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

Gatland does it again, picks a wildcard to get everyone talking about that and nothing else until the interest wears off. Did it with the last flanker guy...cant even remember his name. I hope Jonah has more luck. Pity Lane is injured but he has a glut of outside backs. In fact the squad looks strong with 8 certain picks not included it still looks none too shabby. I expect Wales will win at home v Scots and if Anscombe can finally reproduce his club form at the big house...could even go a clean sweep if they do beat Scots. Only SA ought to have a sniff at stopping them in Cardiff. Happy days for the men in red.

RiscaGame wrote:Never heard of Jonah Holmes.

Feel sorry for Ollie Griffiths. If there was a Dragins backrower to miss out, I would have swapped him for Wainwright.

Would have had him over Wainright too. If Gatland was adamant he wanted Wainright then I'd have taken Griffiths over Tipuric. Is Navidi injured? Didn't hear anything over the weekend. The back-row selection seems a bit odd. Ellis Jenkins is a very good 7. Not sure about Lydiate, just don't feel he can bring what Shingler did.

Aside from the back-row, Holmes is the very odd one indeed. That spot should have gone to Daf Howells - in good form, can also play 15, playing in Wales... I guess there wasn't anyone else outside of Howells.
Picking Holmes is almost as strange as randomly capping Howells when he was an 18 year-old welsh prem player... Luke Morgan is another crap one. The boi can't tackle for toffee and has been that way since U20s, hence only getting Bridgend representation since then (until now). Hopefully he's got a lot better and proves me wrong, but I doubt it.
Steff Evans isn't in great form either, the same for Tyler Morgan. I'm glad North, Williams and Halfpenny are in good form.

Any English here who watch Biggar play every week?

LordDowlais wrote:Dafydd Howells, Ashton Hewitt, George Gasson, Jarrod Rosser, Ryan Conbeer, Ashley Evans, Morgan Griffiths, Tom Williams.

Or if not a winger, Cory Allen has been playing well this season, give him another chance.

Look, I know most of the players listed are a bit wet behind the ears, and I do not know what the injury status is with some of them, but Gatland has history of bringing young players into the fold to expose them to international levels.

I would rather us do this than go down the granny gate route, unless it was absolute necessary.

Only Howells is the sensible option here. For some reason you've listed A-team/fringe players and injured players alongside him. Cory Allen is a good shout as he can play wing too. I would have selected Allen over Tyler Morgan who will likely get injured this weekend or in Wales training - discounting last weekends training run his form hasn't looked good either. Holmes is a strange option, but Gatland always does this.

mikey_dragon wrote:For some reason you've listed A-team/fringe players

I was thinking along the lines, like what he did with Tom Prydie. He was not even in the 1st team at the time.

mikey_dragon wrote:Aside from the back-row, Holmes is the very odd one indeed. That spot should have gone to Daf Howells - in good form, can also play 15, playing in Wales... I guess there wasn't anyone else outside of Howells.
Picking Holmes is almost as strange as randomly capping Howells when he was an 18 year-old welsh prem player... Luke Morgan is another crap one. The boi can't tackle for toffee and has been that way since U20s, hence only getting Bridgend representation since then (until now). Hopefully he's got a lot better and proves me wrong, but I doubt it.
Steff Evans isn't in great form either, the same for Tyler Morgan. I'm glad North, Williams and Halfpenny are in good form.

Any English here who watch Biggar play every week?

Admittedly NH are poopie atm but Biggar isn't helping them at all.

RiscaGame wrote:Seemingly Jonah Holmes used to beat Christian Wade at sprints up to 40m and is no slouch at 100m either.

Leaves him for dead in one of his tries here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4BYGp9cc0I

LordDowlais wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:For some reason you've listed A-team/fringe players

I was thinking along the lines, like what he did with Tom Prydie. He was not even in the 1st team at the time.

Yeah same with Howells like alluded to. I'm not really fan of that, I think we still have enough wingers to not be giving out novelty caps. Must be what he has in mind with Luke Morgan, but still don't see much reasoning for Englishman Holmes. Howells for me, but he's at the wrong region (like Griffiths).

munkian wrote:

Admittedly NH are poopie atm but Biggar isn't helping them at all.

Surprised. Good squad and now a very good coach, I thought they'd do better. Possibly one of Patch or Anscombe to start at 10 then, I guess one or the other could start in the same team albeit at 15.

I'm surprised that Anscombe is listed as a 10 when I'm told Jarrod Evans is a better outside half....

PhilBB wrote:I'm surprised that Anscombe is listed as a 10 when I'm told Jarrod Evans is a better outside half....

