Wales v england

[Dai 55]

Well forum members,here we go again 6 nations is here,
Wales v england to start the most important game to us Welsh men ? however i must admit i think England will roll us over,just cant think of any reason how Wales can win this game,i really hope i am wrong but i take England to win by 8 - 14 points.

Dai 55

[jcj]

Dai

sadly I think you are right but obviously I hope to be proved wrong.I also wish Gatland would stop winding the opposition up and concentrate on his team.Let's be honest the England v Wales game result in 2008 was a bit flukey but set us up for the slam.IMHO since then we have gone downhill.On another rugby note good result for the 2nd Bn a pity the 1st lost (seriously) it would have been some achievment to see both sides progress to a potential all R Welsh final.All that said what I know about rugby you could put on the back of a stamp.

Colin

[Dai 55]

Colin,
i think you are spot on Gatland etc,dont knock yourself not many people were lucky enough to manage/coach and win army cup how many times ?but i hope my predictions are wrong tonight,

dai 55

[Barry69]

Yes sadly your right Dai on our chances, We all deep in our hearts wish, hope for a victory over the old enemy, but if we lose out in the pack with a reconfig front row and give away our line outs to the big lad Wood at 6ft 5in we wont have cats in hells of a chance, howerver funny old game, and if u take ur chances who knows, I have to stay positive, as my heart tells me so, The Hassel I got from my French team mates for not having a Welsh team in the last 8 of the H Cup was bad enough, I - we need a good result, The French want us to win truth be told, But I will still get Jip if we play poorly :)

[Gwyn Nicholas]

Never seen a scrum half play so bad. Pass after pass astray , kicking away possession and getting turned over 2 out 3 when he goes to ground, surely we have a better scrum half than Phillips. Something different about Lee Byrne this season.........his boots!!!!!!!!!

[Dai 55]

Gwyn two good points
1.Phillips scrum half shocking performance there on name lacked any confidence passing was terrible,
2.Lee Byrne why he has been picked in the squad i just dont know has had a shocking season,
Overall the 3 quarters were poor,
The pack done really well,but overall England were probably 10 points short of what they should have won the game by.
Were do we go from here ?

Dai 55

[keithwill38]

Wales could not pick the best scrum half on form as he is currently banned for 6 weeks,but i am afraid the conveyor belt that good welsh rugby players used to come of has long since broken down,and the squad that we have with the exception of the 2 injured props and A Bishop is i am afraid the best Wales can offer,Barry,s remark about the Welsh regions not having one representative in the Heiniken Cup Qrt Finals just goes to emphasize the state Welsh rugby is in at the moment,both Regionally and Nationally,in my opinion the best move last night was that of substituting S jones and moving Hook to outside half,that,s were he should have been at the start,as for Byrne i still think he is the best Welsh Fullback,but since his injury his confidence has not been the same maybe by playing in France next season will bring the best out of him,there are no other Welsh players in the regions other than Hook and Byrne capable of playing at Fullback at the moment.But overall it was not a bad performance against and ever improving England side who unless the French improve from their disatrous Autumn internationals will win the Champiomship

[Dai 55]

Dwain peel has been playing great rugby,how Phillips stayed on the pitch god only knows,gatland needs shooting, what did he do for the rest off the 3 quarters There are players in lot better form than Byrne at this moment his selection was crazy,

dai 55

[jcj]

What about this guy, he seems to be playing quite well at the moment or at 29 is he considered too old ?

Ryan Powell Northhampton Saints & (Worcester, Cardiff Blues and Wales.) The 29-year-old is a former Wales ‘A’ captain and played in the 2008 European Challenge Cup as one of his 78 appearances for the Warriors.

Quote from saints website "Squad rotation and injuries have presented Ryan with starting opportunities at the Saints and he seized them with both hands, stringing together a lengthy run of appearances in all competitions"

[keithwill38]

Trouble is Gatland is reluctant to pick players who play outside Wales, only in exceptional circumstances such as being forced to by injury or suspension, but we wont have that next season as i do not think he will be in charge after the world cup

[jcj]

That's all very well if he stuck to that.But he had Andy Powell Dwain Peel and you can bet as much as you like Gavin Henson would have been on the bench if he was fit, double standards ? Personally I would not care who they play for if it made the differance between winning and losing.

[Dai 55]

Who cares were they play if you can only be selected by playing in Wales then god help us,good point Colin Ryan Powell in top form but no selection,i think lots of players will shortly start leaving Wales to play better standard rugby and you cannot really blame them as 69 says look at the standard in Wales at the moment ?

Dai 55

[Paul Hinge]

I have to say I was dreading our scrummage but on the whole it did fairly well...once again line-outs abit suspect but on the whole the pack did well....something that cannot be said for the backs! Both half backs had a bad game...Phillip's passing and kicking out of hand was abysmal and Steven was just not on song. When he went off and Hooky stepped into the outside half berth on 3 occasions he looked for inside runners and know one was there, the rest of the backs was nowhere to be seen. This was highlighted so blatantly when Shane Williams ran from one side of the field to the other only to be tackled into touch by that lump of an English centre Tindall. Let's not pat ourselves on the back that we could have won it..England were mechanical and quite frankly mediocre Wales were poor.....If there's one consolation to come out of this, I read the SUN newspaper on Sat morning and that excuse of a former centre, Will Carling, had written and scored Bradley Davies as Wales' worst player ..... he’s blind and liked all the English cannot see a game unfold in front of them as Bradley was the best Welsh player on the night!!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
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