WALES INTERNATIONAL: GAMES, SQUADS, TOURNAMENTS, CHAT - SUMMER TOUR & SEASON 2022/23

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Here it is:

Springbok team to face Wales in Cape Town:
15 – Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 17 caps, 12 pts (1t, 2c, 1p)
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Toulon) – 19 caps 18pts, 50pts (10t)
13 – Lukhanyo Am (Cell C Sharks) – 27 caps, 25 pts (5t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 59 caps, 35 pts (7t)
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Cell C Sharks) – 26 caps, 100 pts (20t)
10 – Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 61 caps, 613 pts (6t, 83c, 131p, 4d)
9 – Jaden Hendrikse (Cell C Sharks) – 3 caps, 5 pts (1t)
8 – Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers) – 12 caps, 0 pts
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 59 caps, 25 pts (5t)
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Cell C Sharks) – 64 caps, 30 pts (6t)
5 – Lood de Jager (Wild Knights) – 57 caps, 25 pts (5t)
4 – Eben Etzebeth (Cell C Sharks) – 99 caps, 15 pts (3t)
3 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 47 caps, 5pts (1t)
2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Cell C Sharks) – 49 caps, 50 pts (10t)
1 – Trevor Nyakane (Racing 92) – 55 caps, 5pts (1t)

Replacements:
16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 48 caps, 55 pts (11t)
17 – Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers) – 60 caps, 5pts (1t)
18 – Vincent Koch (Wasps) 33 caps, 0 pts
19 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 52 caps, 5pts (1t)
20 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 20 caps, 5 pts (1t)
21 – Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 1 cap, 0pts
22 – Faf de Klerk (Canon Eagles) – 37caps, 25pts (5t)
23 – Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz) – 73 caps, 60 pts (12t)

5 tries in 53 minutes. It’s awful.

Wales' restarts have been dreadful. Every time they've got back within a score they gift NZ another opportunity.

Really don't rate these NZ wings. Obviously means Clarke will score a hattrick against us.

No separation only rules if you're in possession and Tips never actually had possession. That said you take that when you can. Barnes loves the Welsh

You just can’t defend this badly and hope to win. Wales aren’t going to out muscle many top tier teams but they’ve not even put up a fight on the collisions or in the ruck.

Ardie Savea deserved that though. He’s been incredible.

Pete330v2 wrote:No separation only rules if you're in possession and Tips never actually had possession. That said you take that when you can. Barnes loves the Welsh

If you think he didn't have possession (he did) he's still grounded it.

Too easy in the end.

You can’t concede 7 tries and expect to win games. It’s been weird as I don’t even think Wales have played badly, probably because it isn’t huge periods of NZ dominance as they just score immediately any time they are in the Wales 22.

Big mismatch this one. There was a lot of talk pre-game about how this might be Wales' best chance in decades to beat NZ because the Kiwis are on a poor run, but it rather overlooked the very low ebb Welsh rugby is currently in, less than a year from the World Cup.

No 7&1/2 wrote:

bsando wrote:How the heck was that a try?!

No separation between hands and ball. That said question helps Wales as it was on field try too.

I couldn’t hear the question, but that was it aye

Too lightweight. Speed of play was worlds apart. Really don’t know where Wales can go from here. Start Christ at 6 defo. We aren’t physical enough with a lightweight backrow, to play standing start attack. Garbage.

As a Scottish fan I thought that Wales side seemed very far off the best side you could put out on the park. I assume there are a lot of injuries at the moment/players only just retuning to play? Bad luck, that was a tough match.

Probably first choice, bar 10, 11 and 15. Very worrying. Tactics all to pot

It’s not too late to get rid of Pivac. It never was for me!

Duty281 wrote:Big mismatch this one. There was a lot of talk pre-game about how this might be Wales' best chance in decades to beat NZ because the Kiwis are on a poor run, but it rather overlooked the very low ebb Welsh rugby is currently in, less than a year from the World Cup.

