[2024 Six Nations] Ireland v Wales - 14:15, Lansdowne Road

[Leonormous Boozer]

@Welsh Exile I got an AI promo made up for you and everything. Wouldn't worry about AI taking any jobs soon as an aside.

Prediction: Ireland to win in a game that satisfies no one.

 

[Welsh Exile]

@Welsh Exile I got an AI promo made up for you and everything. Wouldn't worry about AI taking any jobs soon as an aside.

View attachment 19043

Prediction: Ireland to win in a game that satisfies no one.

You're a man of many talents, like Adam Beard.

 

[Welsh Exile]

It's ****** up that all I'm hoping for is we score 1 try and keep Ireland under 40. It's beyond ****** up that I'm not even confident we'll manage that.

I honestly think we'd still lose this if Ireland started with 13. 100% they'd still win with 14

Having said that I'm still hoping to see some good individual performances. I love Winnett so hoping he carries on like he has and I'm hoping to see Beard finally dropped to the bench with Rowlands and Jenkins starting.

 

[OllyM97]

Ireland will win comfortably but I hope Wales can make a game of it for at least 40/50 minutes. The Ireland/Italy game was a turgid watch in the second half.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Ireland will win comfortably but I hope Wales can make a game of it for at least 40/50 minutes. The Ireland/Italy game was a turgid watch in the second half.

I normally back wales to do just that against superior opposition but sadly I think Ireland will score every time they get into our 22 and, at a guess, I imagine they'll get into our 22 at least 5 times in the opening 20min.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Assiratti Actually did well against England and in hindsight should've stayed on with Dee and we might've won at Twickenham. I'd be very surprised if they're not starting (not that I'm expecting the same return as we saw against a weak English front 5 but still, a glimmer of hope that we can get parity in the scrum, sometimes)

Shouldn't be too many surprises. The team I'm expecting to see

1. Thomas
2. Dee
3. Assiratti
4. Jenkins
5. Rowlands
6. Mann
7. Reffell
8. Wainwright
9. Williams
10. Costelow
11. Adams
12. Tompkins
13. North
14. Dyer
15. Winnett

16. Elias. 17. Domachowski. 18. Brown*. 19. Beard. 20. Teddy Williams. 21. Hardy. 22. Lloyd. 23. Grady.

Anyone's guess if Brown is injured but seeing as Griffins 6N is already over I hope he is. Number 20 is up for grabs, could go Basham or Botham but think he'll go for a bit of bulk. To be bkkest, this is what I expect and it's pretty much the best team we can put out. Now I've said that Gatland will pick a totally different team obviously.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Reusing this as my prediction because Assiratti plays for Wales:

Assiratti… ******* gold.

 

[dullonien]

Assiratti Actually did well against England and in hindsight should've stayed on with Dee and we might've won at Twickenham. I'd be very surprised if they're not starting (not that I'm expecting the same return as we saw against a weak English front 5 but still, a glimmer of hope that we can get parity in the scrum, sometimes)

Shouldn't be too many surprises. The team I'm expecting to see

1. Thomas
2. Dee
3. Assiratti
4. Jenkins
5. Rowlands
6. Mann
7. Reffell
8. Wainwright
9. Williams
10. Costelow
11. Adams
12. Tompkins
13. North
14. Dyer
15. Winnett

16. Elias. 17. Domachowski. 18. Brown*. 19. Beard. 20. Teddy Williams. 21. Hardy. 22. Lloyd. 23. Grady.

Anyone's guess if Brown is injured but seeing as Griffins 6N is already over I hope he is. Number 20 is up for grabs, could go Basham or Botham but think he'll go for a bit of bulk. To be bkkest, this is what I expect and it's pretty much the best team we can put out. Now I've said that Gatland will pick a totally different team obviously.

It'll be along those lines, but I'm hoping for a few tweaks.

Gareth Thomas' strength is really his workrate, as I certainly don't see him as either a strong scrummager (always solid though) or a strong carrier, so I'd personally like to see Domachowski start, which tbh he deserved after the Scotland game. I feel he offers more as a carrier, which we're really lacking atm.

