[EOYT] Wales vs. South Africa 09/11/13

[Bada-Bing!]

Wales come up short yet again against SH opposition. Not accurate enough and depth of squad is not good enough to go all the way and win a World Cup as it stands. I thought today would mark a watershed in this Wales team's progress in showing they are in at least the top 4 contenders with two years to go.

Yes, SA's last try should not have been allowed as there was an offside, but I wanted to see an indication that Wales were on their way at least that they are on their way to becoming contenders in two years time. On the evidence of today I did not see enough to convince me they can they can bridge the gap; they never looked like scoring any tries and cannot just rely on LHP to kick Wales to a win come 2015.

Just my immediate thoughts after watching the game.

 

[SelimNiai]

Absolutely. I thought Priestland often took the wrong choice, running from deep, poorly executed kicks. It will be an interesting selection choice next week!

The kicker (pun intented) for me was when we had that attacking lineout in the 2nd half from about 30m out and he just bombs it straight into the air about 10m to long and they mark it and clear.

Trouble is it's patently obvious Gats doesnt like using Biggar unless he has to.

NB: I dont want to sound like I'm laying all the blame at Preistland's door, I'm not.

 

[Rich Taff]

The loss of Roberts(pre game) and Davies(25mins) from the midfield was massive. Davies is probably one of the most creative players in the NH, always seems to pick the right lines, and he'd already had 2 great breaks which could(should) have resulted in more than 6pts.

Pretty poor performance overall, Hook shouldn't be allowed back into the country during any International weekend. Managed to take out Faletau, and was too chicken to even draw contact (before throwing the ball 2yds behind Priestland) on an overlap.

 

[Big Ewis]

Yeah, pretty much all of them.

Davies, Williams, Adam Jones and Alun Wyn Jones all went off injured at one point or another.

that's right. They'll be 7 on the field next week against Argentina. God bless them.

 

[Aspry]

Yeah, pretty much all of them.

Davies, Williams, Adam Jones and Alun Wyn Jones all went off injured at one point or another.

That's cool. At least we won't get thrashed next week, most likely we're gonna get a comfort lose in that test

 

[SelimNiai]

JD2 shoulder, Adam Jones was an ankle, Williams concussion and AWJ was I think just general accumulative knocks and having Louw stand accidentally nearly on his junk near the end. I dont think any of those will be too long term, I hope not anyway

 

[Bluemoon]

AWJ has been playing a lot of highly intensive rugby recently. SA really targeted him today, he was hit hard a few times.

I agree not all Priestland's fault, but game management from the back was very poor and it cost us dearly. Big weekend against Argentina next weekend, who will want to prove something after being pretty poor against England.

Of all the injuries, and I do hope they are all ok, I really hope Jonathan Davies is fit. He makes such a difference and Wales have very little quality depth in the centre.

 

[Largejanner]

another defeat against a SANZAR nation! When will it end!

Probably never?
Classic autumnal Wales, until they can consistently **** it against the worlds best at home then their pretensions at being truly world class are just that, pretensions.
To their credit, the players (unlike the bulk of their support!) do realise that simply being better than England is not enough.
Like most tonight I was shocked at how 'thin' the Wales squad is when you factor in run of the mill injuries in a big game.

 

[Bluemoon]

Probably never?
Classic autumnal Wales, until they can consistently **** it against the worlds best at home then their pretensions at being truly world class are just that, pretensions.
To their credit, the players (unlike the bulk of their support!) do realise that simply being better than England is not enough.
Like most tonight I was shocked at how 'thin' the Wales squad is when you factor in run of the mill injuries in a big game.

I don't think many people are shocked by our lack of depth. If you look at the starting line up in the last few years, we;ve actually been very lucky with the fitness of our players at crucial times.

There are some idiots in Wales, just like there are some idiots in England, who think their are the best team in the world. Most Welsh fans would say we will continue to compete with the best, but are still falling short against Aus, Nz and Sa.

 

[Aspry]

I reckon Wales can afford to put a bunch of substitutes in their lineup and still manage to beat Tonga and this current Argentina.

 

[Draggs]

I reckon Wales can afford to put a bunch of substitutes in their lineup and still manage to beat Tonga and this current Argentina.

Don't underestimate the ability to lose to SH teams.
Worst case scenario; Jarvis for Jones, James for Jenkins; Lee and Bevington bench. Beck starts, Allen bench; no clue about FB, probably they'll put Hook there. Biggar over Priestland. I'd bring in Lee Byrne to play fullback, honestly.