Not sure why you’re surprised when it’s pretty obvious why GA is there.... then again, dull people like you believe 1. Priestland is still good; 2. Blues first team is unclear when Wilson spent the previous two years building it.

mikey_dragon wrote:

PhilBB wrote:I'm surprised that Anscombe is listed as a 10 when I'm told Jarrod Evans is a better outside half....

Not sure why you’re surprised when it’s pretty obvious why GA is there.... then again, dull people like you believe 1. Priestland is still good; 2. Blues first team is unclear when Wilson spent the previous two years building it.

I don't believe that Cardiff Blues' first team is unclear at all, so nice try - but another fail.

munkian wrote:

RiscaGame wrote:Seemingly Jonah Holmes used to beat Christian Wade at sprints up to 40m and is no slouch at 100m either.

Leaves him for dead in one of his tries here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4BYGp9cc0I

Finally got to watch that. Cheers.

PhilBB wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

PhilBB wrote:I'm surprised that Anscombe is listed as a 10 when I'm told Jarrod Evans is a better outside half....

Not sure why you’re surprised when it’s pretty obvious why GA is there.... then again, dull people like you believe 1. Priestland is still good; 2. Blues first team is unclear when Wilson spent the previous two years building it.

I don't believe that Cardiff Blues' first team is unclear at all, so nice try - but another fail.

You suggested that Mulvihill didn’t know his first team and after I probed you it was clear you didn’t either. So it’s not a fail.

mikey_dragon wrote:

PhilBB wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

PhilBB wrote:I'm surprised that Anscombe is listed as a 10 when I'm told Jarrod Evans is a better outside half....

Not sure why you’re surprised when it’s pretty obvious why GA is there.... then again, dull people like you believe 1. Priestland is still good; 2. Blues first team is unclear when Wilson spent the previous two years building it.

I don't believe that Cardiff Blues' first team is unclear at all, so nice try - but another fail.

You suggested that Mulvihill didn’t know his first team and after I probed you it was clear you didn’t either. So it’s not a fail.

Where Anscombe plays for the Blues is all about Jarrod Evans doing more for the team than Nipper. Anscombe's the Blues best 10 and our best 15 but Evans and Anscombe together are a better combination than Anscombe and Nipper. Jarrod is definitely learning and it is quite possible that he will become better than Anscombe … but not yet.

So Gats is in NZ following the death of his father, not yet mentioned here so I guess he isn’t well repsected or thought of. I hope he is back in time for the autumn series, otherwise we’re stuck with Dumb and Dumber again and will be staring down the barrel of four straight losses.

"Rob has stepped up and been in this position before so it has not affected us too much. We have always had the flexibility to change things on the hoof."

We are also not looking good on the injury front after recently picking up a few more, and will be without England-based players for the opening match with Scotland.

Newsilure wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

PhilBB wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

PhilBB wrote:I'm surprised that Anscombe is listed as a 10 when I'm told Jarrod Evans is a better outside half....

Not sure why you’re surprised when it’s pretty obvious why GA is there.... then again, dull people like you believe 1. Priestland is still good; 2. Blues first team is unclear when Wilson spent the previous two years building it.

I don't believe that Cardiff Blues' first team is unclear at all, so nice try - but another fail.

You suggested that Mulvihill didn’t know his first team and after I probed you it was clear you didn’t either. So it’s not a fail.

Where Anscombe plays for the Blues is all about Jarrod Evans doing more for the team than Nipper. Anscombe's the Blues best 10 and our best 15 but Evans and Anscombe together are a better combination than Anscombe and Nipper. Jarrod is definitely learning and it is quite possible that he will become better than Anscombe … but not yet.

Probably all of that too but there’s no denying that Jarrod was a far better 10 when he stepped up last season. He is now in the squad as a loc replacement....

Changes for Aus? Would like to see Liam Williams, Jake Ball/Adam Beard, Rob Evans, Tomas Francis, Ellis Jenkins enter the starting team.

Back-row is the difficult one to select for me, bar Jenkins coming in at 7.

For Aus, Wales need Williams for Morgan, Evans for Smith, Ball for Hill, Jenkins for Lydiate. Then Smith, Dee, Francis, Hill, Lydiate, Williams, Biggar and Anscombe on bench.

The game against Australia, will it be Ascome at 10 or will Biggar be starting.

majesticimperialman wrote:The game against Australia, will it be Ascome at 10 or will Biggar be starting.  

I wouldn't pick neither, I would start with Patchell and have Anscombe on the bench.

How's Patchell been playing this season? I haven't seen much of the Scarlets.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:How's Patchell been playing this season? I haven't seen much of the Scarlets.

