saw on Twitter seemed to think it was a good appointment.

Hayward was always likely to get the job, as Pivac was always going to stick with who he knew on the whole. I think we could maybe have set our ambitions a little higher, but then nobody comes to mind who would be available, other than Dragons’ two defensive gurus Jackman and Marnitz.

That said, it is the Fail and it has been known to post a load of guff before.

Hayward was a shocking U20s coach and is now a shocking defence coach - shocking all-round. I’ve also never heard anyone Scottish speak highly of Humphries, or Scott Johnson for that matter, I just remember them being below average at Ospreys. I haven’t followed it much since either.

There must be a good defensive guru somewhere. Maybe Andy Farrell is finishing with Ireland in 2019....

I’d say we need to see how the coaching team works together with the players Wales have at their disposal.

The Scarlets defence under Heywood has been pretty solid. This season it has been iffy. But when you look at the team we were feilding when the defence was solid, there were the lines of Barclay and Beirne in there. Surely Tipuric and AWJ are capable of producing the same levels (or better) than those two, in comparison to the lads the Scarlets have fielded to replace them.

Comparing the Edwards defence that was more about not giving an inch, to the Heywood style which more about poaching the ball, is a bit awkward. Both have different plus and minus sides. And both favour different types of players. At the moment Wales have a very good group of poaching forwards that would suit the Heywood style. We could field a back row of 6-Tipuric, 7-Jenkins, 8-Navidi (Loki g at a non scarlet backrow so there’s no bias) that would suit that type of game, and also favour the open running game too. Add to that Ollie Griffiths, Faletau, Moriarty and a few others and there’s a group of players that would thrive in a turnover based game.

As for the backs defence, Scott Williams and Owen Watkin look to rip the ball as often as possible. So again would suit a turn over defence as opposed to a hit them backwards one.

Let’s give these coaches a chance before condemning them. And also let’s remember there are a number of Scarlets who are in the squad the last few seasons and try not to scream out about favouritism when the same happens with Pivac’s first welsh squad.

Hayward was given a chance with the U20s and as defence coach at Scarlets, he was poor at both. No thanks, we don’t want another Howler or McBryde. I should have known better to expect a Turk to accept justified criticism of one of their coaches or players.

Anyway, Jones and Humphries named as Pivac’s assistants. Defence coach not yet named. Jenkins staying put at kicking coach.

Boom...straight to the Turk bs.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Boom...straight to the Turk bs.

Well are you a Turk or not?
Did Byron Hayward prove himself to be both an awful U20s coach and Scarlets defence coach, or not?

Try and be honest.

Under 20s was head coach, and Scarlets defence for the last two seasons has been pretty good. Not sure I’d ever really class him as a Turk, or even one of ours, he will always be Ebbw to me.

I asked if you were a Turk, not him. Scarlets defence hasn’t been that good even when they were beating everyone, they were just scoring more tries than the opposition. Yeah so he was awful in the role of head coach role which is what I was saying. We don’t want another McBryde or Howler. We had years of forwards being unable to carry effectively, and one backs move (Roberts or North crashball) among the backs. No thanks, we don’t want Hayward. Next.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/46695906

2020 tour to NZ in the pipeline. They’ll either be vulnerable, or have a fresh batch of world class players ready to dominate the world.

From the article it seems Pivac doesn’t want Hayward but is trying to be neutral about it. Apparently Mooar is ‘keen’ to work with him, but that’s probably BS too.

mikey_dragon wrote:https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/46695906

2020 tour to NZ in the pipeline. They’ll either be vulnerable, or have a fresh batch of world class players ready to dominate the world.

From the article it seems Pivac doesn’t want Hayward but is trying to be neutral about it. Apparently Mooar is ‘keen’ to work with him, but that’s probably BS too.

I expect after losing to Ireland in the RWC final NZ will be vulnerable

Ball and Patchell are injury worries. Whilst we are well covered, for now, those are two guys who could make a difference. Even worse for Scarlets as they’ve struggled with injuries badly this season.

Smith and Lydiate are further injury concerns. Smith is probably our best LH although not by much, and Lydiate played pretty well in the autumn.

If we’re down a LH then who comes in, Rhodri Jones? Navidi back playing is good news. With Jenkins (best open-side) a long-term casualty then Wainright will probably get more game time, and possibly Griffiths (if fit) over someone like Cross. Faletau might get picked but would have had just 1-2 weeks of game time by then.

Anyone heard news on Shingler? I thought he was due back Dec/Jan.

Shingler will be lucky if he is back before the World Cup, and even if he is back he won’t be likely to have a chance to get back to his best in time.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Shingler will be lucky if he is back before the World Cup, and even if he is back he won’t be likely to have a chance to get back to his best in time.

Such a shame, I heard he had to have a second op, or some cleaning up work done that has delayed his return. Good depth in the role but I really liked the way he was playing last year.

