Six Nations 2013: Wales team to play England
Rob Howley has named his Wales team to play England in Cardiff on Saturday. Sam Warburton starts on the blindside with Justin Tipuric in at openside, while Gethin Jenkins is handed the captaincy. Kick off is at 17.00 GMT
15. Leigh Halfpenny
14. Alex Cuthbert
13. Jonathan Davies
12. Jamie Roberts
11. George North
10. Dan Biggar
9. Mike Phillips
1. Gethin Jenkins (c)
2. Richard Hibbard
3. Adam Jones
4. Alun-Wyn Jones
5. Ian Evans
6. Sam Warburton
7. Justin Tipuric
8. Toby Faletau
Replacements: Ken Owens, Paul James, Scott Andrews, Andrew Coombs, Aaron Shingler, Lloyd Williams, James Hook, Scott Williams
What do you make of the back-row balance? Is Jenkins the right choice as captain?
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It’s all getting a little too much – longest week of my life lol mouth watering prospect isn’t it
Still think centres are a problem for Wales. Roberts and Davies are just too similar. Big guys that look for contact. JD has added some subtler dimensions too his game like grabber kicking and a bit of passing but those features have been less prominent this tournament. Jamie Roberts doesn’t make the yards he used too. Think halfback is a problem as biggar seems to be struggling to unleash those outside him. Play seems to be too lateral too quickly or gets slowed at a breakdown. The danger man is George north. He’s had nothing to work with in terms of getting his hands on the ball and he’s still beating defenders for fun. Wales must bring that unit into the game more if they want to beat that seven point deficit. He’s a threat every time he runs at defenders, beating them, moving defences around, going over the top of people. North finds a way through. Biggest blow to Wales is the loss of Ryan jones. I know tipuric is class at the breakdown, especially I’m the Rabo 12, but the guy just looks too small and light at international level. He can’t influence the breakdown like he usuall does for ospreys, seemingly that the bigger guys can move him a lot quicker and easier to the heavier warburton. Jones has been a pillar of reliability. Carries, tackles, line out presence, breakdown presence. The welsh back row looks very lightweight. Of course not that much is lost ball carrying wise because jones and Evans do their fair share in the engine room as does Jenkins up front. Can see mike Phillips slow passing hindering the welsh attack somewhat. Biggar thrives on front foot ball, this does make him try to step and go himself however. Probably the reason why he has a higher turnover rate than most welsh 10s in the Rabo. All in all the scrum is going to be epic, as well as the rest of the game hopefully.
Can’t really complain about much you have said James, although England have their problems also so i think it’s pretty much evenly matched
Yeah, exactly what makes it so intriguing! Ill go into depth on the England page in a bit. Seems unfair for me to say JR and JD are one dimensional when BB and MT are setting the international stage alight for England… In the same way that a destruction derby is beautiful? Still, everyone loves to see unstoppable forces meet immovable objects. The back rows of both teams are incredible mobile. Wales have more breakdown nous yet England should be able to provide a bit more in the way of ball carrying and line out jumping. I hate going too in depth with analysis though, anything can happen on the day!
So damn excited. After last weeks plays, this is now NH team #1 vs. NH team #2, with a Grand Slam/Championship decider thrown in for good measure. Going to be a hell of a bloody game. I’m half Welsh myself so they’ve always been my 2nd team after England, with the other two home nations closely behind.
I’ll be sad to see England flop another Grand Slam, but as long as the rugby played is good and France end up with the Wooden Spoon, I’ll be happy.
Unsure, and this is a proud Welshman saying this, where to put my money on this game, but I will backing France to at last come up with a win, and Italy to finish with two wins. £10.00 accumilator, but Wales or England???????????????????????????
So England want the roof closed to ‘play Wales at their own game ‘ eh ? can’t see it to be honest, Englands game is to grind down opponents and play for penalties for Farrell to knock them over. Can ANYONE see England playing an open attacking game ?.
It’s what they’ve tried to do all tournament (except against Ireland). They just haven’t been good at it so far (except against Scotland).
I cant believe england would be so dumb as to request this.
Wales by 10 was my prediction before, pop another try on there now! Silly silly england, dont play wales at there own game…
Steve and Michael.
If england want to grind a team down, and try and win on penalties, then surely the roof closed is a good move. after all, there is now no wind or rain, making goal kicking a lot easier.
also i can quite happily see england playing an open and fast game, they did against NZ and Scotland. Whether they produce it again is another question, but we at least know they are capable of it.
clear conditions means that we will see the likes of croft and launchbury using their footballing ability a bit more.
and on a more detached note, finally we will have a game where the awful weather wont be the reason for a rubbish game of rugby. (now we just need to change the ref)
The Mil stadium pitch still sucks though.
My point isn’t the benefit of lack of wind etc, obviously that makes kicks better but would benefit halfpenny just as much. The aspect that I like alot more is the ground, less handling errors will be a big impact on the game compared to last weeks matches.
It will allow for a more “free-flowing” gameplay, no more slip-ups just as a breakaway gets started. To me this looks like a much bigger benefit than a clearer shot on the posts, and judging by the lineouts the welsh squad will have the upper hand.
I’m not saying England are not “capable” of playing the fast-paced Rugby that led Wales to such a good WC/6N in recent years but I don’t think the experience on the English squad will manage against this Welsh squad on those grounds.
It’s like putting a sumo wrestler in the ring with Ali, yeah they can both do there own “style” but the Sumo (England) is hardly going to manage to last 12rounds with Ali’s (wales) lightning quick speed….unless of course he manages to take out the legs in round1
the comment about england being able to play fast and open was more directed at steve, who asked the question “can anyone see england playing a fast and open game”
i agree with you, the closed roof will allow for all of those factors to be improved.
but i do not think that it is wise simply to write england off because of the ability for wales to go wide and play fast in these conditions. after all, england may not attack that way, but they can defend that style of play, as they did against NZ, and that is the most important aspect.
after all, it take a simple 3 points to win the game, england could not let wales score a point and kick a 3 pointer to win, or wales could do it to england (although that would be a bit silly, as they know they have to win by 7).
this brings me on to another point.
England are actually pretty well placed in this game. obviously winning the GS would be amazing, but england know that all they have to do is lose by 6 or less to win the 6Ns, wales know that they have to go out there and win by 7. therefore i would expect england to ease their way into the game, playing the corners and trucking it up in the middle. they can pretty much approach this game knowing that they have to do what scotland did to ireland. there is however the slight issue of steve walsh…
Ummmm…Wales don’t play fast-paced, flowing rugby. they use their massive centres and wingers to grind teams down until either someone flops over from close range or Halfpenny boots the ball over
England have a more mobile pack than Wales and proved they can play fast-paced, running rugby against NZ and Scotland
Well, the good news is that the anti English rhetoric from the players has started. Let’s hope it continues and the Welsh team forget it’s a rugby game.