[RWC19 Warm-Up] - England vs Wales

[Rinkadink]

Genge and Cole? No idea if LCD has been sandwiched with them before but I don't expect problems there.

Francis and Slade may have once? Not sure though. It is all pretty much untested.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Genge and Cole? No idea if LCD has been sandwiched with them before but I don't expect problems there.

Francis and Slade may have once? Not sure though. It is all pretty much untested.

Yeah I thought Francis and Slade have played together but it may have been Lozowski.

 

[bushytop]

Considering the sides chosen, the bookies and Rugby forecast still have England as favourites... we'll take that gladly.

 

[BPM]

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?

I agree it's a big 'if', but I wouldn't completely rule it out.

The combinations are clearly untested. Launchbury and Ewels and Francis and Slade have played together as pairings on the Argentina tour a couple of years ago, but that's about it.

None of these are bad players though and roughly half of the side are genuine contenders for our starting XV.

I'm not expecting a win, but I think we might be pleasantly surprised by how we play against Wales' first XV.

 

[spartan32]

I think Eddies played a political blinder here. Firstly he protects some of his prime assets heading into a World Cup. Lads that have no need of extra game time and will be key going forward such a Faz.
Then he gets to try out some wild
Cards against a full strength Welsh side who won't hold back and are on top form and see how they fair giving him a half decent idea of who could be relied on in an injury crisis
Finally he gives Wales nothing. If they win he can simply say it was an experimental side who were never expected to triumph against the world number 2 and 6 nations champions at full strength, and it sours their victory (although they'll always take a win at HQ). If we win then wales lose to an untested England lineup with 5 uncapped players, which i would imagine would be pretty damaging psychologically for them, and very good for us.

Of course if Wales put a massive score line on us then Eddie may just look silly, but there's some pretty decent players in that line up, (our back row has given me a semi) so I would hope that shouldn't happen.

I excited to see what this England team can do, and hope for no rain so the ball can be moved about a bit.

 

[Jimbo]

Considering the sides chosen, the bookies and Rugby forecast still have England as favourites... we'll take that gladly.

I too was very surprised England were faves with the squad being rather experimental, I can only assume they had it down as pretty close and just gave it to England due to home advantage.

 

[bushytop]

I think Eddies played a political blinder here. Firstly he protects some of his prime assets heading into a World Cup. Lads that have no need of extra game time and will be key going forward such a Faz.
Then he gets to try out some wild
Cards against a full strength Welsh side who won't hold back and are on top form and see how they fair giving him a half decent idea of who could be relied on in an injury crisis
Finally he gives Wales nothing. If they win he can simply say it was an experimental side who were never expected to triumph against the world number 2 and 6 nations champions at full strength, and it sours their victory (although they'll always take a win at HQ). If we win then wales lose to an untested England lineup with 5 uncapped players, which i would imagine would be pretty damaging psychologically for them, and very good for us.

Of course if Wales put a massive score line on us then Eddie may just look silly, but there's some pretty decent players in that line up, (our back row has given me a semi) so I would hope that shouldn't happen.

I excited to see what this England team can do, and hope for no rain so the ball can be moved about a bit.

I've mentioned it before but I think a lot of people are forgetting how Wales perform fresh out of camps... we have normally done very little actual ball-work or tactics (compared to most other teams) and have just blasted the players physically. If history tells us anything, we will look extremely rough around the edges... particularly in the opening half. The chances of us blowing England's doors off are extremely slim... I have a feeling that England will go out to an early lead and the match will come down to whether we can play our way into a bit of form and claw the score back.

 

[Nudger]

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?

club match ups

 

[Jimbo]

Wales could be competing for No1 spot tomorrow if Aus beat the ABs....

 

[bushytop]

Wales could be competing for No1 spot tomorrow if Aus beat the ABs....

The funny thing is, even if Oz do beat NZ AND Wales beat England (to get the Number 1 ranking)... we will STILL be behind the usual suspects (NZ obvs... but also England, Ireland and SA) in bookies and most people's reckonings for the Bill.

