Six Nations 2014

[the plastic paddy]

Big loss for Wales as we don't have too many options at lock. If Luke Charteris picks up a knock we'll really be in the you know what.
Scarlets lock (and Aussie born) Jake Ball called into squad to train as cover, he's been playing well this season to be fair to him - big old lump who puts himself about.

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And fond of risking catastrophic injury to players by shoulder charging into the tops of their heads. Should have been banned for six months last year, which is how long it took Niall Ronan to be back playing, after Jake Ball's assault on him.

 

[Wales Fan]

And fond of risking catastrophic injury to players by shoulder charging into the tops of their heads. Should have been banned for six months last year, which is how long it took Niall Ronan to be back playing, after Jake Ball's assault on him.

Can't remember that to be honest, but is there a player out there who hasn't done something dull in their career.
Glad to hear Ronan is back playing anyway.

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[the plastic paddy]

Can't remember that to be honest, but is there a player out there who hasn't done something dull in their career.
Glad to hear Ronan is back playing anyway.

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No he isn't. Came back and almost immediately injured and probably won't get his contract renewed now. It was an absolutely terrible challenge which is on YouTube. As you say, lots of fellas do stupid things but if a piece of foul play unequivocally leads to an injury, and there can be no doubt in this instance it did, the perpetrator should be banned until the victim returns to play.

 

[Wales Fan]

I agree with you in many ways, it's a bit draconian though and would never happen in professional sport. Many people thought much the same when that moronic twat Roy Keane ended Alfie Haaland's football career.
It's a very fine line to tread.

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[the plastic paddy]

I agree with you in many ways, it's a bit draconian though and would never happen in professional sport. Many people thought much the same when that moronic twat Roy Keane ended Alfie Haaland's football career.
It's a very fine line to tread.

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I don't think the line is fine at all. If Niall Ronan had suffered catastrophic injury, and it was fucking close, as a result of Jake Balls assault on him the lawyers could well have got involved. As for references to kick fighting????

 

[Wales Fan]

The reference to "wendyball" was just to show that in whatever professional sport you choose to follow the punishment never seems to fit the crime. Ironically when rugby was an amateur sport the bans were far longer for lesser crimes. I remember Wales lock Kevin Moseley getting sent off against France for "stamping" back in the late 80's/early 90's and getting a 38 week ban if I remember correctly.

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[the plastic paddy]

Clear outs like the Ball one last year, and the Edinburgh 6 got binned for similar in Limerick last weekend are going to lead to a serious injury at some point. They really have to be stopped.

 

[the plastic paddy]

St Joe names a distinctly blue squad. No Zebo, Kilcoyne or Archer. Munster are going to hand out some absolute hidings to teams during the six nations window.

 

[JSRF10]

Not too many surprises in the Ireland squad, disappointed Earls is injured was looking forward to seeing him get a run. Zebo only has himself to blame, from what I hear his attitude hasn't been great since the Lions tour.

I've got a feeling that Marty Moore will start against Scotland and Mike Ross' time as Irelands starting tighthead is over.

 

[KevinO]

St Joe names a distinctly blue squad. No Zebo, Kilcoyne or Archer. Munster are going to hand out some absolute hidings to teams during the six nations window.

Leinster 18
Munster 5
Ulster 8
Connacht 1
Other 2

St Joe is sticking with who he knows and not willing to take any risks from those numbers.

Munster are going to be strong, should pretty much secure them top spot in the Rabo Direct.

 

[JSRF10]

Leinster 18
Munster 5
Ulster 8
Connacht 1
Other 2

St Joe is sticking with who he knows and not willing to take any risks from those numbers.

Munster are going to be strong, should pretty much secure them top spot in the Rabo Direct.

In fairness its tough to argue a case for a lot of those left out, although I will say Fergus McFadden can feel lucky to be included. Any of the 50:50 calls won't feature in the 23 anyway.

I think we'll see a fair bit of rotation this championship outside of our key players (Healy, Best, POC, Murray, BOD, Rob Kearney). I expect Jackson to start a game, Moore to get a few starts, Tuohy and Henderson to feature in the second row at separate stages, TOD and Ruddock to get a shot in the back row (possibly POM to 8 for the Italy game), Marshall and D'Arcy to job share at 12 and some rotation amongst the wings.

 

[the plastic paddy]

Not too many surprises in the Ireland squad, disappointed Earls is injured was looking forward to seeing him get a run. Zebo only has himself to blame, from what I hear his attitude hasn't been great since the Lions tour.

I've got a feeling that Marty Moore will start against Scotland and Mike Ross' time as Irelands starting tighthead is over.

St Joe's reason for not picking Zebo is going to bite him in the arse. When Zebo came back in the Autumn he was fat and looked disinterested but he has shown in the last three weeks that he has put in the work, lost the puppy fat and most importantly has a spark that no other player in Ireland has. For Schmidt to say he hasn't had the game time and then pick McFadden is not going down well in Munster, to say the least. I will give Schmidt the benefit of the doubt but he will have no where to hide if Ireland don't win these first two games.

 

[Bardon]

I would pick Zebo ahead of McFadden personally. If Zebo got injured McFadden could then be brought into the squad.

Zebo offers more in attack and I always worry about McFadden on defence. McFadden does provide a handy utility player for the bench. But I think Fitzgerald and Zebo would give us genuine threats on both wings.