Not so well that he should replace Anscombe with bugger all game time and returning from HIA.

I knew he'd been out for a bit, but was he playing well before that?

I don't think there's any reason for Anscombe to be dropped.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:I knew he'd been out for a bit, but was he playing well before that?

I don't think there's any reason for Anscombe to be dropped.

Sorry, was more in response to Mikey.

munkian wrote:

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:I knew he'd been out for a bit, but was he playing well before that?

I don't think there's any reason for Anscombe to be dropped.

Sorry, was more in response to Mikey.

You sure?

74-24 - sorry English. #notsorry

Some players giving Gatland the selection headache he asked for. With North and Halfpenny touch n go, any of yesterday’s back 3 could come in to the team for SA. If that’s the case it’s williams for me, and tempted to chuck in Holmes too - solid and unselfish player who passed the test quite convincingly for me.

Halfbacks I’m not sure as we have four good 10s in the squad, however I think Davies and Anscombe have been generating ball that’s too slow, Davies especially who has been looking ponderous around the ruck instead of passing the ball. I think he would be a good impact player.

Back row we have two/three good 7s if you include Wainright. Have to leave Lydiate out as he’s too slow, in his place could be an extra lineout option like Seb Davies or Cory Hill - I believe Gatland sees that as an option as SA include a lock in the back row. Ball is hard-hitting impact from the bench.

At centre I think Parkes has been off colour and there’s a case for Owen Watkin to take his place.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Gatland goes with the team that faced Aus if they’re all available, I don’t think that’s our best selection.

If Halfpenny comes back in to the team. Will he go to full back, or wing?
And who would you leave out from last week's game?

Smith
Owens
Francis
Ball
AWJ
Lydiate
Tips
Moriarty
Williams
Patchell
North
Watkin
JD2
Liam
Half/Anscombe

Evans, Dee, ?, Hill, Jenkins, G Davies, Biggar, Adams

Forgot about shifting Anscombe to 15, that’s also an option, in which case Biggar to start and Patchell on the bench. Also warm to the idea of Tomos Williams starting with G Davies on the bench. Amazingly, Josh Adams also slipped my mind, he could easily slot back into the team.

To answer your question it’s Dillon Lewis who should be on the bench ready to replace Francis if needs be.

mikey_dragon wrote:

Probably all of that too but there’s no denying that Jarrod was a far better 10 when he stepped up last season. He is now in the squad as a loc replacement....

That would be easy to deny unless you are thinking of the period when Anscombe was not playing because of his pelvic injury.

Since Anscombe has been fit, there really is no discussion to be had regarding which is the better 10. It's obvious to anybody with an ounce of rugby comprehension.

Anscombe plays close to the line but is too slow with the ball which means we struggle to gain ground, probably the worst 10 in the squad. How’s Mulvihill doing? Seems the honeymoon period has worn off - something else I was right about and Phil was wrong it seems.

mikey_dragon wrote:Anscombe plays close to the line but is too slow with the ball which means we struggle to gain ground, probably the worst 10 in the squad. How’s Mulvihill doing? Seems the honeymoon period has worn off - something else I was right about and Phil was wrong it seems.

Is this some kind of parody? Maybe an attempt to make yourself look deliberately stupid?

I mean, it's so lacking in any notion of truth that it could have been written by Geraint Powell.

Maybe I do look stupid to you, as you’re somebody that thinks the universe starts and ends at Cardiff. Best you stick to the brainwashed folk on Twitter, as on here you come across naturally stupid, now get off my thread before you ruin it for the true supporters.

mikey_dragon wrote:Maybe I do look stupid to you, as you’re somebody that thinks the universe starts and ends at Cardiff. Best you stick to the brainwashed folk on Twitter, as on here you come across naturally stupid, now get off my thread before you ruin it for the true supporters.

Naturally stupid?

Very Geraint-like tendencies.

Still, good to see Jarrod Evans being mentioned to start at outside half for Wales this weekend, right?

Not sure why you think that a guy with one cap as a replacement should start when there’s 3 other experienced fly-halves available? But then again you are really stupid. Evans can stick to keeping Anscombe out of the 10 jersey until Gatland or Pivac think he’s ready. There isn’t much going on at home for you if you’re still on here digging up 2 week old comments, is there?

mikey_dragon wrote:Not sure why you think that a guy with one cap as a replacement should start when there’s 3 other experienced fly-halves available? But then again you are really stupid. Evans can stick to keeping Anscombe out of the 10 jersey until Gatland or Pivac think he’s ready. There isn’t much going on at home for you if you’re still on here digging up 2 week old comments, is there?

