Rugby Union Autumn Internationals

[ninja-lewis]

Had it ended at 21-22 Wales would have 80.08 points in the world rankings, placing them closer to Fiji in 10th than Scotland in 6th. As it is, 24-22 sees Wales end the year on 82.08.

The former is probably more representative of where Wales are right now.

[Derek Smith]

I recorded it and fled our club house before I could be told the result. So sat back and enjoyed Wales' dominance in the first 10 mins or so. More than a point a minute. Perhaps a bit lucky with regards the wording of the ref to the TMO, but then we don't know what he saw. It was remarkable play.

As a previous poster said, at the half hour, with a lead of 21-3, I thought they'd might just run away with it from then on. Even the first SA try was just one of those things.

Poor by Wales overall, despite winning. However, an exciting match for the non partisan.

It just sort of rounded off the day for me. My side were in the lead up until 76 mins but a converted try put them 1 point ahead. At 79 mins there was a scrum in their half and their tight head was able to dumbfound the ref (I'm not having a go at him, he played a good match and can only watch one part) despite it being patently our penalty (as the video confirms) and it was kicked into touch by them.

I'm off to watch the recording of the Wasps match one our match video is uploaded, so won't be returning to this thread for a while. I hope it's fun.

[Welshbeef]

Wales won

Wales best SA
Game was enjoyable to watch - entertainment

No one will case how the game a.m. was won the records show a W that’s all that matters.

I’d hoped for more but it’s SA but like llast week its NZ do you think they are going to let you win just because it’s been a while since you won and it’s a nice thing to do... NO.

[anonymous-user]

Welshbeef said:

Wales won


No one will case how the game a.m. was won the records show a W that’s all that matters.

It’s certainly not all that matters. There’s big problems with the coaching and if they’re not addressed the six nations and World Cup won’t go very well.

At least you’ll be able to say never mind we (just) beat Georgia and (just) beat SA whilst forgetting that you lost to Australia who were hammered by England and Scotland and lost to the all blacks by a much larger margin than Scotland did.

Things aren’t looking great for Wales based on these internationals imho.

[The Mad Monk]

Welshbeef said:

Wales won

Wales best SA
Game was enjoyable to watch - entertainment

No one will case how the game a.m. was won the records show a W that’s all that matters.

I’d hoped for more but it’s SA but like llast week its NZ do you think they are going to let you win just because it’s been a while since you won and it’s a nice thing to do... NO.

You didn't type that in the early hours - did you!

Wales won - just.

Yes it's a W in the book and that is the most important thing, however Wales made a very poor fist of it. nothing to be proud of.

[Welshbeef]

The Mad Monk said:

You didn't type that in the early hours - did you!

Wales won - just.

Yes it's a W in the book and that is the most important thing, however Wales made a very poor fist of it. nothing to be proud of.

We had a lot of injuries and first choice not available.

[The Mad Monk]

Welshbeef said:

We had a lot of injuries and first choice not available.

All teams have a lot of injuries.

If I were Welsh I would take consolation from the fact that we won - just! That was only one step removed from the toss of a coin.

But I would be shaking my head with disappointment at the performance. There is no depth! Inept is hardly too strong a word.

[RDM]

With Wales beating SA will Scotland now overtake SA
In the rankings?

[Welshbeef]

The Mad Monk said:

All teams have a lot of injuries.

If I were Welsh I would take consolation from the fact that we won - just! That was only one step removed from the toss of a coin.

But I would be shaking my head with disappointment at the performance. There is no depth! Inept is hardly too strong a word.

What injuries did Scotland have?

[Ian Lancs]

RDM said:

With Wales beating SA will Scotland now overtake SA
In the rankings?

According to this yes
https://rawling.github.io/wr-calc/

[RDM]

Dunbar, Ritchie Gray, Laidlaw amongst others.

[anonymous-user]

Welshbeef said:

The Mad Monk said:

All teams have a lot of injuries.

If I were Welsh I would take consolation from the fact that we won - just! That was only one step removed from the toss of a coin.

But I would be shaking my head with disappointment at the performance. There is no depth! Inept is hardly too strong a word.

What injuries did Scotland have?

Hogg was injured in the warm up against Australia.

