The Silver Fern

Aki clearly with no release there before the jackal, bit harsh.

@Catogrande seems strange, a backrow of Wainwright/Morgan/Faletau would be by far our strongest potential trio.
I can understand wanting to involve Reffell to try and slow down Irish possession but Wainwright's all round game is far superior.

@MiketheSnow said in 6N 2025 Wales vs Ireland:

@antipodean said in 6N 2025 Wales vs Ireland:

U20 result:

Spoiler

Wales 20 - Ireland 12

Great win for Wales

Another solid performance from Aberdare club man Tom Bowen on the left wing (my hometown club)

Nice to finally see some good young frontrow prospects coming through for Wales, tighthead Sam Scott demolished the Irish loosehead.
Heroic defensive performance won it for the Welsh youngsters, let's hope the senior side take note.

Woeful performance from Wales.
Gats has talked about overplaying all week & yet when we had a 5 metre lineout in the 1st half we tried a ridiculous front peel move with the hooker.
There's some sub standard players in this Welsh squad but they all look like they've been coached by an amateur coaching team.
Getting Gats back was never going to end well but I never imagined it would be this bad.

Zero attacking shape to Wales' "gameplan"

@sparky closer than we got in the 80 last week. 🙄😁

Dafydd Jenkins and Liam Williams out of the Welsh XV, Freddie Thomas and Blair Murray take their places.
Teddy Williams and Josh Hathaway onto the bench.

@MiketheSnow totally agree on Max Llewellyn, find it crazy that he's not involved especially since the Watkin injury.
The one truly in form three-quarter we have at the moment and Gats doesn't pick him. 🤔

Wales will struggle to score a try in this tournament.
Few decent individual performances but France didn't have to get out of 2nd gear to run away with that game.
Sad times for us .

Zero gainline efficiency from Wales, our carriers simply aren't big or strong enough to get over the gainline at all.

@sparky we don't have the muscle to match anyone these days 😬

Dreading this game I can't lie.
Could be absolute carnage.
Hopefully France start really slowly but that's a forlorn hope given how majestic Begles Bordeaux & Toulouse have been recently.

@MN5 said in Wales v Springboks:

@pooler-fan said in Wales v Springboks:

@sparky are there any decent ones with Welsh heritage?
I'd definitely take a couple of south African monsters if they had a Welsh granny.
We just don't produce physical specimens unfortunately. Test matches are becoming more & more physical and if you lose that contest it's game over.

Well, you did in the backs a few years ago. North, Roberts, Cuthbert, Phillips etc were all absolute monsters for the positions they played.

We still do in the backs to be fair, barring injuries we could select Llewellyn, Grady and Eddie James who are all 6'5" ish and well over 100kgs.
It's not just about size though, many of the Bok players for instance tend to punch above their (considerable) weight.
We're awful at metres made post contact. Only Jac Morgan seems to be able to consistently do it.

@Bones said in Wales v Springboks:

@pooler-fan said in Wales v Springboks:

@sparky I can see another 6 Nations wooden spoon incoming but then Italy went about 8 years in a row in that spot & weren't relegated so it'd be a bit harsh 😁

It's time for Netherlands to get a chance.

🤣🤣

@sparky are there any decent ones with Welsh heritage?
I'd definitely take a couple of south African monsters if they had a Welsh granny.
We just don't produce physical specimens unfortunately. Test matches are becoming more & more physical and if you lose that contest it's game over.

@sparky I can see another 6 Nations wooden spoon incoming but then Italy went about 8 years in a row in that spot & weren't relegated so it'd be a bit harsh 😁

Boks never had to get out of 2nd gear.

Wales tighthead Griffin given a lesson in scrummaging from Bath teammate du Toit
Strange that Gats hasn't brought Henry Thomas in for this game.

This is going to get very, very ugly

@W32 tucked his arm, shoulder straight to chin. Totally intentional on initial viewing.
Lucky boy to get away with it.