Yeah think it’s the clean out that’s added the extra time off. But to be fair, Shingler wasn’t overly rated before he had to step up and fill in during injuries. And now there’s depth and we shall see who the next player to do that will be. Personally I hope it’s Wainwright that gets a shot.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:Yeah think it’s the clean out that’s added the extra time off.  But to be fair, Shingler wasn’t overly rated before he had to step up and fill in during injuries.  And now there’s depth and we shall see who the next player to do that will be.  Personally I hope it’s Wainwright that gets a shot.

Wainwright is a very similar player to Shingler, athletic and a great tackler. It’s a shame that Jenkins is injured as I really liked the mix of him, Tipuric and Faletau as a concept, with Wainwright as the bencher...?

Six Nations fixtures (Times GMT)

Friday 1 Feb

France vs Wales, 20:00 (BBC and S4C)

Saturday 2 Feb

Scotland vs Italy, 14:15 (BBC)

Ireland vs England, 16:45 (ITV)



Saturday 9 Feb

Scotland vs Ireland, 14:15 (BBC)

Italy vs Wales, 16:45 (ITV and S4C)

Sunday 10 Feb

England vs France, 15:00 (ITV)



Saturday 23 Feb

France vs Scotland, 14:15 (BBC)

Wales vs England, 16:45 (BBC and S4C)

Sunday 24 Feb

Italy vs Ireland, 15:00 (ITV)



Saturday 9 Mar

Scotland vs Wales, 14:15 (BBC and S4C)

England vs Italy, 16:45 (ITV)

Sunday 10 Mar

Ireland vs France, 15:00 (ITV)



Saturday 16 Mar

Italy vs France, 12:30 (ITV)

Wales vs Ireland, 14:45 (BBC and S4C)

England vs Scotland, 17:00 (ITV)

With Talupe injured we are closer to grtting Wainwright, Tipuric and Moriarty/Navidi starting

A few players with fitness doubts named.

Happy with that. Really glad to see Tom Young’s added he deserves a chance.

Best replacement for Ellis Jenkins

Griffiths very hard done by, Turnbull ? A solid journeyman club player.

I don't know about that. As well as Griffiths played earlier in the season, he's only just back from injury.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:I don't know about that. As well as Griffiths played earlier in the season, he's only just back from injury.

I'd agree but he's picked players that are still injured. Griffiths doesn't look like hes missed any games.

maestegmafia wrote:Happy with that. Really glad to see Tom Young’s added he deserves a chance.

Best replacement for Ellis Jenkins

Sorry Maes, but I have to pick you up on this now as you've done it a few times. He's called Thomas Young, as in son of Dai Young! They always call him Thomas. Tom Youngs is the Leicester and England hooker, brother of scrum half Ben Youngs! I know I'm being pedantic.

From the squad picked, for France I would like to see a back row of

6. Wainwright
7. Tipuric
8. Navidi

20. Young

Moriarty to be involved once he's back to full fitness.

The Oracle wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:Happy with that. Really glad to see Tom Young’s added he deserves a chance.

Best replacement for Ellis Jenkins

Sorry Maes, but I have to pick you up on this now as you've done it a few times.  He's called Thomas Young, as in son of Dai Young!  They always call him Thomas.  Tom Youngs is the Leicester and England hooker, brother of scrum half Ben Youngs!   I know I'm being pedantic.  

Never apologise for being pedantic

On form the back row would have Ken at 8

ScarletSpiderman wrote:On form the back row would have Ken at 8

Much as we all think it probably would never happen, its now Kens point of difference in the squad; If required he can step up I've no doubt.

Pretty happy with the squad. I think the only inclusion I could question is Steff, but there we go.

I gather Gatland has mentioned having to name a bit of an extended squad, but I actually think I would now in a WC year to run the rule over a few more players. Then Griffiths and a few others could be looked at. That said, Griffiths does get injured at the wrong times sadly too.

Still, six Dragons is good anyway really

I think some lads are on there, thinking of Steff and injured lads, to try and keep the squad together leading towards the RWC.

Yeah, I get that if you’re established, you’re likely to get selected by Gatland now. I would probably have selected Lane, but he is only just back fit too.

Interesting to see that Tyler Morgan is with the WRU rehabbing this week, but not named in the squad.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

The Oracle wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:Happy with that. Really glad to see Tom Young’s added he deserves a chance.

Best replacement for Ellis Jenkins

Sorry Maes, but I have to pick you up on this now as you've done it a few times.  He's called Thomas Young, as in son of Dai Young!  They always call him Thomas.  Tom Youngs is the Leicester and England hooker, brother of scrum half Ben Youngs!   I know I'm being pedantic.  

Never apologise for being pedantic

It’s my spellcheck

Shame about Lane, I dont get it. He has a tonne more fight in him than Evans who is no Shane Williams and IMO won't cut it at the top level. I still there is time for Lane to make an impact this year with a view to being an RWC bolter.

Rosser too

A lot of injured players again, I just don’t get it.

