Junior World Cup 2008

[Sir Speedy]

EDIT: Rhys Webb was poor, he is one paced, kicked all the time and his serivce was not that greatand basically at times put us under great pressure! Gareth Williams should have been shoved on!
[/b]

In all fairness, the tactics were to kick the ball (taking a leaf out of France's book maybe?) and that's what every back did when they received the ball, except for the last 20 minutes where kicking gave way to slow, labored attacking before giving away penalties. Jonathan Davies was immense in defence (lul rhyme); how many penalties did he win for us today? He didn't offer much in attack, but we've seen what he can do when given space (or none even, he's such a powerful lad, and he proved that with his 5 metres drive pulling 3 defenders along with him).

 

[Cymro]

John Davies was immense, think Wales lost alot of momentum when Warburton went off!

 

[Sir Speedy]

One things for certain: none of the Welsh players can sing. The close-ups when the anthem was played were almost painful to hear. >_<

 

[dullonien]

I completely forgot about the game, can't believe it. Not sure where my head was lol. I'll have to download it as soon as it appears, tomorrow morning probably. Pitty Biggar and Warberton had to go off, but sounds like Wales gave a good account of themselves, with NZ a class above as usual.

 

[Sir Speedy]

I completely forgot about the game, can't believe it. Not sure where my head was lol. I'll have to download it as soon as it appears, tomorrow morning probably. Pitty Biggar and Warberton had to go off, but sounds like Wales gave a good account of themselves, with NZ a class above as usual.
[/b]

If I were you, I wouldn't bother. While the game was tense for the first 40 minutes, Wales were just rubbish in attack and didn't look like scoring a try once. It was a pretty boring game overall especially from a Welsh perspective because NZ's attacks seemed half-arsed. That sums the game up for me though: they were playing in second gear for most of the game and still demolished us.

 

[dullonien]

That's quite odd, considering the backline players Wales have, Biggar, Owen, Davies and Halfpenny can create magic (usually do). How did our pack go, were the backs getting decent go forward ball?

How do NZ produce so much quality? I can understand if it were SA, Aus, England or even France (they do, to a lesser extent), as their player base is huge, but NZ are such a small nation (like Wales), it's just crazy! Suppose genes do make a difference!

 

[Cymro]

Pack was pretty outstanding, urning over NZ a few times, but our defence was a tad leaky and let through stuff but if you see my earlier rant then you may get some more gist of the story!

 

[darwin_23]

The Wales v NZ game was not the best game to watch... neither team played very well in my opinion. The ref was pretty average, but it certainly went both ways.... A deserved win for NZ overall.

In the other game England lead South Africa 21-15 with about 15 minutes to go....

 

[darwin_23]

England win 26 - 18, so get to go through to the final where they will be beaten by New Zealand, much like there senior team will the day before

 

[Steve-o]

Much deserved victory by England. Our scrum got absolutely mauled, but it was a surprising close match. Our guys look like skinny school boys, seriously the conditioning is no where near Englands and NZ.
And there's absolutely no excuse for poor dicipline, they might as well come home if they gonna try pull **** like.
Our back 3 looked dodgy all day, they let balls bounce OFTEN and were making school boy errors.
Above all of that, conditioning should be 1st priority.

SA vs Wales, 3rd place play off

 

[darwin_23]

Much deserved victory by England. Our scrum got absolutely mauled, but it was a surprising close match. Our guys look like skinny school boys, seriously the conditioning is no where near Englands and NZ.
And there's absolutely no excuse for poor dicipline, they might as well come home if they gonna try pull **** like.
Our back 3 looked dodgy all day, they let balls bounce OFTEN and were making school boy errors.
Above all of that, conditioning should be 1st priority.

SA vs Wales, 3rd place play off [/b]

It was amazing how much the English dominated the scrums - can't say I've ever seen a Bok scrum go back so fast at any level! Despite this, they were right in the game - they missed a penalty with about 5 mins to go which would have evened up the game, and England scored a try with about a minute left. I think England deserved the win, but South Africa could very easily have won that game....

 

[Sir Speedy]

SA vs Wales, 3rd place play off
[/b]

:lol: Oh you *******, you had to mention that. Is it on TV? I'm just gonna steer away from commenting on this one otherwise we'll end up with 7 pages on the single game. :c

 

[MunsterMan]

Why were Wales kicking so often into such a strong wind when they were trying to chase the game? All it did was give NZ a chance to counter eg. Maitland's try.

 

[Sir Speedy]

Why were Wales kicking so often into such a strong wind when they were trying to chase the game? All it did was give NZ a chance to counter eg. Maitland's try.
[/b]

No idea. Hope that they'd make a mistake with the catch is my only guess.

 

[Steve-o]

<div class='quotemain'>
SA vs Wales, 3rd place play off
[/b]

:lol: Oh you *******, you had to mention that. Is it on TV? I'm just gonna steer away from commenting on this one otherwise we'll end up with 7 pages on the single game. :c
[/b][/quote]
You mean 13 pages
Yeah, it's gonna be broadcasted on Sunday at 17:45 CAT, so 15:45 for you guys.

 

[Cymro]

Why were Wales kicking so often into such a strong wind when they were trying to chase the game? All it did was give NZ a chance to counter eg. Maitland's try. [/b]

Procced to ask Rhys Webb that!

 

[Sir Speedy]

<div class='quotemain'>
<div class='quotemain'>
SA vs Wales, 3rd place play off
[/b]

:lol: Oh you *******, you had to mention that. Is it on TV? I'm just gonna steer away from commenting on this one otherwise we'll end up with 7 pages on the single game. :c
[/b][/quote]
You mean 13 pages
Yeah, it's gonna be broadcasted on Sunday at 17:45 CAT, so 15:45 for you guys.
[/b][/quote]
Mwahahaha, lets see if we can beat 13 pages this time.....















































NOT!

P.S. Cheers for the time, it's actually 16:45pm here...In bloody Welsh! Make sure you're online at that time lol: ) we can try for a good 14 page debate on the game and on how you smell more than me.

 

[BLR]

How do NZ produce so much quality? I can understand if it were SA, Aus, England or even France (they do, to a lesser extent), as their player base is huge, but NZ are such a small nation (like Wales), it's just crazy! Suppose genes do make a difference![/b]

I think you can exclude Australia, we are the fourth most popular winter sport and many think that Union will be the first sport to break....

 

[Maccaweeny]

<div class='quotemain'>
How do NZ produce so much quality? I can understand if it were SA, Aus, England or even France (they do, to a lesser extent), as their player base is huge, but NZ are such a small nation (like Wales), it's just crazy! Suppose genes do make a difference![/b]

I think you can exclude Australia, we are the fourth most popular winter sport and many think that Union will be the first sport to break....
[/b][/quote]


Yeah true, I think we still have more registered players though.

NZ has some of the best development programs in the world, along with a system of comps which is streamlined to develop players for elite rugby. In Aus for example, there is pretty much nothing bridging premier suburban rugby or CAS/GPS comps to Super 14's. For a player that's a massive leap. Edit: Also, because most of our players come from suburban comps, there isn't too much opportunity for players in rural areas to make a foot-print. Sure in some areas of NSW like Orange there will be high profile teams, but in some places (especially vic or WA) the opportunities for players to prove themselves are slim.

Training and player development will always be more important than numbers, just look at Australian cricket.

 

[janco]

New Zealand will win, no doubt