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Wales v New Zealand - 05/11/2022

Tough score line for Wales, but pretty much each time ABs have gone forward they seem to have scored a try. Massive go forward from the likes of Savea.
 
"Last year New Zealand won 54-16 but Wales were missing 20 odd players and this is not indicative of how Wales perform against the ABs"
"Wales will handle this, they are a resilient side" - After ABs score
"Look historically, this is the sort of time when the ABs can begin to fall apart" - After Wales score

Commentators talked so much biased ******** throughout the game.
 
"Last year New Zealand won 54-16 but Wales were missing 20 odd players and this is not indicative of how Wales perform against the ABs"
"Wales will handle this, they are a resilient side" - After ABs score
"Look historically, this is the sort of time when the ABs can begin to fall apart" - After Wales score

Commentators talked so much biased ******** throughout the game.
They've just carried on from the Italian game
 
And….. 50 plus points. And this is supposed to be a **** AB's team. 🤔
 
As is always the case when we play that mob you can guarantee we'll score a try and straight from the kick off we'll hand them a nice 7 points.
 
Pivac made a some really poor selection decisions in the squad and today there was plenty of possession and zero clue of what to do in attack / with phase play. No shape, no lines / no intensity. Defence fell away once NZ were 2 scores ahead, which I get as most of those players will be ragged over the next couple of weeks as well. Kind of continuing how they have been playing in the last 6N.

Fair play to the ABs they were decent today against a very poor Wales team. They'll need to be at a different level for the next couple.
 
NZ forwards were great. Ardie is an absolute beast. In contrast Wales forwards were poor.

The reality was that NZ scored over 50 points with half their backline barely touching thr ball (Clarke, Reece, Ioane), they didn't need to. Wales just gifted field position with silly pens, poor kicking, and NZ forwards made it look easy.

Tips and Reffel didn't work in thr backrow. Beard continues to be powderpuff in the row. Both starting props were crap.

Need to rethink the balance of our pack.
 
As is always the case when we play that mob you can guarantee we'll score a try and straight from the kick off we'll hand them a nice 7 points.
That doesn't account for the other five tries
 
Had to go shopping so only caught the post match commentary, but heard something along the lines of.

Wales should not be ashamed of this result. NZ are so strong and nobody can match them.

Yeah that's why they are *checks WR* 4th in the world.
 
8 tries to 2 is a hammering. Even if not vintage, ABs doing what ABs do in taking their chances.

Wales should be concerned that they're still relying on quite a few 30 somethings from the Gatland era who are either past their best and or have had bad injury problems. Halfpenny and Biggar, both 33, would also have played today if fit.
 
I do feel for Pivac as he doesn't have a vintage wales team to play with, yet their fans expect miracles. Their pack as good as they are in defence offer little to nothing ball in hand.
 
Despite always being behind, I thought Wales had a real chance in the second and third quarters. It was the other half (or rather, the other two quarters) of the match that killed them.
 
Here's my rambling thoughts on the Welsh players

01 Gareth Thomas. Barely played this season, and boy did it show. Should have been nowhere near the squad lwt alone starting due to his lack of gametime. It's not as if he's some talismatic player for us that can't be left out. Carre was left out of the squad dur to concerns over his conditioning, but at least he offers some ball carrying grunt, somethibg we've soreley missed for years now.

02. Ken Owens. I had doubts over Owens too due to his lack of gametime, but this one did pay off for Pivac, he was one of Wales' better performers.

03 Tomas Francis. Really struggled in all aspects of the game. He's there to shure up the scrum really, becaue he doesn't offer a huge amount else, but our scrum was under pressure all game and it was no surprise to see Francis subbed early.

04 Adam Beard. He's tall and that's about it really. He's so passive ball in hand and in defense, and does nothing to help the balance of our pack. We need someone more dynamic to partner Rowlands, my pick would be Tshuinza.

05 Will Rowlands. A good couple of notches below where he's been performing at this season, but still better than most of the others. He put pressure on NZ lineout, and worked hard. More to come from him though.

06 Justin Tipuric. Another player short on gametime and once again it showed. Fell off a costly tackle early on which is almost unheard of. Got better as the game went on though, ending on 25 tackles, scored a try and was always there in support. He's a 7 though, and the balance of the two opensides backfired massively today.

07 Tommy Reffel. I like reffel, but this was a very poor performance from him. Barely noticed him in defense, at the breakdown, or in attack. He appeared to really struggle physically, along with many others.

08 Taulupe Faletau. Far from vintage Faletau, but he was still one of our better players on the day. When you see the all action Ardie Savea opposite him though, it's difficult not to want a little more from one of Wales' all time greats.

09 Tomos Williams. Had to shovell a lot of **** with our scrum going backwards, our rucks slow and messy, and very little front foot ball to work from. His quick tap shows what he's capable of, but our forwards don't provide a platform for him to showcase his talent unfortunately.

10 Rhys Priestland. Good distance on his touch finders, and that's probably about it. Wasn't really involved in any of Wales' attacking moves, with Tompkins stepping in more often to distribute the ball. He made the squad based on one good game for Cardiff, otherwise he's looked slow and ponderous this season, and last. Time to move on.

11 Rio Dyer. Overall a positive first cap. Worked hard on restarts to pressure and disrupt the catcher, took his try very well, and went looking for work. Out-jumped by Barrett, but he was at a disadvantage having to jump from a standstill and short a few inches. He should be proud of his efforts.

12 Nick Tompkins. Probably Wales' best player. Great pass to Dyer for his try, and generally busy. Can't think of any glaring errors, but there's a general syatematic issue with the defensive structures which needs looking at. Shame as I thought we'd shured up our defense v SA in the summer!

13 Gerorge North. Busy opening from North who cased some issues for Ione and co. Another who's had precious little rugby recently, and again I think it showed.

14 LRZ. Always looked threatening ball in hand, but never given the space to open his stride. We need to get him into the game more, and maybe that would work best from fullback?

15 Gareth Anscombe. This was a really poor game from Anscombe, and there were some worrying signs. Pre injury Anscombe would have cantered in following his chsrgedown, but he looked like a prop heading for the corner. That's a worrying loss of pace and makes me question his future at international level. It's exposed more at 15 than 10, so that certainly needs to be the last time he plays fullback. His kicking from hand was also terrible, it lacked distance and accuracy. Once again, Pivacs squad selection really needs to be questioned here, selecting so many injured players in the squad left him with no real options.

Subs. Can't be bothered going through each one, but not many made a big impact. Lewis continues to struggle in the scrum, AWJ continues to look old, Watkin was ok.
 
Conceding 55 points against that NZ team at home should be a sackable offence. That was an embarrassing performance from Wales. They just didn't show any physicality in defence. The pack was also bullied.
 
There isn't one facet of our game that Pivac has evolved or even slightly improved. He's had covid and injuries to deal with like everyone and we got a 6N win but I don't have any confidence in him. Not that it's all his fault but I don't think he's done a particularly great job and certainly hasn't done anything that he said he was initially going to do. Our last 2 games in Cardiff have seen us lose to Italy and get pumped by the ABs. If we lose to Argentina and Australia he should go no matter how close it is to the WC. Personally I would've be on the phone to Robertson months ago and definitely would be tonight.
 

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