Hbbard, Davies, Warburton played well in the forwards. Decent from Faletau; Lydiate someone unremarkable. AWJ not that good. Backs were poor for various reasons. Hook and Priestland offered nothing, Phillips didn't help.

Jonathan Davies out for the rest of he tests...

 

[Rich Taff]

Don't underestimate the ability to lose to SH teams.
Worst case scenario; no clue about FB, probably they'll put Hook there.. I'd bring in Lee Byrne to play fullback, honestly.

I'd rather Neil Jenkins play than Hook.

 

[Draggs]

I'd rather Neil Jenkins play than Hook.

I'd rather see George Hook than James. Considering he was brought into the squad as back three, I would assume he plays there, unless Liam Williams is OK after his knock.

 

[Rich Taff]

I'd rather see George Hook than James. Considering he was brought into the squad as back three, I would assume he plays there, unless Liam Williams is OK after his knock.

May even be worth taking a punt on Jordan Williams, but probably too soon.

Will hopefully bring in another winger, and keep 1/2p at FB. How long is Cuthbert out for?

Centres are more worrying, if indeed JD is out for the series (been looking for updates on his injury but not seen anything on the WRU site). We just don't have anyone who seems capable of making line breaks without him, and North isn't really an option when we have such a scarcity of wingers as well.

Really is showing up our lack of strength in depth in certain positions. Probably the worst possible injuries in regards to positional. We seem to have at least 1 or 2 backups everywhere else.

 

[dullonien]

Whilst our forwards did stand-up well on the whole, I thought there were a few crucial areas that they were completely outplayed. We were well and truly mullered in the maul, with SA gaining just about all their go-forward ball from that phase of the game. In the first half, we were also out-muscled at the contact area. Quite a few promising phases of play from Wales resulted in SA turnovers or penalties because they were able to get over the ball and stay there. Whilst AWJ improved hugely in the second half, he had a first 50min to forget. He gave away several penalties, and generally found himself in midfield on his own, and was smashed more than once.

Their kicking game was also far superior. Every time they kicked the ball, our receivers were under extreme pressure, and they faltered on more occasions than not.

Add to that two unfortunate events that led to 2 tries. The first being Scott Williams down injured resulting in Hibbard trying to cover Habana leading to SA's first try. The second being the missed knock-on, and offside, followed by an unlucky bounce leading to SA's 3rd try. I'm not going to blame the ref, these things happen, just unfortunate that luck didn't favour us.

I'm gutted. Not necessarily because we lost, but because we didn't play all that well. A lot of heart and effort, but not enough accuracy, and ultimately we didn't really challenge the SA line.

 

[Rich Taff]

On a side note, isn't it great to be in the mindset of 'we played poorly in certain areas and failed to beat SA' instead of 'we put up a good fight against SA and didn't lose by much!'.

Things sure have changed over the last few years

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

If I was a Welsh fan, I'd be most worried about 3 tries to 0 (I know the last shouldn't have been allowed but there you go). England used to and still do get a sledging for trying to win a game through some multiple of 3. It is pragmatic play and has allowed relatively poor England teams to still win but against a team that doesn't give away much, it is a bad tactic. SA gave away a lot today and that is really all that kept Wales in the game. Against an SA team with a bit more discipline, this would have been a complete wipeout.

 

[Rich Taff]

If I was a Welsh fan, I'd be most worried about 3 tries to 0 (I know the last shouldn't have been allowed but there you go). England used to and still do get a sledging for trying to win a game through some multiple of 3. It is pragmatic play and has allowed relatively poor England teams to still win but against a team that doesn't give away much, it is a bad tactic. SA gave away a lot today and that is really all that kept Wales in the game. Against an SA team with a bit more discipline, this would have been a complete wipeout.

The loss of Davies (along with the bringing on of Hook) removed most of the creativity from the team. As I and others mentioned, it really is a huge loss and shows up weaknesses. Hopefully it can be righted before the 934th meeting vs Australia(in the last 5 years)

 

[Bada-Bing!]

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/wales-star-jonathan-davies-miss-6288936

Davies looks like he's out of all the Novmber internationals and could miss the 6 nations if he needs an operation come end of December. Another pectoral injury to a Lion midfielder after Tuilagi's.

 

[Rich Taff]

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/wales-star-jonathan-davies-miss-6288936

Davies looks like he's out of all the Novmber internationals and could miss the 6 nations if he needs an operation come end of December. Another pectoral injury to a Lion midfielder after Tuilagi's.

I think this is what the words 'Oh crap!' were invented for.