You’re right on all counts.

This is harsh stuff from my Welsh cousins.

That was the best 80 minute performance NZ have put together in a handful of games now. I really don't think Wales played badly - they were just undone by a couple of brilliant moments.

Watch Scotland concede 60 next weekend but not score the two tries that you did in response.

Reffell and Halfpenny to miss the Argentina game. Adams to start at full-back for me, I'd also drop Beard and put Tshiunza to second row. On form I'd expect us to lose this game and the next two, should be enough to get rid of Pivac once and for all.

mikey_dragon wrote: should be enough to get rid of Pivac once and for all.

Who would you replace him with ? Who is available ?

It's quite remarkable that 3 of the home nations certainly as far as lots of the fans are concerned want their coaches out! Jones, Townsend and Pivac.

I know Stuart Lancaster is with Leinster but if Wales could lure him away, i think he would be the perfect coach for them. He was quality with England (I know some thought not) and he is continuing to do a great job at Leinster.
Will get Wales playing the style that they love and enjoy.

eirebilly_01 wrote:I know Stuart Lancaster is with Leinster but if Wales could lure him away, i think he would be the perfect coach for them. He was quality with England (I know some thought not) and he is continuing to do a great job at Leinster.
Will get Wales playing the style that they love and enjoy.

He is going to Racing92 at the end of the season. Was confirmed in September.

MichaelT wrote:

eirebilly_01 wrote:I know Stuart Lancaster is with Leinster but if Wales could lure him away, i think he would be the perfect coach for them. He was quality with England (I know some thought not) and he is continuing to do a great job at Leinster.
Will get Wales playing the style that they love and enjoy.

He is going to Racing92 at the end of the season. Was confirmed in September.

Ah here, I missed that. Thanks for correcting me

LordDowlais wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote: should be enough to get rid of Pivac once and for all.

Who would you replace him with ? Who is available ?

Pat Lam who is currently overseeing Bristol to position of 9th in the Premiership.

I hope we win the next 3 games, however the shortage of a specialist fullback is a concern.

Scott Robertson would be a good coach for Wales. Its a rite of passage for Kiwi coaches to coach Wales.

None of these coaches are available though are they ?

LordDowlais wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote: should be enough to get rid of Pivac once and for all.

Who would you replace him with ? Who is available ?

Warren Gatland? Either way, if you can't do your job well you get moved on.

mikey_dragon wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote: should be enough to get rid of Pivac once and for all.

Who would you replace him with ? Who is available ?

Warren Gatland? Either way, if you can't do your job well you get moved on.

Not Gats for me, never won a match in South Africa, his teams were always poor away from home.

You can't say Pivac has had a good term, I don't recall any term under Pivac being good - 6N Championship aside where it should be remembered that the opposition almost always had a red card. He lost to Scotland at home. He lost to Italy at home. Reading this as his biggest fan can't be easy for you. If you're no good, you stop taking everyone's money and get moved on.

mikey_dragon wrote:You can't say Pivac has had a good term, I don't recall any term under Pivac being good - 6N Championship aside where it should be remembered that the opposition almost always had a red card. He lost to Scotland at home. He lost to Italy at home. Reading this as his biggest fan can't be easy for you. If you're no good, you stop taking everyone's money and get moved on.

I don’t think that Pivac’s Wales have hit the consistency of Gatland’s, but then I’m not sure any coach would have able to match WG’s. However I do feel we have a weaker pool of players than ever before, just look at the regions performances. I do think that Pivac has earned the right to take us through to the World Cup and there really isn’t any other credible option to change to. I also cannot stand the trend in all sport for coaches and managers to get sacked without good reason, nor have I ever understood our own ‘fans’ wanting to lose matches just so a coach gets fired and they can tell everyone I told you so.

I’m going to my first match since 2020 this weekend, and I am looking forward to it, hoping as I always do that Wales will put out a great performance.

