Comments on: Wales v Australia: Wales Player Ratings

By: Pontylad

Pontylad — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 14:03:11 +0000

Brighty I think that works if the Aussies were operating at an 8 or 9 level and therefore don’t have far to go . In fact they might have been thinking about it .Here’s to optimism and I can see they’ve shoehorned another test against them next Autumn just for us to find out .

By: brighty

brighty — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 11:11:06 +0000

If NZ play Eng in RWC 2015 then NZ will be bricking it, again. They know Eng have won one and run them close in another. The WC is in England. Seriously, and don’t make me repeat it, Eng have got to be feeling pretty ok right now. Just need to find some backs – you’ve got 18 months to do it. There must be some around in that pot of players.

By: Benjit

Benjit — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 10:36:22 +0000

Seriously. I thought NZ choked big time in 2011 final. Joubert made sure France were never going to win.

By: brighty

brighty — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 07:33:55 +0000

It won’t be laid to rest until you show you can win a World Cup away from home. Like England and Aus can.

Chokers.

By: wixsy

wixsy — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 22:51:34 +0000

Brighty old boy. Are you sure that you are not an Aussie with the choke tag? I think that the old choke chestnut has been laid to rest…… I think that Wales have taken over that mantle. Other than last week, where Oz left plenty of points unclaimed, Wales have been choking against Oz for a number of years!

No NH team will win WC. It will be NZ or maybe OZ. What about the Boks I hear you say. Well they may be full of steak, big and angry. However if NZ and Oz bring the running game at its full potential, the big Boks will be gasping for air and looking to punch someone

By: Cliffguy

Cliffguy — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 10:31:10 +0000

I think Pontylad’s on the right lines. Australia were superb, but Wales were pretty good – 4 points isn’t much, and anyone watching knows that they were close to scoring on a number of occasions in the last quarter. So we have to take into account 1) obviously, injuries. The Welsh centres looked naive, though Scott W tackled very bravely when he could ge his hands on people. With JD and JR, things would have been different, no good pretending they wouldn’t.
And then 2) it’s becoming clear that thebest Welsh back-row has to include Tipuric, particularly when playing against these guys, who play a really fast game.
You could see the Wales boys were disappointed, but it wasn’t like last year which was really gutting. Things go up and down, never static; Oz have come a long way in less than 6 months under Mackenzie; things will change again.

By: brighty

brighty — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 07:53:54 +0000

Hmm wixsy… The way I look at it

– World Cup not in New Zealand
– NZ no1 in rankings
– NZ unbeaten between world cups

… choke …

Not a sniff of a chance of NZ winning it.

… Choke ….

By: wixsy

wixsy — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 02:34:02 +0000

Is Mike Phillips always so stompy or did he think that Quade was the ball? Does he have pictures of Barnes with sheep?

Brighty, the Aussies were playing at 4/10. Next time they meet it will be the Wobblies by 14. However that does not matter as the mighty Darkness will conquer all before them. Go the AB’s

Cry me a river Brighty.

By: brighty

brighty — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 15:04:55 +0000

Pontylad, you make a good point about the breakdown penalties. One slight gripe I had with the ref on Sat (here I go, moaning about the ref now) was he awarded us about 6/7 straight pens in or near Aus 22 for them killing breakdown. Next pen is Biggar killing ball, pretty much our first pen for ages, and Biggar gets the bin. Should have seen more binnings I think.

Anyway, these scores indicate that when playing at a 6/10 level Wales will lose to Aus by 4 points. That’s fine. We’ll amp ourselves up to an 8 and win the match next time. Sorted.

By: Pontylad

Pontylad — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 12:52:46 +0000

Don’t want to be to hard on Owen Williams taking his age and inexperience into account but it looked very much as if Wales should have taken the gamble and put North in the centre to start with Liam Williams on the wing .

Warburton , Tipuric and Faletau should have been the starting backrow .Particularly with the gamesmanhip of the Aussies at the breakdown about 15 penalties and nary a sign of a card so they must have been doing something good/bad take your pick .

By: chris

chris — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 12:15:14 +0000

Struggle to see how Cuthbert gets 6.5. Did he touch the ball? North and Faletau both had great games, both showing immense pace and putting in important tackles

By: James

James — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 12:04:34 +0000

Every rugby player should be able to do all those skills to a decent standard, just look at the all blacks. Lydiate is a wonderful tackler but he is just so useless with the ball in hand, it’s like he’s allergic to making a carry in case he gets another injury. Ryan jones should be ahead of him now in the pecking order. Once again Phillips has shown that he struggles to play a game not at his pace, just looks reckless and angry when it’s not going his way (maybe thats the physicality you were on about?)
Can’t be too harsh though, Australia were damn good on Saturday. Most teams would have struggled against the pace and accuracy on display.