The Wales squad - Scotland, Autumn Nations Cup, and beyond

First topic message reminder :

Wayne Pivac will announce the squad on October 6th, likely to be a Scarlet-heavy selection and rightly so. I would also like to see new players come in so we can see what they have to offer. 

Wales might play France on October 24th in warm-up, but there is currently some doubt on whether this will go ahead. Next up is the re-arranged 6N match with Scotland on October 31st. In the autumn nations cup Wales will face-off against Ireland, England, Georgia and either France, Fiji, Italy or Scotland. 

Venues to be announced.

Oakdene wrote:I always find it strange that we can produce a great stock of players in certain positions, for example open sides & scrum halves but struggle with positions such as lock or blindsides.

Turnbull is good because he is rarely injured & puts his all in but I don't think he is the answer for Wales.

Small country with small player pool? Scotland had similar for decades. Loads of good back rows and decent second rows but could we find decent props?

I was speaking to somebody about Botham. He seems to think it’s because he’s perceived as more of an athlete, than Basham. Possibly more of a lineout option? Plus, he has been around the squad a bit longer. I can see why Pivac is doing it for, even if I don’t agree with it.

Not long to go now. Can’t wait to see how Wales go. Still a pretty good side, given who is missing.

Some of our passing has been terrible so far! A couple of moves snuffed out by passes behind the man.

Haven’t seen the teams are these two strong squads?

Old Man wrote:Haven’t seen the teams are these two strong squads?

I’m not really familiar with the Argentina team these days so couldn’t say. For Wales, it’s a bit of a mixture. Of course quite a few players are away with the Lions. But there are a few players have been around the first team for a while (Dee at hooker, Moriarty and Wainright in the back row, Jonathan Davies the captain at 12 coming back from injury). The rest are either fairly young or have low caps. So definitely a development feel to it.

Wales having the majority of possession and territory but Arg 0-3 up with a penalty. Wales missed a penalty earlier.

Here are the lineups:

Wales: Hallam Amos; Jonah Holmes, Willis Halaholo, Jonathan Davies (capt), Owen Lane; Callum Sheedy, Kieran Hardy; Nicky Smith, Elliot Dee, Dillon Lewis, Ben Carter, Will Rowlands, Ross Moriarty, James Botham, Aaron Wainwright.

Replacements: Ryan Elias, Gareth Thomas, Leon Brown, Josh Turnbull, Taine Basham, Tomos Williams, Jarrod Evans, Nick Tompkins.


Argentina: Juan Cruz Mallia; Santiago Carreras, Matias Moroni, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Santiago Cordero; Nicolas Sanchez, Tomás Cubelli; Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Julian Montoya (capt), Francisco Gomez Kodela, Guido Petti, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera, Facundo Isa, Rodrigo Bruni.

Replacements: Facundo Bosch, Facundo Gigena, Santiago Medrano, Tomas Lavanini, Matias Alemanno, Gonzalo Bertranou, Domingo Miotti, Santiago Chocobares.

Dillon Lewis and Tetas Chapparo both carded for the scrums being a mess!

Trouble here.

Head in head…. Could be a red against Arg.

15 Argentina red. Clash of heads. Seems harsh but by the letter of the law it’s a red. Probably spoils the game now.

Oh heck

Dodgy tackle by Botham? Looks to have got away with it!

I’d have said yellow there, tbh.

Yeah I’ve seen them given. Didn’t return him to the ground safely, if that’s still the criteria.

Wales not looking good yet with the 1 man advantage.

I didn’t get the close to the ground thing. He landed head on ground, so for me it’s not more than a yellow, because his arm landed same time. But I think it’s a yellow.

Haven’t used our outside backs much.

Tipped more than horizontal and face/neck to the ground first?  Would have expected yellow probably even if it wasn't that high from the ground.  A foot or so higher off the ground and it could have been red so the lack of height surely mitigates it down to yellow at best.  A bit inconsistent from the officials maybe?

Try to Argentina. Matera. Poor from Wales playing one man up. A bit weak. Nice from Argentina.

Not great. Think the backs have been very poor. Haven’t used Holmes at all. Defence easily coping with Davies etc crashing. Sheedy hasn’t been brilliant.

RiscaGame wrote:Haven’t used our outside backs much.

Yeah, don’t think I’ve seen Holmes touch it yet. Lane chased a kick through but that’s about it. Our best attacking move was when Wainwright playing 8 made a break from deep in his own half, only for prop Dillon Lewis to pass it into touch. Poor.

