Ossie n Arch 1,682 Posted November 10, 2013 Report Share Posted November 10, 2013 Well.. Tough game compounded by a few early injuries to key players and a certain man called Alain Rolland who was determined to be the most influential person on the pitch.. Sending the two props off for 10 minutes was f*****g laughable.. We started well but I think the injuries combined with a hard summer of rugby for the lions in the team was a telling factor in the defeat.. What about the pitch ?? One of, if not the best stadium in the world and a pitch that looked like they'd just finished getting the turf up not putting it down. Only watched the last half. Well you know what they say. "A good big un will always beat a good little un" Those SA lads are big blokes for sure. Difficult to keep them out for the whole match. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Malt 379 Posted November 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2013 Well.. Tough game compounded by a few early injuries to key players and a certain man called Alain Rolland who was determined to be the most influential person on the pitch.. Sending the two props off for 10 minutes was f*****g laughable.. We started well but I think the injuries combined with a hard summer of rugby for the lions in the team was a telling factor in the defeat.. What about the pitch ?? One of, if not the best stadium in the world and a pitch that looked like they'd just finished getting the turf up not putting it down. Only watched the last half. Well you know what they say. "A good big un will always beat a good little un" Those SA lads are big blokes for sure. Difficult to keep them out for the whole match. They're big, hard, tough b*****ds for sure mate, as the injuries can attest too. The pitch is shite, always has been. I reckon its because its on pallets they can move in and out of the ground for other events.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ossie n Arch 1,682 Posted November 10, 2013 Report Share Posted November 10, 2013 Well.. Tough game compounded by a few early injuries to key players and a certain man called Alain Rolland who was determined to be the most influential person on the pitch.. Sending the two props off for 10 minutes was f*****g laughable.. We started well but I think the injuries combined with a hard summer of rugby for the lions in the team was a telling factor in the defeat.. What about the pitch ?? One of, if not the best stadium in the world and a pitch that looked like they'd just finished getting the turf up not putting it down. Only watched the last half. Well you know what they say. "A good big un will always beat a good little un" Those SA lads are big blokes for sure. Difficult to keep them out for the whole match. They're big, hard, tough b*****ds for sure mate, as the injuries can attest too. The pitch is shite, always has been. I reckon its because its on pallets they can move in and out of the ground for other events.. Yep. Tis a shame about the pitch. No excuses really. National stadium and all that. It's on my bucket list. A Wales-England match at the Millenium stadium. Gotta wait till England are good enough to win though............... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
paulf 820 Posted November 10, 2013 Report Share Posted November 10, 2013 we never looked like we was ever going to win yesterday ... the pitch has always been crap they did get a new firm in at one time looks like they need another.. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnny boy68 11,726 Posted November 11, 2013 Report Share Posted November 11, 2013 Whilst our forwards did stand-up well on the whole, I thought there were a few crucial areas that they were completely outplayed. We were well and truly smashed in the maul, with SA gaining just about all their go-forward ball from that phase of the game. In the first half, we were also out-muscled in the contact area. A few promising phases of play from Wales resulted in SA turnovers or penalties because they were able to get over the ball and stay there. Whilst AWJ improved hugely in the second half, he had a first 50min to forget. He gave away several penalties, and generally found himself in midfield on his own, and was smashed more than once.South Africa's kicking game was also far better than ours. Every time they kicked the ball, our receivers were under extreme pressure, and they faltered on more occasions than not.Add to that two unfortunate events that led to 2 tries. The first being Scott Williams down injured resulting in Hibbard trying to cover Habana leading to SA's first try. The second being the missed knock-on, and offside, followed by an unlucky bounce leading to SA's 3rd try. I'm not going to blame the ref, these things happen, just unfortunate that luck didn't favour us.I'm gutted tbh. yes we lost but we didn't play that well, loads of effort and heart but we just weren't direct enough, and we never really gave them much to worry about in there half of the field. I think all our injuries disrupted us and our depth isn't really that great. I'll chance my arm and say we'll win all the rest. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Malt 379 Posted November 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2013 You reckon there's a bit of a hangover from the Lions tour in effect John? Our key players haven't had a lot of time off between the tour and the start of the new season.. What do you make of Preistland? I'm still far from convinced of his qualities as an international no 10, and that's being polite.