Dave Kearney is a better option than McFadden to start but he's still got another year to go before he'll be comfortable at test level. Trimble can be a tremendous player on form and if his handling was better he'd be higher up the pecking order. But too often he's knocked-on, dropped ball either from a pass or in contact.

With BOD almost certainly starting any game he's fit for we're going to need finishers. He's still got the footwork and passing ability to create breaks but lacks the pace to finish them off.

Then on top of that we have the fact that Rob Kearney will probably be an automatic choice ahead of Felix Jones. Rob is a fantastic player but he's not been his usual dominating self under the high ball and there's a bit of hesitancy on counter attack.

Our wing choices this year will be more important because of those points.

I'm pretty sure that Zebo will feature this 6Ns as the 34 man squad is only for the first two games. He'll be fired up the next time he does pull on the green jersey that's for sure.

 

[Bardon]

Wales team for their opener against Italy:

WALES (v Italy): Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues); Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Scott Williams (Scarlets), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro), George North (Northampton Saints); Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Mike Phillips (Racing Metro); Paul James (Bath), Richard Hibbard (Ospreys), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Luke Charteris (Perpignan), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys, capt), Dan Lydiate (Racing Metro), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Toby Faletau (NG Dragons).
Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Ryan Bevington (Ospreys), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Andrew Coombs (NG Dragons), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), James Hook (Perpignan), Liam Williams (Scarlets).

Warburton on the bench so AWJ captains the side.

 

[Bairdy]

Wales team for their opener against Italy:

WALES (v Italy): Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues); Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Scott Williams (Scarlets), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro), George North (Northampton Saints); Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Mike Phillips (Racing Metro); Paul James (Bath), Richard Hibbard (Ospreys), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Luke Charteris (Perpignan), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys, capt), Dan Lydiate (Racing Metro), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Toby Faletau (NG Dragons).
Replacements: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Ryan Bevington (Ospreys), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Andrew Coombs (NG Dragons), Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues), Rhys Webb (Ospreys), James Hook (Perpignan), Liam Williams (Scarlets).

Warburton on the bench so AWJ captains the side.

Uncharacteristic call by Gatland to bench Sam.
Also, has Scott Williams got any experience playing at 13? The Scarlets games I've seen in patches recently, he has only featured at 12.

 

[Wales Fan]

Think Scott has played 13 quite a bit for the Scarlets, looking forward to seeing how he goes, been in great form recently.

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[JSRF10]

Interesting Wales team, thought that Gatlands pet project would play 7 but Wales are a lot better in attack with Tipuric there. Wales also have some dangerous ball carriers in Hibbard and Faletau in the pack, and their back 3 although suspect in defence is lightening in attack.

However I don't think Wales will win the championship because Roberts and Lydiate are looking in woeful form for Racing, Adam Jones has struggled massively since the new scrum laws and their half backs are poor.

 

[the plastic paddy]

Lydiate could well miss this game as his fiancée has just given birth.

 

[Wales Fan]

Interesting Wales team, thought that Gatlands pet project would play 7 but Wales are a lot better in attack with Tipuric there. Wales also have some dangerous ball carriers in Hibbard and Faletau in the pack, and their back 3 although suspect in defence is lightening in attack.

However I don't think Wales will win the championship because Roberts and Lydiate are looking in woeful form for Racing, Adam Jones has struggled massively since the new scrum laws and their half backs are poor.

Wouldn't disagree with any of that really. I get the feeling with Wales that the side could really do with freshening up a little with some new faces. As you mentioned some players are definitely getting selected on past reputation - love Lydiate as a player but moving to France has been a huge mistake for him. He's been forced to play 7 quite a lot which is totally alien to him and a role he's not suitable for. Even his tackling has suffered as a result.
Ditto Roberts who's been injured off & on for most of the season.
Goes to show the lure of the Euro isn't always a good thing.

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[Lee Grant]

There's a bit of that lot of that with Wales' players going to France isn't there?

Gethin Jenkins couldn't get a decent game at Toulon with old stager Andrew Sheridan there, and couldn't get home quickly enough—and Mike Phillips played like Neville Nobody…and so on.

It was hard to believe watching Wales play Australia and the Boks in the autumn tests that they were the 6N champions and thrashed England in the last round . Mind you, the Wallabies are hardly models of consistency either: they just seem to save their best, or at least, their winning ways, when playing against guys in red jerseys with a leek on them.

I'm pleased to see that Tipuric is getting a start, but I wonder if it's just because Italy are not a fancied team. I hope that Gatland starts him against the heavies also.

Tipuric is the Wales version of Michael Hooper, or vice-versa, and can be a game-breaker on his day. He would have been more highly regarded had he been an Aussie—mind you, he would have been up against even better quality rivals here.

I wish I could say the same about Adam Jones, or at least the younger version of him—or Toby Faletau: he can play, and so can George North. We don't have players like them.

Winning the 6N for two years in a row was a good effort by Wales but if they want the first hat-trick ever and start a dynasty, they have play a more expansive game than they do with Warren-ball.

When Rhys Priestland got the pill after the 80th minute against Oz with his team needing a try to win, he obeyed his rugby instincts and kicked the ball from 60 metres out. I was not surprised.

An Aussie flyhalf would probably have thought about flying to the moon first.

That's the thinking that has to change for Wales.
.