- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Roar Rookie
Joined August 2016
0
Views
0
Published
8
Comments
All competition rugby, northern and southern hemisphere
Published
Comments
I don’t think there is necessarily anything up with Wales, they were just a team who were able to punch above their weight.. The talent they currently have at their disposal isn’t that great and certainly, despite his flaws, Gatland was able to get the most out out of this Wales squad.
Josh Adams is nowhere near Cheslin Kolbe and I’m not sure how you came up with this idea. Jonny May, Anthony Watson and D’arcy Graham are more ‘scintillating’ and as an equivalent to Kolbe. Nick Tompkins is actually a decent ball player and has very good hands. He is also an outside-centre so not sure exactly what you mean when you say he is a weak playmaker when it’s not his main role. His weakness is he can occasionally make some poor defensive reads and get bumped off. That interception was not the greatest decision but to say he’s fast but not a playmaker indicates you have not seen him play at Saracens nor watched much of 2020 6 Nations, where he was the castalyst for various breaks in attack for Wales.
As you mention, Wales pack isn’t overly physical and this is a big reason why they lost to Ireland and England. This is couple with the fact that Wales continue to pick over-hyped and over-rated players such as Hadleigh Parkers, George North and Leigh Halfpenny in their backline. This ‘Welsh Flair’ is a complete myth. These three produce absolutely nothing in attack these days and defensively are not overly physical. North’s run of concussions certainly haven’t helped him, but realistically he has not played well in the Welsh shirt since 2016, but continues to get picked, despite being slow in attack and weak in defence. Again in reference to Tompkins, I;m sorry but I really do not see where the pro-halfpenny and anti-tompkins point arrives. Halfpenny has not been the same since his injuries back in 2015 and is certainly not a ‘playmaking’ option. Halfpenny about 90% of the time when he is in the backfield kicks the ball deep and without a realistic chase. He is certainly not an attacking threat, and whilst his positioning and high-ball skills are decent, he offers nowhere near the ability of Liam Williams. So desperate were Wales to bring in Williams for the England game they picked him despite him not playing a match since the Rugby World Cup. To say he was ‘out of form’ is unfair and ‘rusty’ an understatement. The fact that Halfpenny starts at 15 is another reason why this Wales side is average. Whilst you do note that Jonathan Davies loss was a huge blow to them, which is undoubtedly true, this is ultimately a Wales team that went above their talent in 2019, and the 2020 6 Nations was really not a surprise.
If we are being realistic, their 2019 campaign was not as excellent as is indicated. Their World Cup campaign was fortunate, having been extremely lucky to beat both Australia and France, two sides who were not strong outifts in the World Cup last year.
So you do mention their main reasons for going backwards, but in all honesty, this is a team that punched above their weight last year and with the current talent at their disposal, realistically they are nothing more than a mid-pack team on the World Rugby scene.
What's up with Wales?
It’s quite scary how arrogant and deluded Coetzee is, as you explain by his constant blaming of the players. Take the massacre against New Zealand at home for example, Coetzee genuinely believed SA could beat NZ by M Steyn slotting into the pocket and drop kicking or scoring via penalties. He always believes a conservative game plan is the only way forward on the international scene, despite the only two nations who have adopted a conservative game plan, Wales and South Africa, regressing. It’s a shame for SA supporters because SA, I believe, still have the talent and quality to be New Zealand’s premier challenges, however, this will not happen under Coetzee.
The terrible Test tenure of Allister Coetzee: The aura of acceptable loss and player-blame
You make good points and I agree Garces was exceptional on the weekend and much improved as a ref overall, however, he is not the brilliant referee you make him out to be. I watch a lot of Northern Hemisphere rugby and he definitely has a tendency to bottle big matches and gives yellow cards out far too easily (Herrera yellow for example). He also, like Poite, has a tendency to not listen to opposition captain’s at all and this happened on the weekend when Strauss wanted to discuss something with him and he simply ignored him.
So yes, whilst I prefer Garces to Poite, as i’m sure most would, he’s really not the ‘model’ referee so to speak and just because he smiles it doesn’t mean overall he is a very good referee, that he definitely is not.
Anyway, you make some very good points regarding Poite, because he is and has been a poor referee for a long time.
Romain Poite and Jerome Garces: The world of two vastly different referees
Not sure Brett as I don’t watch rugby league but I remember in an article his name being Tupou Sopoaga and he played rugby league so must be him. Thanks for the clarification. Be interesting to see how he gets on as he is playing in the back-row, unlike his brother of course…
NRC Round 1: Start slow at your peril
Irae Simone looks a talent will be keen to see how he goes this season, could be a bolter for the waratahs next season I believe. Also noticed Tupou Sopoaga starting for Western Sydney. I heard earlier in the year that he is the brother of Lima and plays rugby league? Anyone know if this is indeed Lima’s brother starting this weekend?
NRC Round 1: Start slow at your peril
Pama Fou has been signed by the rebels for next season, will be interesting to see how he gets on and if he can get himself into the starting side, as there is a lot of competition for outside backs positions (Naivalu, English, Shipperley, crawford, koroibete, Hodge, Placid etc).
Glad you pointed out Nathan Hughes because he is a beast. Already been called into the England squad after just qualifying and a big chance to play at some point in the autumn internationals.
Wallabies team for Bledisloe 2: Quade Cooper to start at flyhalf, Foley inside centre
Why does Cheika love playing players out of position?? It just doesn’t work, especially at international level. I do think Hooper is a very talented player but he’s lucky to be in the team at the moment. Also, I know people are seemingly happy to see Foley tried at 12 but Foley and Kerevi as the centres?? I just can’t see that ending well defensively, especially with so little experience between these two in these positions at this level, could be proved wrong though. I just get the sense Cheika is just throwing players anywhere in the side each game out of position or not and hoping it’ll somehow work come game time. Anyway, we shall see if it works on this occasion!
Wallabies team for Bledisloe 2: Quade Cooper to start at flyhalf, Foley inside centre
Yes, but that was not my point. Wales seem to be hyped as a world-class team which they are not. My point was that their 6 nations was hardly a surprise and this can be seen by some close and fortunate wins in 2019 against similar mid-pack countries.
What's up with Wales?