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnny boy68 11,726 Posted November 11, 2013 Report Share Posted November 11, 2013 You reckon there's a bit of a hangover from the Lions tour in effect John? Our key players haven't had a lot of time off between the tour and the start of the new season.. What do you make of Preistland? I'm still far from convinced of his qualities as an international no 10, and that's being polite.. Aye I do Mal tbh, a big ask to expect our Lions to peak so soon after such a big tour. I just think that Gatland dosen't like Biggar as much as Priestland plus you had a Scarlets midfield which was always going to give Priestland the nod in selection imo. Priestland will play to a game plan more than Biggar who likes to play "off the cuff" from time to time, hopefully young Sam Davies can bulk up a bit and make the step to full international. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Malt 379 Posted November 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2013 Gatland knows far more than the likes of us, but I always think we're at our best when playing off the cuff as you put it mate, at least going forward. The likes of George North seemingly coming out of nowhere on one of those devastating, unstoppable runs that he does, etc. He didn't get into the game at all on Saturday, it was all to predictable and he was nullified. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnny boy68 11,726 Posted November 11, 2013 Report Share Posted November 11, 2013 Gatland knows far more than the likes of us, but I always think we're at our best when playing off the cuff as you put it mate, at least going forward. The likes of George North seemingly coming out of nowhere on one of those devastating, unstoppable runs that he does, etc. He didn't get into the game at all on Saturday, it was all to predictable and he was nullified. Aye he does and thats why I'll never really condemn his desicions, he's not a big fan of Hook either for the same reason imo, at Test level you need your players to follow a game plan to the letter and Hook and Biggar like to play on the edge which is great when it works but can lead to trouble if it dosen't. Its great to be a Welsh rugby fan, no other nation puts there fans through the grinder like ours. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Malt 379 Posted November 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2013 Gatland knows far more than the likes of us, but I always think we're at our best when playing off the cuff as you put it mate, at least going forward. The likes of George North seemingly coming out of nowhere on one of those devastating, unstoppable runs that he does, etc. He didn't get into the game at all on Saturday, it was all to predictable and he was nullified. Aye he does and thats why I'll never really condemn his desicions, he's not a big fan of Hook either for the same reason imo, at Test level you need your players to follow a game plan to the letter and Hook and Biggar like to play on the edge which is great when it works but can lead to trouble if it dosen't. Its great to be a Welsh rugby fan, no other nation puts there fans through the grinder like ours. ran out of likes! Yeah, I think the first thing that Gatland and Edwards want is for us to be hard to beat so discipline comes first, everything else comes after. It's probably the right way, the results in the 6 nations since he's been in charge speak for themselves.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tiercel 6,986 Posted November 11, 2013 Report Share Posted November 11, 2013 (edited) `I had had a few by the time the game started,(nothing new there) but from what I can remember it did seem as if we were not playing as a team. Re Jon Davies's breaks, he was on his own for the two breaks he made. As for the rest we were out muscled and out played. The amount of possesion we had we should have made in-roads into their defence, when in truth we did not really worry them. As for the cause I don't have a clue, it could be fatigue, it could be that they are not playing as a team? One thing is certain though, losing good players early on did not help the cause. I was not disapointed with the performance and was suitably impressed with the pace of the first half. I do feel if the off-side had been given by the assistant ref who was in line with the players it may have ended differently, but thats all If's-and's-or-but's. Four new players called up this week, and we all know that new blood can have it's advantages, here's hoping. TC Edited November 11, 2013 by tiercel 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
paulf 820 Posted November 12, 2013 Report Share Posted November 12, 2013 j davis out for upto 4 months and adam jones ruled out against argentina .. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tiercel 6,986 Posted November 12, 2013 Report Share Posted November 12, 2013 Jd has signed for claremont. Adam out for the rest of the autumn internationals. TC Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Malt 379 Posted November 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2013 Wales 23 Argentina 03 half time Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TOMO 26,409 Posted November 16, 2013 Report Share Posted November 16, 2013 I really rate that half penny kid,, it's not just his accurate long kicks,, but the mid air catches,, brilliant ... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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