Baahahahaha Pivac has earned the right.... That's funny Poopie. There's plenty of good reasons that I just don't know where to begin. It wouldn't end with him though. You'd also need to rid the WRU of amateurs and hotel-lovers, then focus on the 4 regions. Scarlets definitely need a new coach. With Booth I'd have him see out his contract then appoint someone better.

Dan Biggar on BBC Rugby Union podcast with Chris Jones and Monye. Really good listen.

mikey_dragon wrote:Baahahahaha Pivac has earned the right.... That's funny Poopie. There's plenty of good reasons that I just don't know where to begin. It wouldn't end with him though. You'd also need to rid the WRU of amateurs and hotel-lovers, then focus on the 4 regions. Scarlets definitely need a new coach. With Booth I'd have him see out his contract then appoint someone better.

Without turning this into a regions thread, who should focus on the 4 regions ?

Shouldn't each region be focusing on themselves ?

LordDowlais wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:Baahahahaha Pivac has earned the right.... That's funny Poopie. There's plenty of good reasons that I just don't know where to begin. It wouldn't end with him though. You'd also need to rid the WRU of amateurs and hotel-lovers, then focus on the 4 regions. Scarlets definitely need a new coach. With Booth I'd have him see out his contract then appoint someone better.

Without turning this into a regions thread, who should focus on the 4 regions ?

Shouldn't each region be focusing on themselves ?

Probably the ones who fund them. Neither of which is for me to decide but I thought it was obvious. I swear you asked this several times on the other thread, and were answered several times?

I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of knee jerk reactions but before the start of this block of Internationals I actually thought there wa a good chance of winning 3 out of the 4 matches which for me would be a great return. Yes I realise this is still possible, but having watched us along with Australia & Argentina, I can see us just winning one match & that could be a scrapy win against Georgia.

If we do only win one then I think he has to go, we can't risk another poor performance i the 6 nations before warm up tests against England (twice) & South Africa.

Those as my thoughts exactly, but I also remember his first two tournaments with Wales and we were also extremely poor then. There seems to be little consistency with selection, and there's clearly a few favourites who are favourited for no apparent reason. There is also little to no consistency with how Wayne's Wales are trying to play.

The team selected for the next fixture will be telling, there's a few big calls to make there which I expect he'll bottle.

Oakdene wrote:I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of knee jerk reactions but before the start of this block of Internationals I actually thought there wa a good chance of winning 3 out of the 4 matches which for me would be a great return. Yes I realise this is still possible, but having watched us along with Australia & Argentina, I can see us just winning one match & that could be a scrapy win against Georgia.

If we do only win one then I think he has to go, we can't risk another poor performance i the 6 nations before warm up tests against England (twice) & South Africa.

So say we do lose 3/4, who comes in? Bearing in mind we are a cash strapped rugby nation already, I don’t think you can just throw money at a coach and say ‘he’ll come’.

chris_501 wrote:So say we do lose 3/4, who comes in? Bearing in mind we are a cash strapped rugby nation already, I don’t think you can just throw money at a coach and say ‘he’ll come’.

It's besides the point, again. For one to think he (Pivac) shouldn't walk after such a poor tenure is ludicrous.

mikey_dragon wrote:

chris_501 wrote:So say we do lose 3/4, who comes in? Bearing in mind we are a cash strapped rugby nation already, I don’t think you can just throw money at a coach and say ‘he’ll come’.

It's besides the point, again. For one to think he (Pivac) shouldn't walk after such a poor tenure is ludicrous.

How is it beside the point!. Or are you suggesting that Wales would do better with no coach in place?

chris_501 wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

chris_501 wrote:So say we do lose 3/4, who comes in? Bearing in mind we are a cash strapped rugby nation already, I don’t think you can just throw money at a coach and say ‘he’ll come’.

It's besides the point, again. For one to think he (Pivac) shouldn't walk after such a poor tenure is ludicrous.

How is it beside the point!. Or are you suggesting that Wales would do better with no coach in place?