[DocJock]

RDM said:

Dunbar, Ritchie Gray, Laidlaw amongst others.

Gray isn't a starter these days.

Laidlaw missing is a bonus, AP is way better.

[Welshbeef]

DocJock said:

RDM said:

Dunbar, Ritchie Gray, Laidlaw amongst others.

Gray isn't a starter these days.

Laidlaw missing is a bonus, AP is way better.

So a few injuries.

Not 15 who are all 1st team starters then?

[DocJock]

The only 1st XV injuries were Willem Nel and Hogg, but they are arguably our two best players, and Hogg only missed one match.

[TheGreatSoprendo]

The Mad Monk said:

All teams have a lot of injuries.

If I were Welsh I would take consolation from the fact that we won - just! That was only one step removed from the toss of a coin.

But I would be shaking my head with disappointment at the performance. There is no depth! Inept is hardly too strong a word.

Of course all teams have injuries but in this instance, availability was also impacted by the English based continent being unavailable in addition to the injuries. Clearly the WRU being this upon themselves by scheduling games outside of the official window but nonetheless it does help put the result and performance into context.

The beeb put up an unavailable XV in the preamble to the game yesterday and made the point that it was stronger than the XV that took the field. From memory it was something like

1. Gethin Jenkins
2. Ken Owens
3. Samson Lee
4. Jake Ball
5. Luke Charteris
6. Sam Warburton
7. Justin Tipuric
8. Ross Moriarty
9. Gareth Davies
10. Rhys Priestland
11. George North
12. Owen Williams
13. Jonathan Davies
14. Alex Cuthbert
15. Liam Williams

England, Ireland and Scotland have all looked good this autumn. Wales have a strange habit of looking ropey during the autumn then pulling decent performances out of the bag come the 6N. Nobody knows what the French will be like, least of all the French! All in all, it should be another fascinating tournament.

[anonymous-user]

TheGreatSoprendo said:

Wales have a strange habit of looking ropey during the autumn then pulling decent performances out of the bag come the 6N.

Weren't wales 5th in the last 6N?

[TheGreatSoprendo]

I'll take that as a rhetorical question, although your point escapes me.

[Derek Smith]

The Mad Monk said:

Welshbeef said:

Wales won

Wales best SA
Game was enjoyable to watch - entertainment

No one will case how the game a.m. was won the records show a W that’s all that matters.

I’d hoped for more but it’s SA but like llast week its NZ do you think they are going to let you win just because it’s been a while since you won and it’s a nice thing to do... NO.

You didn't type that in the early hours - did you!

Wales won - just.

Yes it's a W in the book and that is the most important thing, however Wales made a very poor fist of it. nothing to be proud of.

I agree that in an international there is one important thing at the time; the result.

However, there are other aspects that matter. The comment on injuries shows something that does matter; the lack of strength in depth. I don't mean in comparison with, for instance, England, but the lack of players of sufficient standard to be able to cope with a couple of injuries. That they have too few players is a self inflicted injury, at least for the international side.

I can see the point of trying to keep Welsh players in Wales, but I can also see the reason that players in a sport with a short playing career, made shorter by injuries nowadays, should want to make as much money as they can in the short time they have available. If Welsh teams paid equivalent pay for players of equivalent ability then there would be only a moral issue, but they don't and won't for the foreseeable.

Further, playing in other countries can develop a player, in fact normally does. 60 caps is, I seem to remember, the limit now.

If you want to keep players then incentivise staying rather than punishing those who, quite reasonably, want reasonable pay for putting their bodies on the line.

Long term that is, I think, a much more important aspect that merely winning a match against SA. They dumped the restrictive previous limitations and instead brought in the current one which allows no flexibility. Madness. The only problems with the so-called Gatland's Law was that it failed to keep players in Wales. Why do they think this one would be better?

A young player with faith in his ability, just starting out in his career, might well consider which country best suits his needs and the next Alwyn Jones might consider himself English. (If he's good enough.)

Ten years ago we were in the middle of a Welsh revival.

[anonymous-user]

TheGreatSoprendo said:

I'll take that as a rhetorical question, although your point escapes me.

You suggested wales tended to do poorly in the autumn internationals but well in the 6N but they came 5th last time. I didn’t really see how that was a sign of doing well in the 6N.