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)

Wales: Rees-Zammit; Cuthbert, North, Tompkins, Dyer; Anscombe, T Williams; G Thomas, Owens, D Lewis, Beard, Rowlands, Lydiate, Tipuric (capt), Faletau.

Replacements: Elias, R Jones, S Wainwright, Carter, Morgan, Hardy, Priestland, Watkin.

Argentina: Mallia; M Carreras, Moroni, De la Fuente, Boffelli; S Carreras, Bertranou; Gallo, Montoya (capt), Gomez Kodela, Alemanno, Lavanini, Gonzalez, Kremer, Matera.

Replacements: Ruiz, Tetaz Chaparro, Bello, Paulos, Isa, Morales, Talbornoz, M Orlando.

Our bench is poor.

Does LRZ play much at 15 for Gloucester?

Pivac is making the prediction league harder. Would have Wales down as comfortable winners but Rees-Zammitt at full back seems very odd. No Tshiunza seems even stranger. And then I see Lydiate.

I think Tshinuza has a knock but could be wrong.

They usually are. They clearly have a well placed leak, as Delme Halfwit used to spot on and there has been somebody else after who is usually bang on.

LRZ has played at full-back 2 or 3 times for Glaws, not sure when he last played there. It could go really well, or not. I guess Adams is still injured, otherwise I can't explain why he wouldn't be involved. I hope it's nothing serious with Tshiunza, if he's available for the following two games I would put him at lock with Rowlands.

Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (NZR).

Is he actually still a ref? I thought he would been 'retired' by now. Expect a few shockers.

I haven’t sensed this little excitement from the Welsh since we had Rob Howley coaching us. Says all you need to know about the current coaches.

I can’t be bothered with it really. Hope the Dragons go well (including Gonzo).

I like the team a bit more, but we need to get LRZ etc on the ball more.

Pretty fast warning that. So easy to catch yourself offside too.

Welsh discipline destroying them. 6 pens in 18 minutes. And they're struggling to hit the gainline when they have the ball. Main danger seems to be Dyer and LRZ on the kick returns.

Probably a yellow, but O’Keefe loves SH teams.

That was better. Argentina fanning out so smash runners up around the fringes. How they’ve not left with a try after the deliberate KO and the accidental one by Owens is incredible.

Better flow from Wales. Generating quick ball and winning collisions as a result. It breaks me when Wales and Ospreys deliberately play slow.

mikey_dragon wrote:Better flow from Wales. Generating quick ball and winning collisions as a result. It breaks me when Wales and Ospreys deliberately play slow.

They don’t have enough good ball carriers to win straight up collisions. Makes winning quick ball more crucial.

Really impressed with how physical LRZ has become. He is bumping Test defenders back. Not just reliant on speed.

I think we’d have more carriers if Pivac sorted out his selection policy.

Yikes. Cynical that from Rowlands.

That’s the thickest thing I’ve seen on the pitch for a long time.

He’ll probably hook Rowlands for Carter now. It should be Beard going off. Aside from this incident Rowlands always has a near flawless game.

Argentina lost all discipline now.

Arg have been poor and one dimensional. Cheika must be wondering how Arg go from beating NZ to getting pumped by them the next week, and then struggling against Wales.

It’s just win at all costs for us today. Owens, Tipuric, Faletau, Williams and LRZ have been good today.

Great win for Wales, not a thriller but a really fascinating watch as a neutral. Tomos Williams is a brilliant scrum half and good to see Ken Owens still playing his socks off.

Hard to know what to make of that really. We were solid, but I would also say Argentina were poor. Still, Wales were underdogs for that and won, so I guess you can’t really complain ha

RiscaGame wrote:Hard to know what to make of that really. We were solid, but I would also say Argentina were poor. Still, Wales were underdogs for that and won, so I guess you can’t really complain ha

I think it showed that if LRZ could add aerial skills to his armoury he could be a brilliant fullback, but with Gloucester not considering him there, I’d keep him to the wing when one of our front line fullbacks are fit.

It was definitely better to see the physicality increase from the New Zealand game, but as Pivac highlighted, it’s a worry that they are so far off that level within the regions.

Dafydd Jenkins and Rhys Davies have been called up following the withdrawal of Rowlands and Lydiate.