Who said they've have no coach at all if Pivac walks? You must be making stuff up again, that is how it's besides the point. Whether the WRU and Pivac come to such an agreement given a range of circumstances is another matter.

I notice you've got a bee in your bonnet over certain subjects; Wayne Pivac, Pat Lam, Will Rowlands... it's all at odds with reality.

mikey_dragon wrote:

chris_501 wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

chris_501 wrote:So say we do lose 3/4, who comes in? Bearing in mind we are a cash strapped rugby nation already, I don’t think you can just throw money at a coach and say ‘he’ll come’.

It's besides the point, again. For one to think he (Pivac) shouldn't walk after such a poor tenure is ludicrous.

How is it beside the point!. Or are you suggesting that Wales would do better with no coach in place?

Who said they've have no coach at all if Pivac walks? You must be making stuff up again, that is how it's besides the point. Whether the WRU and Pivac come to such an agreement given a range of circumstances is another matter.

I notice you've got a bee in your bonnet over certain subjects; Wayne Pivac, Pat Lam, Will Rowlands... it's all at odds with reality.

But if you want Pivac gone, there has to be a successor, I’m simply asking who you think that should be?

Why does it matter who I want to be the successor? As far as we're all concerned, that is most likely a pipedream! You are still drifting off the point. A coach with Pivac's on-going poor record should walk or be shown the door, because to be this consistently bad is unacceptable.

mikey_dragon wrote:Why does it matter who I want to be the successor? As far as we're all concerned, that is most likely a pipedream! You are still drifting off the point. A coach with Pivac's on-going poor record should walk or be shown the door, because to be this consistently bad is unacceptable.

Luckily the powers that be agree with me and not you, Pivac will be our coach through until this time next year. The on-going poor record that saw us win in South Africa for the first time in our history 3 matches ago.

Yeah an on-going poor record, the record speaks for itself. Lucky that Pivac will stay? Good god you're delusional.

Lucky that you have no real say in Welsh rugby, otherwise we really would be in trouble! The football culture of sackings helps nobody, Watford can tell you that.

Chris, you’re a bit confused and blinded by your loyalty to Wayne. We aren’t adopting a football-sacking ethos. The coach has had a number of years which have mostly been blunders, with Wales playing a lot of clueless rugby throughout. You really need to stop making this stuff up now, it’s making you look stupid.

For me it’s a coaching issue, among other things. With that, you wave on people out of their depth. Before you go piggybacking that win over South Africa B again, and it’s clear by now that you didn’t watch the game, we lost to Italy and Scotland at home during this current tenure.

Stalker Simon Thomas thinks this is the squad. This is off his Twitter

LRZ; Cuthbert, North, Tompkins, Dyer; Anscombe, T Williams; G Thomas, Owens, D Lewis, Beard, Rowlands, Lydiate, Tipuric, Faletau.

Replacements: Elias, Rhodri Jones, Sam Wainwright, Ben Carter, Jac Morgan, Hardy, Priestland, Watkin.

Now I’m not a Dillon Lewis fan, but he did perform better than Francis in the scrum, I thought. I hope Carter gets a chance, as well as Jac Morgan.

Me neither, it’s well documented. I will accept that on occasion that Lewis has done very well for Wales, and on some of the occasions he hasn’t he was carrying an injury. The team and bench has a few surprises. Not sure why Tshiunza would just disappear. Beard should have got that chop.

I think Tshiunza is injured, or I think he probably would've been on the bench for Carter or maybe Morgan.

RiscaGame wrote:Stalker Simon Thomas thinks this is the squad. This is off his Twitter

LRZ; Cuthbert, North, Tompkins, Dyer; Anscombe, T Williams; G Thomas, Owens, D Lewis, Beard, Rowlands, Lydiate, Tipuric, Faletau.

Replacements: Elias, Rhodri Jones, Sam Wainwright, Ben Carter, Jac Morgan, Hardy, Priestland, Watkin.

He was spot on.