Six Nations 2015

[Wales Fan]

One of Wales' issues at prop is down to Gatlands fitness demands. That's the main reason for Adam's squad ommission, and why Tomos Francis from Exeter has been training with the squad but has been told he needs to get fitter before being considered (even though he's apparently a powerful scrummager). Guys like Aaron Jarvis & Scott Andrews obviously tick all the fitness boxes but can't scrummage very well. It's like selecting a 10 who can't kick or a 9 that can't pass !
Young Rob Evans who started at loosehead yesterday is a fine prospect who just learned a lesson from a old campaigner ! We have Rhodri Jones to come back at tighthead too & he was beginning to improve in that role & he's going to be the starting 3 in the RWC2015.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Well hats off to the jocks for ambition!

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-union/18650528

 

[Cardiffblue]

One of Wales' issues at prop is down to Gatlands fitness demands. That's the main reason for Adam's squad ommission, and why Tomos Francis from Exeter has been training with the squad but has been told he needs to get fitter before being considered (even though he's apparently a powerful scrummager). Guys like Aaron Jarvis & Scott Andrews obviously tick all the fitness boxes but can't scrummage very well. It's like selecting a 10 who can't kick or a 9 that can't pass !
Young Rob Evans who started at loosehead yesterday is a fine prospect who just learned a lesson from a old campaigner ! We have Rhodri Jones to come back at tighthead too & he was beginning to improve in that role & he's going to be the starting 3 in the RWC2015.

I agree but we are a rabid populace who demand that Wales don't just turn up to rwc. We've come close to beating Australia so many times and just fallen short, likewise nz. If yesterday and those games show anything it shows how you need 80 mins commitment to total rugby and great as Adam has been he couldn't do it. He'd be just like castelgiovanni yesterday - shagged by half time

 

[Shelts89]

I agree but we are a rabid populace who demand that Wales don't just turn up to rwc. We've come close to beating Australia so many times and just fallen short, likewise nz. If yesterday and those games show anything it shows how you need 80 mins commitment to total rugby and great as Adam has been he couldn't do it. He'd be just like castelgiovanni yesterday - shagged by half time​

Why not substitute him at half time or 50 minutes then? You would have a solid scrum in the first half, and hopefully the new prop would be fresher than his opponents when he comes on. Lets be honest, tight head is a real issue for Wales at the moment. I heard alot about Samson Lee coming into the tournament, and he was very underwhelming imo.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Why not substitute him at half time or 50 minutes then? You would have a solid scrum in the first half, and hopefully the new prop would be fresher than his opponents when he comes on. Lets be honest, tight head is a real issue for Wales at the moment. I heard alot about Samson Lee coming into the tournament, and he was very underwhelming imo.

Cos that's not in the ch plan for victory. I love Adam but even in few blues games I've seen it's clear his top level career is run and the way games are reffed there's less emphasis on tight head and more on loose and on props with speed and ball carrying ability. we held our own for 90% of the game yesterday and against Ireland. And we're nowhere near as bad as Australia. It's a plan. I'm happier if we have a prop who could last more than 40 mins and is contributing fully to first half. Shame lee was injured. Despite what you think he is the real deal

 

[Cardiffblue]

Picking up on something else. To my reckoning that's 4 times that 1/2p has been knocked out playing for Wales. He's gotta be taught to tackle. He's going to do permanent damage. I reckon ch should put him back on the wing now Sanjay has stepped up

 

[Shelts89]

Picking up on something else. To my reckoning that's 4 times that 1/2p has been knocked out playing for Wales. He's gotta be taught to tackle. He's going to do permanent damage. I reckon ch should put him back on the wing now Sanjay has stepped up

This. The commentators keep praising him for his bravery, but surely he could make those tackles without putting his head in front of a knee? Other fullbacks manage to be solid tacklers without getting knocked out.

 

[Wales Fan]

I agree but we are a rabid populace who demand that Wales don't just turn up to rwc. We've come close to beating Australia so many times and just fallen short, likewise nz. If yesterday and those games show anything it shows how you need 80 mins commitment to total rugby and great as Adam has been he couldn't do it. He'd be just like castelgiovanni yesterday - shagged by half time

Know what you mean but Castro in that first half ruined our young loosehead. It's all about balance in my opinion - It would've been far easier for Rob Evans to come into yesterday's game with an Adam Jones alongside him (or an experienced hooker - Baldwin is a relative test novice). Throwing him in alongside Baldwin & Jarvis gave the poor bugger no chance to prosper.
What's done is done & we'll never see Adam in a Welsh shirt again but Wales are suffering as a result of Gatlands stubbornness. Samson Lee aside Adam is still streets ahead of every other Welsh tighthead. Going into a RWC without a scrummager at tighthead is a recipe for disaster.

 

[the plastic paddy]

French are looking to site Lawes for his hit on Plisson. If you watch it back, he came from an offside position. But, even if everything is legal, it is not a great advertisement for the game to watch a big man smashing a small man quite obviously trying to inflict as much injury as possible. If Plisson ducks into that hit he is in massive, massive trouble. That a hit like that is legal is not exactly a seller to your average mother thinking about Jonny playing rugby!?!? I suspect Lawes will be a marked man as far as the refs are concerned.