I'm not overly keen on 10-13 there, but agree it's the likely starting quartet. Adams has had a pretty dismal season so far, but Grady hasn't put his hand up at all either! Joe Roberts was one of the only positives for Scarlets v Munster, but he'll likely need to wait for the Italy game.

Dee Elias should be nowhere neer the squad based on his last 3 competative Welsh performances, but Gatland's crazy initial squad selections almost guarantee his place on the bench. If Brown isn't fit, don't worry as Gatland has called in Harri O'Connor who definitely didn't just get a pasting in the scrum on the weekend! As ever I'd prefer anyone over Beard, but bench is one step closer I suppose.

 

[Al Bangor]

Ireland > Wales

 

[Welsh Exile]

It'll be along those lines, but I'm hoping for a few tweaks.

Gareth Thomas' strength is really his workrate, as I certainly don't see him as either a strong scrummager (always solid though) or a strong carrier, so I'd personally like to see Domachowski start, which tbh he deserved after the Scotland game. I feel he offers more as a carrier, which we're really lacking atm.

I'm not overly keen on 10-13 there, but agree it's the likely starting quartet. Adams has had a pretty dismal season so far, but Grady hasn't put his hand up at all either! Joe Roberts was one of the only positives for Scarlets v Munster, but he'll likely need to wait for the Italy game.

Dee should be nowhere neer the squad based on his last 3 competative Welsh performances, but Gatland's crazy initial squad selections almost guarantee his place on the bench. If Brown isn't fit, don't worry as Gatland has called in Harri O'Connor who definitely didn't just get a pasting in the scrum on the weekend! As ever I'd prefer anyone over Beard, but bench is one step closer I suppose.

Yeah agree with all that except Dee was alright first half against England and things did go to **** when we brought on Elias, Griffin and Domachowski but I agree prior to that Dee is very hit and miss.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Porter, Sheehan/Kelleher, Furlong, Big Joe, Beirne, POM, VDF, Doris, JGP, Crowley, Lowe, Aki, Ringer, Nash, Frawley

Sheehan/Kelleher, Healy, Jäger, Ryan, Baird, Conan, Casey, Henshaw

Don't think we'll see too much rotation from our strongest XV but do expect Faz to throw one or two opportunities. With Keenan out, Ronger has to come in to add pace even if Henshaw has been good.

 

[dullonien]

Yeah agree with all that except Dee was alright first half against England and things did go to **** when we brought on Elias, Griffin and Domachowski but I agree prior to that Dee is very hit and miss.

Sorry, typo there. Meant Elias should be nowhere near the squad. Dee has been excellent so far this 6N. Arguably Sam Parry would be the best option atm though with solid lineout throwing but a little more size in the scrum and open play.

 

[Smurfy]

Porter, Sheehan/Kelleher, Furlong, Big Joe, Beirne, POM, VDF, Doris, JGP, Crowley, Lowe, Aki, Ringer, Nash, Frawley

Sheehan/Kelleher, Healy, Jäger, Ryan, Baird, Conan, Casey, Henshaw

Don't think we'll see too much rotation from our strongest XV but do expect Faz to throw one or two opportunities. With Keenan out, Ronger has to come in to add pace even if Henshaw has been good.

Not sure he'll go 6/2 on the bench tbh, or go with Jäger ahead of Bealham, but I think the starting 15 is right, and that he might go with Kelleher who is a superb back up 2 to have, and more importantly needs gametime as much as Sheehan needs a rest before Twickenham. Not sure who the third back would be in he goes 5/3. Larmour hasnt been great and he probably doesnt need any of the Byrnes with Frawley on the pitch with Crowley. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with.

 

[munstermuffin]

Not sure he'll go 6/2 on the bench tbh, or go with Jäger ahead of Bealham, but I think the starting 15 is right, and that he might go with Kelleher who is a superb back up 2 to have, and more importantly needs gametime as much as Sheehan needs a rest before Twickenham. Not sure who the third back would be in he goes 5/3. Larmour hasnt been great and he probably doesnt need any of the Byrnes with Frawley on the pitch with Crowley. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with.

