Halfpenny is not that good under the high ball in comparison to others and his place kicking actually cost Scarlets a win in Europe this year and overall has been genrally been just OK. Sure his defensive poistioning is great but Liam gives you that to a high standard also. There is no known reason to keep picking Halfpenny in this team

Piss. Would have been great if he could have been back for Ireland...as it is I guess we have to hope they get it fixed properly and he's available at full speed for the world cup.

Forgetting what he looks like in a Welsh shirt

Halfpenny also adds no attacking threat.

Cannot see the back three being changed on the other hand their is no better defense full back than Pence, but we need to attack England and keep ball.

I hope you're right about the selection, and I agree about how we need to play. If we go defensive I think it'll backfire.

Mix up our attack, get the crowd roaring, put England in a different position to anything from the first two games, cross fingers....

England in attack have be impressive, but they have yet to be put under sustained pressure start to place doubt in the mind and things can go pear shaped very quickly.
England will come out flying their tactic is forwards trucking it up, then their 12, all done at pace then they look for gaps behind and kick through most of their tries have come this way.

If Wales hold this period out and its even stevens at half time we have a chance, Gatland would have noted the 9 10 play has yet had pressure put on them, mainly through blockers, so something to look at there.
The only thing England are better at because its the same players bar one or two, is the pace they play at, France were appalling really appalling, and Wales as we know will raise their game 10 fold.
I see it coming down to the wire with one score in it Wales by 4.

His attacking impotency is a fair call in recent years, and I've lost count of the number of times I've cursed at him slipping while running the ball back. However, anyone saying that he isn't good under the high ball is absolutely miles off.

Just saw on Twitter that Faletau requires further surgery on his broken arm.

He's out for a while, lads.

Let's not fall into the trap of rushing him back. I'd much rather he was fit and rested for the RWC.

Let's hope Bath take care of him properly, better late than never.

very true.
His defensive positioning (if not his tackling technique) is almost always bang on; and he has improved greatly in general for the scarlets; but would quickly swap him to have liam back. His kicking hasn't been as reliable as we are used to from him lately though...and arguably cost us a key game....
He couldn't single-handedly win us the cup; but he is still a great player at the end of the day....whether he deserves to come into the national 23 is another matter.
If it were upto me, I would say no at the moment, but not write him off completely in the longer run; for me Liam brings an energy and threat to the back three that no other player atm brings.
North for me is borderline, his personal effort saved our blushes in Paris, and he does worry defences. Im not sure if he is on his way back though, or slowly on his way out. I think him,Adams,and Liam should start against the English...but who sits on the bench?...whoever is up out of bed first that morning perhaps.

I would also like Tomos to start over Cawdor, for me Aled has blown his chance for a long while. I would also look very closely at Patches this weekend for a glimmer of what he has been capable of...I know they got inside his head last year, but I think he is stronger mentally now. If he hits the ground running, Id bring him in.

Not sure about Parkes/Watkins either, whilst Parkes hasn't been brilliant his little kick through (which he often executes for the Scarlets mind) seems to have exposed France's back 3. he does have a good rugby brain, and doesn't often make the wrong decision.

Ball or Beard? dont know, Id go with Ball to start.

I think the rest pretty much pick themselves. Tom Young on the bench, definitely to come on...and lets hope Moriarty doesn't get caught doing anything dastardly.

Under normal circumstances I'd opt for a North/Adams/Sanjay back 3 and advocate expansive running rugby but against this England team I'm adamant that picking 3 fullbacks in Adams/Williams/HP is the way to beat them. We cannot afford to get pinned back in our own 22 like the French and Irish were.

Our lineout is a big weakness they'll target and North has the turning circle of an oil tanker which they'll exploit. Ireland and France lost because they didn't have a fullback on the pitch, lets pick all of ours and see what happens. If England can't get any change out of kicking to the corners we force them to play through the middle or to actually pass the ball and from there we can try to force some turnovers.

That's not a bad call to be fair. But I fear its too soon for HP. First up, let's just see how his brain reacts to playing 60/80 mins pro rugby.

This is where we're really going to miss Warburton.

Warburton at 6, Tips at 7 preferably with Not Toby at 8, but Moriarty will suffice is the best Welsh back row ever.....

well.... for me anyway....