And as we perform far better as underdogs than favourites, all of us this side of the Severn will be happy about that too!

 

[Jimbo]

The funny thing is, even if Oz do beat NZ AND Wales beat England (to get the Number 1 ranking)... we will STILL be behind the usual suspects (NZ obvs... but also England, Ireland and SA) in bookies and most people's reckonings for the Bill.

And as we perform far better as underdogs than favourites, all of us this side of the Severn will be happy about that too!

Can't disagree with your assessment, but ffs just take plaudits if you do get the No1 spot that and the opportunity over the next few games to create a new unbeaten record.

Whilst some of the wins to get there have been pretty lucky some of them quite the opposite, that game against Ireland is quite possibly the most complete performance I can recall seeing from any team in recent times, on the whole the ranking and status is well deserved.

 

[bushytop]

Can't disagree with your assessment, but ffs just take plaudits if you do get the No1 spot that and the opportunity over the next few games to create a new unbeaten record.

Whilst some of the wins to get there have been pretty lucky some of them quite the opposite, that game against Ireland is quite possibly the most complete performance I can recall seeing from any team in recent times, on the whole the ranking and status is well deserved.

I get you Jimbo but we're just a big bunch of Radar dodgers at the end of the day... could start calling us the B-2 Bombers.

 

[Jimbo]

I get you Jimbo but we're just a big bunch of Radar dodgers at the end of the day... could start calling us the B-2 Bombers.

Haha that's pretty amusing well they did it, Wales for the No1 spot especially given the English experimental side vs the Wales tried and tested.

 

[bushytop]

Haha that's pretty amusing well they did it, Wales for the No1 spot especially given the English experimental side vs the Wales tried and tested.

We shall see... I'd happily have us slip up tomorrow but win the games that count in Japan.

 

[Jimbo]

We shall see... I'd happily have us slip up tomorrow but win the games that count in Japan.

I think Wales actually are No1 currently from what I can work out the ABs drop to 89.04 Wales are 89.96...

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

The funny thing is, even if Oz do beat NZ AND Wales beat England (to get the Number 1 ranking)... we will STILL be behind the usual suspects (NZ obvs... but also England, Ireland and SA) in bookies and most people's reckonings for the Bill.

And as we perform far better as underdogs than favourites, all of us this side of the Severn will be happy about that too!

I think the bookies odds reflect the routes each side faces, it's very possible that Wales have to beat all the RC teams to win the thing, given their record against the SH it makes sense the bookies have them out a wee bit. I don't think it's underrating them at all.

 

[bushytop]

I think the bookies odds reflect the routes each side faces, it's very possible that Wales have to beat all the RC teams to win the thing, given their record against the SH it makes sense the bookies have them out a wee bit. I don't think it's underrating them at all.

I'm not even complaining... just an observation that, in my memory I can't remember a time when a number 1 side in the world (& we ain't that yet and may well still not be that when the RWC starts) would have 4 teams ahead of them in the betting.

Perhaps it says a lot about Wales' chances, maybe it says a lot about external perceptions of Wales... in all likelihood it's a little of both.

 

[ForumWhore]

Wales will go to number 1 tomorrow, no doubt about it. Their route to this position has been an odd one though but hats off to them. What a place to be 5 weeks away from the WC.

 

[Jimbo]

I'm not even complaining... just an observation that, in my memory I can't remember a time when a number 1 side in the world (& we ain't that yet and may well still not be that when the RWC starts) would have 4 teams ahead of them in the betting.

Perhaps it says a lot about Wales' chances, maybe it says a lot about external perceptions of Wales... in all likelihood it's a little of both.

But at the same time can you actually remember a World Cup with so many serious contenders NZ will rightfully be favs still but would you seriously bet against Any of the teams in the top 5 they could all pretty much beat each other on their day.

 

[bushytop]

But at the same time can you actually remember a World Cup with so many serious contenders NZ will rightfully be favs still but would you seriously bet against Any of the teams in the top 5 they could all pretty much beat each other on their day.

Yes it is definitely wide open, let's hope all teams avoid as many injuries as possible so they all go in with every chance.