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[RWC19 Warm-Up] - England vs Wales

Oh, I didn't even look at the replacements! No 10 or 8 cover on the bench. I guess the 10s are on the field in Slade and Francis... and for 8 could we see another shot at the Big Joe experiment?
 
Back row is a worry mainly as I can't see much cover. Next week only Wilson can slot in easily. I can see itoje or lawes at six next week with wilson at 8 and the either underhill or curry at 7.
 
Old Hooker said:
100%. Ideally you'd want 10+ of the starting XV nailed on 2 years out. At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, RWC winning teams tend to have continuity and experience.

There must always be space for the odd bolter, but it all feels too much of a mess in too many areas. There have been a few injuries, but all teams have to cope with those.

Hooker's another great example. Losing Hartley was undoubtedly a blow and while he was around you never felt that Jones wholly trusted George. George has now largely stepped up, but Jones clearly doesn't trust LCD and Singleton's uncapped.
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Agree with this - history shows that cup winning teams have been there together for a couple of years at least. Room for bolters as you say, but neither Heinz or McConnochie have exactly done that. They're not Joffra Archer type talents, they've just sort of crept in there. I see it as far too late to be messing around with this stuff, especially when Big Joe Cok doesn't even have many minutes international experience and could use these warmups to grow into the side more.
 
Reiser99 said:
I'm gonna be there this Saturday...suddenly it's looking like it might be a painful day.

.
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Saturday shouldn't be too bad, it's Sunday I'm not looking forwards to.
Mrs. Peter Quinn said:
Agree with this - history shows that cup winning teams have been there together for a couple of years at least. Room for bolters as you say, but neither Heinz or McConnochie have exactly done that. They're not Joffra Archer type talents, they've just sort of crept in there. I see it as far too late to be messing around with this stuff, especially when Big Joe Cok doesn't even have many minutes international experience and could use these warmups to grow into the side more.
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Heinz - yes, he's just gone on doing what he's always done - he's essentially been Wigglesworth but a couple of years younger and with an antipodean accent.
McConnochie though - I'm really not sure how he fails to count as a bolter, or what more people expect of a bolter. He's been absolutely brilliant for Bath, whilst coming from nowhere.
 
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As others have said a strong Wales line up and a 'creative' English 23... I've seen stranger things (all 3 seasons :p) happen though and that English back-row could be fire!
 
Game for individuals to put in a big performance even if england lose, we dont need 4 high intensity games with our first 23, before going into the world cup and playing then first 2 against tonga and usa so i dont mind this.

Heinz needs to earn his place, ford needs to show he can play 80 without the safety net of faz. And the rest of the unexpected players are going to be waiting for a call and potentially called up so they need some game time.

We've got 3 more games after this so happy this one is used as a trial we dont want players killing themselves in the warmups and being tired or broken by the world cup
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Wanted this back row for a while, minus ludlam insert wilson or dombrandt(eventualy on the bench)
 
I'll never understand Jones' selections, we've literally rolled up to this World Cup without knowing our strongest 23 and not capping enough of our second choices like SH and Hooker.

I really hope we do well but part of me think Eddie screwed this WC up a year or so ago with his lack of forward thinking.
 
I'm perhaps a little bit more optimistic than most. It looks a bit all over the place at the minute but when the squad is named on Monday, I think it'll look a little bit clearer. I'm slightly concerned about the lack of depth in a few positions but you always need a little bit of luck in World Cup's.

Suppose Robshaw, Hartley, Brown, Care, Hughes etc dropping out has turned things upside down to an extent.
 
Interesting selections from both sides. I was expecting more of a mix and match side from Gats, but can understand why he's gone fully loaded. Another win at HQ would add further confidence to a squad already riding high. Then experiment a little more at home where we tend to perform better anyway. Could backfire mind if we lose vs an experimental England side.....

Tasty looking England backrow. But I think Wales' backrow is very good as well, very balanced. Wainwright has 50+ caps written all over him. Great to see Shingler back on the bench as well, he could prove important with his luneout prowess.
 
dullonien said:
Wainwright has 50+ caps written all over him. Great to see Shingler back on the bench as well, he could prove important with his luneout prowess.
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Yeah Wainwright is a real find and seems to love doing the unglamorous stuff Gatland loves from a back-rower... and I have a feeling that if Shingler can avoid injury he is going to have a massive World Cup. He was amazing during the Scarlets two seasons prior to this last one and had a very good 6N in 2018... and having read a couple of interviews of his, this year out has him dialled-in mentally and physically he looks better than ever.
 
scotty507 said:
Game for individuals to put in a big performance even if england lose, we dont need 4 high intensity games with our first 23, before going into the world cup and playing then first 2 against tonga and usa so i dont mind this.

Heinz needs to earn his place, ford needs to show he can play 80 without the safety net of faz. And the rest of the unexpected players are going to be waiting for a call and potentially called up so they need some game time.

We've got 3 more games after this so happy this one is used as a trial we dont want players killing themselves in the warmups and being tired or broken by the world cup
,
Wanted this back row for a while, minus ludlam insert wilson or dombrandt(eventualy on the bench)
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I agree with most of that.

It's not exactly a 'win-win' scenario for Eddie, but by picking an experimental side, we have more to gain. If we win, we give Wales a really bloody nose. If we lose but some of the experiments pay-off, he can argue it was a risk worth taking.

Obviously losing badly would be a blow, but we're not the side coming into the game off a 14 match winning run so as long as we don't get absolutely savaged, Eddie can always say it was 'just a warm up'. On the other hand, if Wales lose with pretty much their first XV, Gatland doesn't really have anywhere to hide.
 
Honestly gamble VS reward.

How many world cup winners went through the preceding rugby championship winning all their games? England one blemish on their 2003 record was a warm up loss to France

Losing a game at this stage is not something Gatland should be concerning himself with. Potential injuries however....I think it's madness Wales are playing England and Ireland twice...


England on the other hand damned if you do damned if you dont. Makes sense to play the fringe players at this stage but I really have to question 4 warm up matches as well. We really should have a settled squad now and whilst there are few combos we'd like to see we don't really need to push things.

I dunno I'm just expecting a few key NH players to get croaked in the coming weeks with no gain.
 
Also why are none of the later games played in East Asia....you'd thought an exhibition game or two would be being played in Hong Kong or Singapore and other countries.
 
Due to the teams selected, everyone assumes Wales 'should' win but if I have learned anything watching Wales under Gats... it takes us a game or to to get going after a training (S&C) camp. I'd imagine that we will look very off form on Sunday, particularly in the first half.
 
BPM said:
I agree with most of that.

It's not exactly a 'win-win' scenario for Eddie, but by picking an experimental side, we have more to gain. If we win, we give Wales a really bloody nose. If we lose but some of the experiments pay-off, he can argue it was a risk worth taking.

Obviously losing badly would be a blow, but we're not the side coming into the game off a 14 match winning run so as long as we don't get absolutely savaged, Eddie can always say it was 'just a warm up'. On the other hand, if Wales lose with pretty much their first XV, Gatland doesn't really have anywhere to hide.
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If we win? Will be so surprised if we win, we have quite a few uncapped and have any of our combinations played together.

Front row Genge LCD Cole

Second row Launch Ewels

Back row Underhill Curry Billy

Half backs Heinz Ford

Centres Francais Slade

Back three Watson McConnichie Daly

Has any of these combinations ever played together?
 

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