Italy v Wales

[jim546]

Mike Phillips can claim he was decent for 20 mins and then decided to go back to his old self. I was fuming that Gatland refused to bring Knoyle on, at the end of the day the best 9 Wales has is Peel best service and has decent speed still.

I haven't seen enough of Peel to comment against him, but if R. Rees was available I'd put him ahead of Knoyle and Phillips. I feel he is the better 9 overall although Sir Warren thinks otherwise.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

I haven't seen enough of Peel to comment against him, but if R. Rees was available I'd put him ahead of Knoyle and Phillips. I feel he is the better 9 overall although Sir Warren thinks otherwise.

Fair but I think Richie Rees is the best 9 Wales can have for coming off the bench, he changes the tempo the best out of any of the Welsh 9s to do that. I don't think he is our best starting option at 9.

 

[TRF_RC]

This "momentum" pundits talk about when we get victories, surely you don't build up a huge momentum when you play like we did today, right?
It's a win, but it didn't bloody feel like it. It felt like pulling teeth!
We showed some great pieces of play, but that only ever happened when the Italians made a sloppy kick and the play was broken.
We proved that our attack is far too predictable (yet again!) when even the Italians could read our plays. Mike Phillips slow to deliver the ball and the Italian defensive line was reading us like a book.
I know the Welsh players try to avoid reading the press etc. but just once i want them to look at the papers and read,
"The Welsh team once again were far too lateral. They did make progress on occasion when they went forward first and then spread it wide, however, they simply played predicatable rugby, going from left to right over and over again."
If someone, just someone, could read that i'd appreciate it, coz i swear none of the coaching staff has mentioned it and the players sure as hell aren't seeing it on the video when they watch the game back!

We're lucky to get a win. I really saw us losing this halfway through the second half. We didn't win this match, the Italians lost the match.
It was there for their taking and we weren't going to stop them, they just needed to be a little more clinical and pray they find a good kicker soon.

I'm just glad the England France game was more enjoyable.

 

[dullonien]

Gatland's post match interview was poor today. He usually at least says it like it is, but he just complained about Lee Byrne's disallowed try. What about the attrocious kicking? I want to know why Phillips is being allowed to continually and aimlessly hoof the ball to the opposition. Is he being instructed to do so by both the Ospreys and Welsh management? And if he isn't, why the hell isn't he being told to stop? If I were Gatland I'd tell him that the next time he puts in an aimless box-kick he's getting replaced there and then.

I'm not going to be overly critical of the attackign gameplan in this game (although I'm not a bloody fan of the side to side thing), as we simply didn't go through enough fazes to know what the gameplan trully was. When we had attacking ball in the opposition half today we looked dangerous. We should have scored four tries in the first half, Stoddart butchered one, and the other was called back for a forward pass (Shane stepping back from the pass made it look worse than it was, had he not, I think it would have been allowed). However I would like to know if Gatland sends the boys out with such a regimented gameplan. I'm sure Gatland doesn't tell them to ignore overlaps and never deviate from the pattern, so why does it appear that way most of the bloody time? Is it Phillip' fault, or the outhalf (both Jones and Hook so far this championship)? Is Phillips ignoring any calls coming from 10, or are the calls simply not coming? It's difficult to know, but in the past when Richie Rees has played, he seems more prepared to play what's in front of him and switch play when necessary, so it seems Phillips is the problem yet again. The cons list is growing for Phillips. Please Gatland, Peel, Knoyle, try anyone else, because Phillips is driving me round the bend!!!!

 

[fusuke78]

I was very pleased with this game. It's great to see italians play that way, I think you're a bit critical about your team, but when Italy plays like that, they can be really dangerous. Great first period for Wales, I'm always shocked by the way Williams finds solutions for his team. Hook was really good too, as Lee Byrne. Good for Top 14, it will be an honour for young french guys to play with these guys.
Don't be fooled by the second half. It was italian time, and when Italy is 100% implicated, they are really tough to handle. Welsh defense was great, it will be hard for France to score tries against you. In fact I have the feeling both teams are better than two weeks ago, even if we lost in England. It will be a really great game, as always when we play the welsh team.
Welsh rugby is incredible, and when they play well, Wales are truly imbeatable. Sometimes (20 first minutes) I felt we'll find this spirit again. Welsh team has made a great match, as Italy.
Williams, Hook and Byrne were good, it's scary because they can be much better. Parisse (oh, sergio, my man) and Castrogiovanni were good too, I liked Bergamasco's spirit as usual, he's always like that and that makes him a key player for Italy and Stade Français, even if he is not a goalkicker, he took the responsability. Tough, Italy needs a good kicker, strange in a football oriented country (in Argentina, even Ledesma is able to kick drops), maybe they need to find a strong striker in Serie A and makes him play rugby ? Just joking. An italian footballer on a rugby field, bad idea...
Anyway, congrats Wales, great victory, over a very exciting Italian team. Long live rugby.

 

[no-1-rugby-fan]

Didn't see the game yesterday because I watching my local football team, just glad Wales overcome Italy. I knew it would be a tight game and by the sounds of things it wasn't convincing. We're going to have to improve a lot to stand any chance of getting a result against Ireland and France.

 

[TRF_RC]

A "Number 1 rugby fan" choosing to watch a local football game over a Welsh 6 Nations match? :huh: