Wales are getting thrashed by ireland .......Ireland deserve every point and Wales are shapeless and look like a pub team.....
****ing hopeless. All of this talk about prancing around in foreign mountains working on their fitness and 'strength' (getting pillard by the Irish pack) and they've forgotten how to tackle and play with the ball. And Earls is in again
Gatland should have gone two seasons ago......we are so stale that we have little chance of getting out of the qualifying group the way we play......
Totally disagree Dai. The way we play is the only way we stand a chance of getting out of the group. Take England on in a forward battle and we'll lose. Take Aus on in a running game and they'll kill us. Our only hope is the Power game we play so well (so why change it) We were stuffed yes, but lets not go panicking. Yesterdays game was not about winning but about testing and putting international wannabes under extreme pressure to see who will break and who can perform. Also you have to understand that save for Ball, Tipuric and the great Scott Williams, the team was essentially our thirds and they played Irelands' (except for O'Connels and Bows absence) near enough first string. Will be interesting to see what happens in the return fixture at the end of the month. Then I doubt Eli Walker, Dominic Day, Ross Moriarty, Tyler Morgan, Hallam Amos, James Hook, Mike Phillips, Kristian Dacey, Gareth Anscombe will start and many of those names wont be making the cut off let alone the bench. It was an impossible test for the boys above but Gatland does like to push new players to thier limits and to test them under extreme pressure. Out of yesterdays game, only including those being tested, I thought Walker and Moriarty come out with credit and should have earned a place in the final squad; maybe Dominic Day too and for a complete left field, wild card Matthew Morgan; why not, look what happened to Shane Williams when given the chance and Morgan's clearly better than Rhys Priestland, but then again so is my Nan. The rest didn't credit a look in with Halom Amos and Gareth Anscome not even looking like regional players. Both were completely light weight but, unfortunately, Wales is lumbered with them as Roger 'the tw4t' Lewis tied them both into duel contracts before he was dumped and now Gatland maybe forced to pick them because they are under contract to the WRU. Yet another inept business decision from the man who knew nothing at all about rugby. He's gone but his decisions will continue to fekk us for years to come.
There is no such thing as friendly games and everybody knows that. Gatland selects these players and instructs them how to play, He is so predictable that it was so easy for Ireland and embarrassing for wales to go in at half time 25-0 down. It was so easy and it will be so easy in the WC for every team to turn over Gatland's one dimensional type of rugby that served us well in the past, Teams now nullify the way we play but Gatland dont know any other way to play....We need fresh input or we are going to get humiliated in the WC.....Gatland has over stayed his worth by 2 seasons and it is showing.......
You right Valley but even so the Irish were anything but inexperienced. More than half the Irish had been involved in Ireland’s programme against tier-one nations last season and most have worn an Irish Jersey at some point. Additionally, the return of Keith Earls and Donnacha Ryan to the Irish team added much experience. I recognised most of the Irish boys from wearing an Irish jersey at some point where as, apart from a few, I only recognised ours from playing in the Pro 12 and some I didn't recognise at all. Still, we should have done a lot better than we did, see who's picked for next friendly.
As they have done in the last few six nations and as everyone did in the last world cup ask Ireland how they felt after this years six nations. There may not be friendlies, but there are certainly games when you play hopefuls and this was one, all they showed is that most of them wont be in the final 31.
All that game showed me was that we lack strength in depth and if anything we need to hope we dont get too many injuries during the tournament