You say that but we will likely play a backrow with Navidi and Tipuric in tandem, which is pretty useful. Add to that the likes of Ken, Dee off the bench, Nicky Smith, (and Dillon Lewis if we really wanted to pack our team with breakdown nuisances). If England are not absolutely clinical with their cleanouts then that might be a area where we can cause problems.

If England play as well as they did against Ireland then we'll struggle to get into those jackalling positions...but whether they can be that good again is the question.

That would be useful, but I still think we'd miss Warburton, having those three in the team would be a huge boost.

I’d be sorely tempted to stick with the same backrow as the Italy game. Back three and backrow are the only units that have gone well for us so far this campaign. The main reason I’d stick with that backrow though is because I’d hazard a guess that that was the best carrying performance by a Welsh backrow in many a year. Our backrows have always been decent fetchers and tacklers, but we’ve always been lacking in the carrying department. All 3 of those guys contributed heavily in the carrying stakes and are consistently good carriers fullstop. Moriarty and Tipuric have been weak on that front this season. We wouldn’t lose anything on the carrying and fetching front either. All we’d miss is Moriartys intimidating angry face.

You do realise that performances against Italy don't actually count for a lot? You've made the assumption that had Moriarty and Tipuric been given the opportunity for 80 against the Italians, they wouldn't have looked as good (which to me at least, seems highly unlikely).

I see Matthew Rees has announced that he's to retire at the end of the season. He is some warrior. A great career.

Yeah, good man, fine player...hope he can finish this season on a high.

Got to agree. Overcoming bollock cancer and coming back to the sport - what a bloke.

And Tipuric`s lineout.

Yeah, cheers Smiler, you were a credit to the Welsh jersey.

my brawd roomed with him at age grade

The last of the proper scrummaging hookers

GW02 - fark me. If you got a quid every time you mentioned this ......

Team to face Edinburgh...once again the weakness of the front 5 off the bench looks the biggest worry. 1st XV is decent but we could look pretty lightweight by the end. Still, look forward to seeing Basham again in a Dragons shirt.

We've got to get an away win one of these days...will it be this weekend?










No. Probably not.

I think we'll win and win well. Unrelated but I've really gotten into crystal meth recently.

Hope you've stocked up for Friday night.

Halfpenny not selected by Scarlets. Further concussion issues. This doesn't look good for Leigh at all.

Just hope he doesn't get risked v England.

Reminds me of the North situation - sounds like he needs 6 months out of the game

Ospreys arrange short term loan for loose head prop Jordan Lay with Sam Parry going to opposite way.http://www.ospreysrugby.com/News/Article/54196
I haven`t got a link about Parry.(sorry https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rug ... n-15829878)
Also Bradly Davies back tonight against Ulster I believe.

So England V Wales 2015 popped up on my Youtube homepage this evening and I made the mistake of watching it. I reckon that game shaved a couple of years off of my life, absolute rollercoaster. My heart was pounding watching it back even when I know we win. The last 5 minutes were more horrific than I remember, 2 English attacking lineouts, Gareth Davies does his utmost to lose us the match with some terrible box kicking, Biggar starts kicking the ball out before the clock was even red (imagine if Poite had given England a scrum V )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oytaJCxKwPo

I remember being completely drained emotionally afterwards. I reckon the team were too because they were pretty rubbish in every game after that.

We were tactically naive in the next two games of 2015 eg against Aus, going for slow scrums with a man advantage, they loved our use of the clock . As for Eng have we beaten them since? I’m pretty bored of only saving our best game for Scotland every year. We should be targeting Eng and Ire.

There's a vid on youtube of the last 10 mins of that game. I've probably watched it 20 times. So Eng were 4 up then get nearly score but get a penalty and are 7 up. We lose 2 more players - Scottie and Hallam, and are staring down the barrel of a gun. I won't spoil the ending for you but.......

I had a good hidden sob on my todd in the corner over a burger and fries (drizzled in olive oil and rosemary - which is delicious by the way). F'ckin well well happy.

Tosspreys 0-8 Ulster FT

Thanks you useless bunch of twats. Could have done wit not giving our major conference rival 4 pts. Turgid.

Sounds like the Dragons tired towards the end of their match after putting in some effort.

Dan Biggar played for Tampon and hobbled off.
Stupid f**king decision to play, Ffs.