You're the one claiming Evans to be a better outside half than the one starting this weekend. Nobody else is making that claim, of course, because nobody else would be so daft to.

I do enjoy highlighting your stupidity, be those two week old comments or two month old comments.

Cardiff look like they've (finally) signed a decent full back for next season so you'll only rarely find Anscombe there from then on (once he returns from the World Cup, of course, with Evans staying in Wales).

So, just to get this straight so that even you can understand it: Evans doesn't keep Anscombe out of the 10 jersey. That's why Evans is wearing the Blue jersey this evening and Anscombe the red jersey tomorrow.

Can you understand that? Can you?

PhilBB wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:Not sure why you think that a guy with one cap as a replacement should start when there’s 3 other experienced fly-halves available? But then again you are really stupid. Evans can stick to keeping Anscombe out of the 10 jersey until Gatland or Pivac think he’s ready. There isn’t much going on at home for you if you’re still on here digging up 2 week old comments, is there?

You're the one claiming Evans to be a better outside half than the one starting this weekend. Nobody else is making that claim, of course, because nobody else would be so daft to.

I do enjoy highlighting your stupidity, be those two week old comments or two month old comments.

Cardiff look like they've (finally) signed a decent full back for next season so you'll only rarely find Anscombe there from then on (once he returns from the World Cup, of course, with Evans staying in Wales).

So, just to get this straight so that even you can understand it: Evans doesn't keep Anscombe out of the 10 jersey. That's why Evans is wearing the Blue jersey this evening and Anscombe the red jersey tomorrow.

Can you understand that? Can you?

That rumour has legs then ?

But Jarrod does keep Anscombe out of the 10 jersey. Once Evans returned from injury he was back to outside half right away

Munkian whilst we already know Phil is full of BS I think he’s best ignored. The guy has been on some tirade against me ever since I embarrassed him in front of his minions, only by alluding his lack of rugby nous. BBC are reporting that Blues have been absolutely hammered. It seems that Phil and his understudy Mulvihill are somehow still struggling to identify their best team - goes to show (again) that these games guppy’s aren’t up to it, just like I said.

mikey_dragon wrote:But Jarrod does keep Anscombe out of the 10 jersey. Once Evans returned from injury he was back to outside half right away

Munkian whilst we already know Phil is full of BS I think he’s best ignored. The guy has been on some tirade against me ever since I embarrassed him in front of his minions, only by alluding his lack of rugby nous. BBC are reporting that Blues have been absolutely hammered. It seems that Phil and his understudy Mulvihill are somehow still struggling to identify their best team - goes to show (again) that these games guppy’s aren’t up to it, just like I said.

Again, and you've been told this countless times, Anscombe moves to 15 because Evans is a better 10 than Morgan is a 15. That's why they've got Amos for next season, ffs.

When on earth do you think that you "embarrassed me"? What a completely lunatic thing to write.

You and Mulvihill had a meeting over this then? What stupidity. #FakeNews

mikey_dragon wrote:You and Mulvihill had a meeting over this then? What stupidity. #FakeNews

Bloody hell, you are odd. And clearly living in some fantasy world.

How are you still embarrassing yourself?

mikey_dragon wrote:How are you still embarrassing yourself?

I look forward to you trying to explain why you think that I am. Come on, cheers us all up. Give us some of your "logic".

It doesn’t need an explanation when it’s there for everyone on here and twitter to see. How boring you are.

Fellas please sign a truce or something, its really affecting the thread

RDW_Scotland wrote:Mikey/Phil this is getting boring. There's no need for the petty jibes too - you've both been at it so please stop.

I'd just love to know what "it" is, but there you go.

The Fail is reporting that Pivac’s Wales coaching team will consist of Stephen Jones (yay), Byron Hayward (meh) and Jonathan Humphreys (nooooo!). What does everyone think? I’m tempted to upgrade my ‘meh’ for a ‘nooooo!’ With Hayward. Don’t think he’s rated much by previous players he’s coached (e.g. things I heard at the Dragons). Humphreys - not sure he got the Scottish and Glasgow forwards to be that strong, did he? Didn’t hear much disappointment when he announced he was leaving Scotland, but I don’t read the Scottish threads that closely. Overall I think Jones is potentially a step up over Howley based on Scarlets’ back play but we’re stepping down from Sean Edwards massively.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/new-wales-rugby-coaching-team-15567175?fbclid=IwAR1jq_IqSIVv14usvg0-ZOr2xNucRbTR3VkjB84U_lT0MvmjSkmeacFp6DY