Need a rocket up them at half time. 13-6 down playing 15 v 14.

Wales haven't clicked yet but I suspect in the 2nd half they'll up their game and with the extra man it will be a comfortable win in the end ....

Arg will miss their 15 who's been good under the high ball ...

What’s the rules on concussion in terms of going for an assessment? You would have thought that the red card challenge on Kieran Hardy would have warranted a concussion check seeing as it was head on head and it rocked his head back a bit. When do they get sent for a check? Who decides?!

That's been a bit of a mystery to me too - in lots of games where red cards have been given for head on head you'd have thought an HIA would follow but didn't ...

Think he must’ve been assessed, but passed straight away. I believe there is always an independent doctor too? I did think he would have one, but they must’ve been content. I guess he was ok, as he did react to the shot by reacting a little to the 15.

Hey guys, long time since I've been here!

That first half was awful for wales, I've been saying for ages Sheedy isn't good enough, his shuffle pass and headless chicken play just keep creating problems for wales!

Dillon Lewis is similar, keeps conceding penalties at scrum time over and over, and offers nothing around the park.

Wales systems have been poor, especially defensively around the ruck, Smith and Carter caught out badly for the try (although sheedy was a mere speed bump), Leon caught out at 1 guard for the break!

Wales need ferocity around the breakdown in D, and to bring the wings into the midfield going forward when not spreading!

A couple of poor passages of play from Wales there. Again. Really lacklustre.

AAaaand Dillon Lewis blind pass in midfield leads to the scrum he's been penalised for, before Sheedy misses the tackle for a try hahahaha

How are these 2 still on the park?

Try Argentina. 6-20 to them. Crumbs!

Changes at half back for Wales to get a bit more attacking threat going. Nearly works straight away. Just held up in the corner.

Try Rowlands! Made hard work of it!

Is that 4 scrum penalties for Lewis today?

Wales are being allowed to get away with a lot here - that’s a clear trip and a late no arms block just in the last couple of minutes. Why Argentina keep kicking for the posts is beyond me, though.

Hahahaha you must be kidding, Tompkins feet are both planted before the kick, hence no pen.

Argentina are up by 7, down to 14, posts are their friend lol

Dirtydave wrote:Hahahaha you must be kidding, Tompkins feet are both planted before the kick, hence no pen.

Argentina are up by 7, down to 14, posts are their friend lol

No, they weren’t.

Posts are only your friend if you have a kicker capable of slotting them.

Woeful from Wales.

Yes they clearly were.

Sanchez is not a bad kicker at all, he just had a poor strike with 1 and unlucky for the second

Dirtydave wrote:AAaaand Dillon Lewis blind pass in midfield leads to the scrum he's been penalised for, before Sheedy misses the tackle for a try hahahaha

How are these 2 still on the park?

Sheedy has had an exceptional season for Bristol and is a genuinely talented attacking flyhalf. He does play a pretty unique style of rugby under Pat Lam at Bristol though, maybe he's having trouble adapting.

JD2 looks a bit screwed. Another injury?

Wales have shown no teeth in attack today, for 50 mins John Davies up the middle was their only play, since 50 mins its throw it wide headless chicken style

formerly known as Sam wrote:

Dirtydave wrote:AAaaand Dillon Lewis blind pass in midfield leads to the scrum he's been penalised for, before Sheedy misses the tackle for a try hahahaha

How are these 2 still on the park?

Sheedy has had an exceptional season for Bristol and is a genuinely talented attacking flyhalf. He does play a pretty unique style of rugby under Pat Lam at Bristol though, maybe he's having trouble adapting.

With semi outside me I could look good lol

Have you noticed Sheedy has shuffled ball on outside him for Wales constantly with no go forward, John Davies body will give in before Sheedy adapts!

Ref blew up too earlier there didn’t he?!

Can only assume at this point that Dillon Lewis has indiscriminate pictures of Pivac. He’s had a shocker, should have stayed off after the sin bin.

mikey_dragon wrote:Can only assume at this point that Dillon Lewis has indiscriminate pictures of Pivac. He’s had a shocker, should have stayed off after the sin bin.

Such poor quality player! 4 penalties conceded, yellow carded, and caught out in defence twice!

These halfbacks should start next week.

Yes! Tomos Williams!

We’ve definitely had more zip since Tomos came one.

I said it just before lions selection, Tomos Williams was ahead of Davies and Price before injury!

I would've gone with him, Murray and Youngs