I think both need to be included this weekend. I’d also persist with LRZ at 15 for practice, with Cuthbert to continue for extra game time. If one was to drop out for Adams then perhaps it should be Dyer. If Adams can also get some minutes at fullback, that will be very handy.

chris_501 wrote:

RiscaGame wrote:Hard to know what to make of that really. We were solid, but I would also say Argentina were poor. Still, Wales were underdogs for that and won, so I guess you can’t really complain ha

I think it showed that if LRZ could add aerial skills to his armoury he could be a brilliant fullback, but with Gloucester not considering him there, I’d keep him to the wing when one of our front line fullbacks are fit.

It was definitely better to see the physicality increase from the New Zealand game, but as Pivac highlighted, it’s a worry that they are so far off that level within the regions.

Can’t agree on Pivac over the fitness. It’s a bit of an insult to S&C coaches at the pro teams that and really they should be taking him to task over it. Pivac had his selection wrong, with Tipuric at 6, starting Francis and his selection at 15. Not to mention some mistakes on his bench. It’s amazing how their fitness improved in the space of a week too, when you factor in at least one recovery day and a captains run on the Friday.

RiscaGame wrote:

chris_501 wrote:

RiscaGame wrote:Hard to know what to make of that really. We were solid, but I would also say Argentina were poor. Still, Wales were underdogs for that and won, so I guess you can’t really complain ha

I think it showed that if LRZ could add aerial skills to his armoury he could be a brilliant fullback, but with Gloucester not considering him there, I’d keep him to the wing when one of our front line fullbacks are fit.

It was definitely better to see the physicality increase from the New Zealand game, but as Pivac highlighted, it’s a worry that they are so far off that level within the regions.

Can’t agree on Pivac over the fitness. It’s a bit of an insult to S&C coaches at the pro teams that and really they should be taking him to task over it. Pivac had his selection wrong, with Tipuric at 6, starting Francis and his selection at 15. Not to mention some mistakes on his bench. It’s amazing how their fitness improved in the space of a week too, when you factor in at least one recovery day and a captains run on the Friday.

It’s not so much the fitness, it’s the ability to match the power of teams. Going into the first match of every autumn campaign and 6 nations to a certain extent, it’s like the players are shocked by the step up to international level. You might say that it’s poor coaching on Pivac’s part, but it’s also hard to argue that what we see from our regions is like watching a different sport to Welsh games.

mikey_dragon wrote:Dafydd Jenkins and Rhys Davies have been called up following the withdrawal of Rowlands and Lydiate.

I think both need to be included this weekend. I’d also persist with LRZ at 15 for practice, with Cuthbert to continue for extra game time. If one was to drop out for Adams then perhaps it should be Dyer. If Adams can also get some minutes at fullback, that will be very handy.

Well you'd like to think Daf will be in this weekend otherwise he won't get any game time with Wales this Autumn.

I don't picture both starting at lock as Wales aren't expected to make wholesale changes. There's also Tshiunza to come back in and Ben Carter. Of the two incoming, I wonder who's expected to cover back-row? I think Rhys Davies has played there, but not much.

mikey_dragon wrote:I don't picture both starting at lock as Wales aren't expected to make wholesale changes. There's also Tshiunza to come back in and Ben Carter. Of the two incoming, I wonder who's expected to cover back-row? I think Rhys Davies has played there, but not much.

Tshinuza has to start this weekend for me, he has been very good for Exeter so this is his last chance in this block.

I have read that Josh Macleod is going to get his first cap.

I see what you meant now, as the Aus game is outside the test window. Well done WRU!

mikey_dragon wrote:I see what you meant now, as the Aus game is outside the test window. Well done WRU!

We always have one game outside of the window & I think both Scotland & England have done the same this year albeit Scotland started a week earlier & us & England will finish a week later.

It will be interesting to see who is fit for selection. None of Smith, Francis, Tshiunza, Reffell, Adams or Halfpenny appeared available last weekend, then add in Rowlands and Lydiate on top of them.

chris_501 wrote:It will be interesting to see who is fit for selection. None of Smith, Francis, Tshiunza, Reffell, Adams or Halfpenny appeared available last weekend, then add in Rowlands and Lydiate on top of them.

I think the ones in bold had knocks that weren't serious as a result of the physicality of the game. I doubt we will see Halfpenny this weekend as it's LRZ's last game of this block so I would like to think we will see him at 15 to continue developing. I expect a back row of Tshinuza, Reffell & Macleod. AWJ would come in I think for Rowlands & probably line up with Beard.

Oakdene wrote:

chris_501 wrote:It will be interesting to see who is fit for selection. None of Smith, Francis, Tshiunza, Reffell, Adams or Halfpenny appeared available last weekend, then add in Rowlands and Lydiate on top of them.

