The risk of injury is much higher playing England and Ireland than any other team, That is my point and i want to see us have the best possible chance we can in the WC...I hope Gatland dont risk a lot of key players especially the ones where they dont have good enough cover players who can replace them....I dont care if we lose these silly games i care that we field our best possible side we can that can beat whoever the opposition is and that is where Gatland earns his money knowing which players to use...
Don’t agree - if the players think they are playing lesser opposition, mentally they could ‘switch off’ and not be braced for ‘impact’. That’s what Coaches have told me!
I agree with that Taff. I saw more injuries (and picked a few up myself) playing in rugby games against lesser opposition (or in college or work departmental games) than in evenly matched games. As I said a few posts up, we lost Faletau in training. Perhaps Dai thinks we should stop training until the world cup as well. There seems to be consensus that warm up games are needed...…. …...with one exception.
What do the coaches of NZ, Australia, England, Wales, South Africa, Ireland and France know about preparation for a major tournament compared to Dai Twp from Penclawdd 2nd XV?
or you go in half hearted / relaxed and that is when you get hurt. Its a double edged sword. As I said, I'd have rather have played mixed teams against 2nd tier opposition and built up to a couple full blown test matches. The problem is you can't always arrange things that way and have to take what you're given to a certain degree.
I tend to agree with this, not sure I see the benefit of playing 4 flat out test matches (you can call them friendlies) in 5 weeks that seems a bit of a crazy schedule and bound to pick up some injuries ( for all 3 sides) because of the physicality, we are actually playing what I would consider is tougher than the 6nations in playing England and Ireland twice. Why not play them once and have in between a lighter warm up game. I get their reasons for this but 4 games against2 of the most physical sides in the world in 5 weeks before a world cup seems a little extreme to me. why they could have played them both and added an USA or Italy game into the mix. I don't think we have the deepest squad and injuries before a world cup will make or break how we do. Lets hope after the 7th of September we don't regret that tough schedule.
Fully agree here. There's a reason why the 6N has a break every 2 games. It's a ridiculous schedule. 3 games would probably have been enough but the WRU likes the extra income.
There are two weeks between the second England game and first Ireland game. The lads will be in Portugal (very) warm weather training.
As my inside man told me: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport...-consider-emergency-signing-concerns-16754636
But getting battered in Portugal before back to back games v Ireland is very risky. I will be amazed if Amscombe and Falatau are our only casualties. Bigger needs wrapping up in cotton wool because if gets injured we are seriously stuffed.
Are you saying they were switched on playing England.. I think not and that is where the injuries come from....
That was a brutal 'friendly'. Biggar was outstanding and gave a big **** you to JJ Williams in his post match interview.
Rubbish - have you not checked the table I really enjoyed that win... and I'm milking "number 1" spot over here in England. They're "only" 4th btw We're obviously not the best side but going into the WC (that's World Cup, not what you're thinking) we definitely have a chance to win it. It's wide open really, any one of six could realistically win it. Next up, a double header against the Sister-in-law... I mean Ireland. Bring it on!
Its hard to judge teams playing given the work load in the legs. Wales have had a tough time in the Alps and as he didn't think he was playing, 1/2p had a heavy day on Friday and on Saturday morning. Hot weather training in Turkey now (I'd previously been wrong saying Portugal) so can imagine heavy legs for the first Ireland game. Apparently Gatland has had conversations with Schmidt about the teams they'll put out in the 2 games so both are evenly matched. Might be a mix and match side for both in one game and a full blown test in the other. They should taper off then to be fresh for the first WC game.
There's got to be some experimenting and game time for other squad members now, so like you say maybe one full blown test. I think Wales have got the fixtures wrong though. The last warm up's in Ireland and we could quite possibly lose that. Just for the feel good factor alone our last game should have been at home to a "lesser" side. England will be going to the WC with a comfy home win against Italy.