Comments on: Joseph injury adds to Lancaster’s headaches ahead of Wales test

By: Leon

Leon — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 08:24:18 +0000

JJ injured does not equal doom and gloom because we have Slade in the squad.
Media leaks Lancasters selections equals doom and gloom because it looks like we have selected a very blunt weapon to attack with

By: Prophet. Enoch

Prophet. Enoch — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 20:22:59 +0000

Matt if u watched those 3 players when they play and actually knew something about rugby you would know how awful they are. The 4 wales based regional teams r on TV every weekend on bbc2 wales and s4c so i see them week in week out all season. Tips is the best 7 we have but cement head refuses to accept how special he is as it means breaking up sw DL tf in the chosen backrow for eternity meanwhile Cardiff were almost bottom of the pro12 , the loos have been awful , utterly awful for years as was cardiff rfc b 4 the regions were forcedon wales by wru. But the loos still get their players picked on the basis of being the club next door to the wru and because gatland has those he loves and those he loathes.

Don’t complain when England are going to crush gethin Jenkins at the scrum on Saturday as they have in the last 2 6n games. U are benefitting . Philips is an embarassment both on and of the pitch but thinks and even says he is world’s best 9 . he is just rubbish, slow and well passed it. His passing is ponderous and he has a brain the size of a flea.

By: Stu

Stu — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 19:00:03 +0000

I would agree that Burgess may be useful going forward but with Brad’passing is for losers’Barritt outside him Wales can hit Burgess with double tackles knowing the ball won’t be going anywhere

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 14:33:19 +0000

Please remind us again how supportive and constructive in your criticism you are when Gatland picks Priestland, Cuthbert, Philips (or anyone from Cardiff) and doesn’t select Tipuric?

The reason we are all so concerned about the loss of this one player, if the rumours are correct, is we haven’t lost 1 player, we have in effect lost 4 as 11, 14 and 15 will only be participating in kick chase.

By: stroudos

stroudos — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 10:31:45 +0000

Matt, that imaginary conversation is hilarious! Would be even funnier if it didn’t have such a ring of truth to it.

By: Pablito

Pablito — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 09:49:41 +0000

I don’t think anyone has said Wales aren’t screwed by injuries. We’re just concerned with our own selectorial idiocies.

By: Prophet Enoch

Prophet Enoch — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 09:27:54 +0000

Well England are still going to win and Wales are still going out at the pool stage.

The doom and gloom from the English fans on these threads is so amusing to read yet so incredible to see.

It is WALES who are screwed by injuries and do not have the player pool to draw enough decent replacements from.

On this page so many England fans are painting a bleak picture that suggests Wales have anything other than a very very slight chance of victory on Saturday.

That said if England don’t get their act together (namely play as they did v Fiji) they will go out in the early k.o. stage of the tournament. Amen to that.

By: twelvestocks

twelvestocks — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 09:13:12 +0000

Farrell 10, Burgess 12 and Barritt 13 is now being stated by the BBC too. It wouldn’t be my selection or seemingly any other fan’s, but remembering from an England perspective it’s all about the win there isn’t going to be much change from these 3 when it comes to Warrenball. It’s a selection to negate the Wales gameplan even though it means we’ve no creativity in our own backline. Thus leaving it as a forward battle. In ordinary circumstances I’d back the England pack, but the way the set piece and the breakdown have been going I’m not so sure.

By: Pablito

Pablito — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 09:11:57 +0000

Yes it is another new combination. I don’t think its so much that SL doesn’t know what he wants, but that nobody tried has really performed that well.

SL wants Tuilagi and Barritt.

Without Tuilagi he has tried Twelvetress, Burrell, Farrell and Burgess- the first promised much and delivered little, the second wasn’t bad but never really hit the heights, the third was a stop-gap and the fourth is a bit of an unknown gamble but in the right combo, not a bad gamble to my mind

When Barritt has been injured he’s tried JJ and Slade – the first has performed very well, making himself one of the first names on the team sheet. The second is a form pick who has the potential but not the experience

There is an argument for going for a combo and sticking with it irrespective of form – but that would have meant we’d have never seen JJ

And its not like there’s anyone else in the premiership really sticking their hand up at inside centre.

Our problem with this selection is the combo. Barritt at outside centre means little to no distribution to our pretty dangerous back three. Burgess could go well at inside centre but he’s not going to be flinging miss-passes out to the wings. Which could be fine with a creative ten but instead we have the worthy, reliable but hardly inspired Farrell

And then, to add insult to injury, we apparently have A Goode on the bench. Quite apart form that meaning that we can alter the game plan if its not going well, what happens if Farrell gets injured?

Also, can the RFU please hunt down whoever leaks the teams to the media and hang him up outside Twickenham by his cojones. This leak just gives Gatland all the more time to adjust his strategy

By: Pablito

Pablito — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 08:24:04 +0000

Exactly Matt – what’s the point in Salde if you’re not going to play him? He’s not like for like with Joseph, but his defence is one of the most consistent in the premiership, he’s quick and elusive, can kick and is a very good distributor, He could be England’s version of Conrad Smith.

What earthly reason can there be for not bringing him in?

By: Anarky

Anarky — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 08:23:57 +0000

Isn’t Burgess/Barritt yet another new combination, previously untried?

It’s further ammo to the notion that Lancaster has no idea what his 2nd or 3rd, choice midfield combinations are, or should be.

As a Welshman, hearing JJ was out this was the midfield I was hoping for. Goode on the bench is the cherry on top. Farrell at OH sweetens the deal even further. If he names Morgan too then i’ll be in dreamland.

Garces as ref… meh, indifferent on that one.

By: stroudos

stroudos — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 08:21:57 +0000

I second this proposal. I’d be gutted if Joseph missed out, he is our best 13. However, Slade and Burgess were excellent against France the other week. Really impressive, both individually and as a partnership. It looked like they’d been playing together for months, there seemed to be a natural chemistry between them. Also, it’s a nice dynamic: smash em bro at 12 and a creative playmaker at 13 – and that summary I think is actually unfair on Slammin Sam, who I think actually runs more imaginative angles than you might expect, has soft hands and a neat offloading game (which his teammates need to anticipate better).