I think the ones in bold had knocks that weren't serious as a result of the physicality of the game. I doubt we will see Halfpenny this weekend as it's LRZ's last game of this block so I would like to think we will see him at 15 to continue developing. I expect a back row of Tshinuza, Reffell & Macleod. AWJ would come in I think for Rowlands & probably line up with Beard.

I would like to see Morgan start, whether he lines up with Reffell or Tshiunza I wouldn’t mind. Macleod benching at best. Maybe AWJ and Carter to start at lock.

15. Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester Rugby – 21 caps)
14. Alex Cuthbert (Ospreys – 53 caps)
13. George North (Ospreys – 107 caps)
12. Owen Watkin (Ospreys – 35 caps)
11. Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby 42 – caps)
10. Rhys Priestland (Cardiff Rugby – 54 caps)
9. Tomos Williams (Cardiff Rugby – 38 caps)
1. Gareth Thomas (Ospreys – 15 caps)
2. Ken Owens (Scarlets – 84 caps)
3. Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Rugby – 43 caps)
4. Ben Carter (Dragons – 7 caps)
5. Adam Beard (Ospreys – 39 caps)
6. Jac Morgan (Ospreys – 4 caps)
7. Justin Tipuric (Ospreys – 87 caps) captain
8. Josh Macleod (Scarlets – uncapped)

Replacements
16. Bradley Roberts (Dragons – 2 caps)
17. Rhodri Jones (Dragons – 22 caps)
18. Sam Wainwright (Saracens – 3 caps)
19. Dafydd Jenkins (Exeter Chiefs – uncapped)
20. Taulupe Faletau (Cardiff Rugby – 93 caps)
21. Dane Blacker (Scarlets – uncapped)
22. Sam Costelow (Scarlets – 1 cap)
23. Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets – 96 caps)

No room for Christ, assume he has a knock? Pivac has really hung Francis out to dry it seems. That front 5 will likely be what takes the field against Australia. I'm not sure about Halfpenny featuring, I think he's passed it now.

mikey_dragon wrote:No room for Christ, assume he has a knock? Pivac has really hung Francis out to dry it seems. That front 5 will likely be what takes the field against Australia. I'm not sure about Halfpenny featuring, I think he's passed it now.

Halfpenny has to see if he is fit enough as he will likely be starting against the Aussies next week.

Will be interesting to see about Francis but Ill be honest he hasn't impressed me recently & for me Dillon was good on the weekend just gone. TH is a position we have no depth in so will be good to get Wainwright a bit of game time - again he won't be available next week.

And that's my issue with it, he shouldn't be starting against the Aussies next week.

mikey_dragon wrote:And that's my issue with it, he shouldn't be starting against the Aussies next week.

Who starts in place of him? The only other option is Anscombe to FB & Preistland to 10.

Oakdene wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:And that's my issue with it, he shouldn't be starting against the Aussies next week.

Who starts in place of him? The only other option is Anscombe to FB & Preistland to 10.

Either Halfpenny or Adams need to start at 15 against Australia, but if it was to be Adams, would make sense to play him there this weekend.

Pretty decent team. I really hope Macleod makes it to play this time.

Quite like some of the form players like Roberts, Blacker and a couple of others being on the bench too.

As I said previously, I'd like to see Adams get minutes at full-back. It's not a case of "that's the only option", that's not my point. My point is he shouldn't have been in the squad, Priestland in the same boat really as he's been atrociously inconsistent for the last couple seasons, although I will note he's far better at 10 than 15.

mikey_dragon wrote:No room for Christ, assume he has a knock? Pivac has really hung Francis out to dry it seems. That front 5 will likely be what takes the field against Australia. I'm not sure about Halfpenny featuring, I think he's passed it now.

It's like the Nativity all over again.

I'm so glad we have gone strong for this weekend, we almost came a cropper against these the last time we played them.

LordDowlais wrote:I'm so glad we have gone strong for this weekend, we almost came a cropper against these the last time we played them.

Agreed, I'd really like to see us get a good number of tries & rack up a decent score as we normally edge past the weaker of the Autumn sides we play.

It's a decent backline from us given some players have actually been picked in their best positions, though I think we lose a bit without Tompkins. For Aus I'd prefer if Adams went to full-back, with Dyer and Anscombe coming back in. Not sure about the pack but Rhys Davies might get his first start.

Is AWJ injured?