I agree with @Leonormous Boozer that I think Jaeger or Ahern gets capped. Don't think there will be a 6/2 split BUT it can happen. As we can all agree no back on fringes has put their hand up. Most actually went backwards. I said elsewhere Ringrose trained alot on wing last week. So think it is possible as there is too many top forwards too. Ringrose covers wing, Frawley 10, Nash 15, but also think Nurray benches as he offers more flexibility if needed

 

[dullonien]

Wales team: Cameron Winnett; Josh Adams, George North, Nick Tompkins, Rio Dyer; Sam Costelow, Tomos Williams; Gareth Thomas, Elliot Dee, Keiron Assiratti, Dafydd Jenkins (capt), Adam Beard, Alex Mann, Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright.

Replacements: Ryan Elias, Corey Domachowski, Dillon Lewis, Will Rowlands, Mackenzie Martin, Kieran Hardy, Ioan Lloyd, Mason Grady.

Slightly disapointed with that tbh. Beard ahead of Rowlands again! Happy for Mackenzie Martin though.

 

[dirty harry]

This is the game I've dreaded most...

I'd honestly doesnt matter who plays, whether it's a 3 cap newbie, or an incredibly experienced 9 capper....

My hope is, a few of the youngsters perform in the high pressure environment, Jenkins, Winnett, Mann etc, and show they do have talent, and werent just benefiting from under par opposition.

Outside of that, I'd like to see an 80% lineout, and 60% scrum on our own ball ffs.

We need structure in D, we need a set peice, ball carriers, and some bulk, once we sort those tiny little things we can look at adding nuance in small unit play hahahaha

I think this game makes sense for Jenkins at 6, having a fetcher and lineout issues might help combat that back row power we will face.

I would rather see Cai Evan's at 10, every part of our game could fix itself, but if our kicking game gets dominated like the last 2 games it wont matter.

 

[Welsh Exile]

I honestly don't get it. Rowlands is actually good.

 

[Welsh Exile]

We need structure in D, we need a set peice, ball carriers, and some bulk, once we sort those tiny little things we can look at adding nuance in small unit play hahahaha

Yet he keeps picking Beard who has never made a 1 yard carry in his life nor ever put in a dominant hit. And our lineout is **** considering he is meant to be the shot caller and leader in that area. Go figure.

 

[dirty harry]

Wales team: Cameron Winnett; Josh Adams, George North, Nick Tompkins, Rio Dyer; Sam Costelow, Tomos Williams; Gareth Thomas, Elliot Dee, Keiron Assiratti, Dafydd Jenkins (capt), Adam Beard, Alex Mann, Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright.

Replacements: Ryan Elias, Corey Domachowski, Dillon Lewis, Will Rowlands, Mackenzie Martin, Kieran Hardy, Ioan Lloyd, Mason Grady.

Slightly disapointed with that tbh. Beard ahead of Rowlands again! Happy for Mackenzie Martin though.

Didnt see this lol...

Do Adam's, Tompkins, or Beard deserve their spots? Probably not.

Rowlands must be not 100% hes our form lock by a mile, but Gats did make a rod for his back making Jenkins captain.

Costelow I just despair these are the best 10 options in Wales.

So with this side we know we will be under massive pressure in the scrum, set peice and we dont stand a chance at countering the Irish kicking game, with Winnett and Costello not being proficient.

Looks like a long day at the office.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Didnt see this lol...

Do Adam's, Tompkins, or Beard deserve their spots? Probably not.

Rowlands must be not 100% hes our form lock by a mile, but Gats did make a rod for his back making Jenkins captain.

Costelow I just despair these are the best 10 options in Wales.

So with this side we know we will be under massive pressure in the scrum, set peice and we dont stand a chance at countering the Irish kicking game, with Winnett and Costello not being proficient.

Looks like a long day at the office.

The difference with Adams and Tompkins is that 1. They have more credit in the bank in my opinion (obviously not in Gatlands) and 2. We don't have far superior players in their position on the bench like we do with Rowlands. Honestly this is a joke.