I also still don’t get Turnbull. He’s too slow, and when in open play usually drops the ball or throws a pass to nobody. He looks good enough to make the Cardiff bench and come on as a defensive player, nothing more.

mikey_dragon wrote:A lot of injured players again, I just don’t get it.

I also still don’t get Turnbull. He’s too slow, and when in open play usually drops the ball or throws a pass to nobody. He looks good enough to make the Cardiff bench and come on as a defensive player, nothing more.

Hes a solid club player and to get the nod over Griffiths is laughable.

I'm not sure his versatility is a great selling point either, now that we've seen that Hill can cover back row (blindside at least) if needs be.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:I'm not sure his versatility is a great selling point either, now that we've seen that Hill can cover back row (blindside at least) if needs be.

Gatland is definitely looking a 'multi role' players towards the world cup. I'm sure Griffiths has played all across the back row too mind.

I can see a lock moving to the backrow but not the other way round.

Ollie Griffiths has won man of the match playing number eight this season. And it's not easy winning man of the match playing for the Dragons in any position!

I'm pretty sure he's won two men of the match - the other as an openside.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Ollie Griffiths has won man of the match playing number eight this season. And it's not easy winning man of the match playing for the Dragons in any position!

I'm pretty sure he's won two men of the match - the other as an openside.

He's won plenty across the backrow.

munkian wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:Ollie Griffiths has won man of the match playing number eight this season. And it's not easy winning man of the match playing for the Dragons in any position!

I'm pretty sure he's won two men of the match - the other as an openside.

He's won plenty across the backrow.

This season, I meant.

Turnbull isn't in competition with Ollie Griffiths. Griffiths is behind Navidi, Ellis Jenkins, Thomas Young etc. as a flanker who can play either side.

Turnbull is clearly Shingler's replacement. A rangey lineout option at blindside who can step into second row if required. More than that, though, as it's not like for like - he's experienced, knows the squad environment, brings experience, and presumably Gatland trusts him. We're 9 months away from a RWC. It's not the time to start picking the 5th+ openside choice. He's even behind James Davies who can't get a look in with Wales. His time might come under Pivac, but not now.

Too much Dragons bias here boys.

I don’t agree with Turnbull in the squad, but he’s probably more durable than Ollie Griffiths sadly. Plus, if we were looking at backrow places for Griffiths to go into, we could take one from Dragons anyway, with Moriarty being on the sidelines a bit too.

But as has been said, Gatland isn’t going to experiment in a RWC year. He will always go horses for courses where he can and not bring less experienced players into the training environment. He hasn’t seen Griffiths train etc (I don’t think), so the best chance Griffiths has is to stay fit longer. Gatland probably isn’t going to take the risk of him breaking down in training, when he is only just fit.

Yeah that's clearly in Turnbull's favour - he's been fit and playing for the last two months, while Griffiths hasn't.

Christ, I’ve just seen on Twitter it’s the first time he has been in the Six Nations squad for 8 years. Forget what I said about being used to the environment then. I just assumed he had been in squads more recently than that.

Should’ve used Aled Brew over Steff Evans, if we are going that far back.

I aree about Turnbull. just dont get it. He is not international class form or not. I also think Tipuric, who is sublime at club level, has never truly replicated that in a Welsh shirt. However he is probably the best option if Jenkins crocked

I hope Wainwright takes his chance. For me the RWC back row should be made up of this cadre

First choice: Faletau, Moriarty, Wainwright, Shingler, Lydiate, Jenkins

Second choice: Tipuric, Cubby Davies, Young, Navidi

3rd: Me, Turnbull, my mammy

It's definitely not the first time Turnbull's been involved with Wales for 8 years. He's played fairly recently - cba to look it up, but I feel he's toured in a Summer (2017?) since then, and perhaps made an appearance in an AI or two.

The likelihood is, Turnbull won't play in this tournament. He's there to hold tackle bags. It's better to have a 30ish year old do that, particularly when he can come in and not be a liability as an uncapped player would. But that's unlikely to happen.

Pie, Tipuric's probably Wales' second best player behind Faletau. Just because he isn't scoring length of the field tries for Wales doesn't mean he isn't ridiculously good. How many MOM awards in the Autumn? Three?

Wainwright and Lydiate don't come close in terms of quality. Faletau's marginally better because he's incredible. But even Jenkins and Shingler have done 'less' at test level (including Lions) than Tipuric.

I can only presume the people who don't rate Tipuric played prop or on the wing, or perhaps didn't play rugby at all and don't know very much about the game.

Nope - hasn't played for Wales since 2011.

miaow wrote:Turnbull won't play in this tournament. He's there to hold tackle bags. It's better to have a 30ish year old do that, particularly when he can come in and not be a liability as an uncapped player would.

This is one of the stupidest things I've read in a while. If an uncapped player's going to be a liability (not that Griffiths is uncapped) then we'd better not give a debut to anyone ever again.