 

[Shelts89]

French are looking to site Lawes for his hit on Plisson. If you watch it back, he came from an offside position. But, even if everything is legal, it is not a great advertisement for the game to watch a big man smashing a small man quite obviously trying to inflict as much injury as possible. If Plisson ducks into that hit he is in massive, massive trouble. That a hit like that is legal is not exactly a seller to your average mother thinking about Jonny playing rugby!?!? I suspect Lawes will be a marked man as far as the refs are concerned.

You could argue the whole contact nature of the sport isn't a good selling point to those types of mums. Nothing wrong with the hit, wasn't high, was clearly committed. Yes it was a big hit, but are you going to take those out of the game? A big guy making a tackle of a small guy, always gonna look bad. However as a small guy who plays rugby I don't ever begrudge a big guy making a good hit on me, the same way you wouldn't begrudge a small guy dancing around a big guy in space.

Certainly wasn't as dangerous as this incident which was a big guy hitting a little guy, yet no one batted an eye lid.

edit: having looked at it again, he doesn't even look offside to me.

 

[the plastic paddy]

No one in Munster batted an eyelid at that slanderous twat being whacked, but that aside it is not the same as the Lawes one which is right on the edge of acceptable, IMHO. Gridiron has a reasonable force clause, or at least used to. What is Lawes hoping to achieve, in rugby playing terms, by hitting a man that hard when the ball has clearly going? I think his only intention is to Injure the man and I do not think that is what the game is about. That the game sanctions such a hit, and some people even laud it as admirable, makes it even more worrying IMHO. If yer man ducks into that he is in huge amounts of trouble. If Lawes is offside and he is, although the citing commissioner will have the reverse angle, which will clearly demonstrate that, is that tackle reckless and deserving of a sanction? I think he could well get a couple of weeks ban. The intent is clear.

 

[Shelts89]

What if the guy throws a dummy... an international 10 with a second row infront of him, it's not unreasonable. I just don't see the issue with the hit, this feels a bit like the Bismark Du Plessis hit vs Carter a few years ago. Looks like a real big hit, probably hurt (def hurt in the Lawes case), but is all within the rules of the game. Gridiron has a reasonable force clause? Can't be used very often. I have never seen it used, and people take massive hits while jumping through the air so I hardly think they are a good sport to look at for contact safety.

 

[BabyBlueElephant]

I've yet to see Lawes try to tackle someone like that who hasn't had a 9/10 on their back. I remember him a year ago trying to smash O'Brien, only for O'Brien to ride through it and still make two or three metres.

 

[the plastic paddy]

What if the guy throws a dummy. an international 10 with a second row infront of him, it's not unreasonable. I just don't see the issue with the hit, this feels a bit like the Bismark Du Plessis hit vs Carter a few years ago. Looks like a real big hit, probably hurt (def hurt in the Lawes case), but is all within the rules of the game. Gridiron has a reasonable force clause? Can't be used very often. I have never seen it used, and people take massive hits while jumping through the air so I hardly think they are a good sport to look at for contact safety.

If Lawes is deemed to be offside then I think he could get a couple of weeks because it makes the tackle illegal and, if he had been onside, it would have been late no question. I might be wrong on the Gridiron thing but I don't think I am imagining it. Will be interesting to see if anything comes of it. The refs will certainly be keeping an eye on Lawes anyway, which is not great for him. I would add, if the out half throws a dummy, which involves ducking, he could wind up with a broken neck. Tackling is about stopping the opposition, not killing/ paralysing them.

 

[Shelts89]

I highly doubt courtney lawes went in with the mind set that this hit would kill/maim/paralyse Plisson.

 

[Bairdy]

A couple of weeks for that? You're joking right.
Oh and he's miles onside too.

 

[Shelts89]

Hardly miles... His feet seem to be behind that red line which I would say is the offside line as it sits at the back of the ruck and that is after the ball has been passed.


It was a big hit, and it looked like it hurt. However I don't see a rule that it broke. Haskell tripped someone in this game, Messam tried to choke someone in the chiefs last game. Both of those are genuine dangerous play.

 

[qwerty51]

Absolutely nothing wrong with the tackle at all. Cracker of a hit.

 

[boyo]

French are looking to site Lawes for his hit on Plisson. If you watch it back, he came from an offside position. But, even if everything is legal, it is not a great advertisement for the game to watch a big man smashing a small man quite obviously trying to inflict as much injury as possible. If Plisson ducks into that hit he is in massive, massive trouble. That a hit like that is legal is not exactly a seller to your average mother thinking about Jonny playing rugby!?!? I suspect Lawes will be a marked man as far as the refs are concerned.

IMO Lawes is a thug - IMO he knew exactly what he was doing and knew Plisson was going to pass the ball before he hit him.

 

[boyo]

I highly doubt courtney lawes went in with the mind set that this hit would kill/maim/paralyse Plisson.

IMO Lawes wanted to injure him - he knew that it wouldn't be called "a late tackle", but that seems irrelevant.