Welsh team named
Shuffling the deck
Morgan injured, Plumtree in on the bench
Rogers dropped from the squad, Tompkins in on the bench
Working out the best starters and finishers
I'm happy.
One of the most important matches in the professional era for Wales
If we kick better, chase better, and are more accurate when we create try scoring opportunities then we'll have too much for Japan
Wales by 7-11
A bit left field but what has happened to Taine Basham?Good player I thought but more importantly, great name.
@Catogrande said in November Internationals 2025 : Wales v Japan:
A bit left field but what has happened to Taine Basham?Good player I thought but more importantly, great name.
Played for the wrong team - Dragons; bit of injury; and inconsistent, tries too hard at times and gives away YCs
No out and out open side for Wales - Reffell and Deaves in the squad - but Mann is solid and has a great engine.
Shutting down the Japanese pick & go is important. Mann is a great tackler.
@MiketheSnow Reffell isn't in the squad Mike.
I'd have picked Deaves to start the Japan game personally.
They thrive on quick ball, I just think picking a natural blindside at 7 is a risk given the opposition.
Hope I'm proved wrong though.
We need to shore up defensively this week, fell off far too many tackles last week, you can't miss 30 tackles and win a test match.
@Catogrande bit unlucky as Mike said he's had many injuries & the Dragons are awful which hasn't helped. Also stuck behind Jac Morgan, Reffell and a few others, it's the one position where we do seem to have some depth.
His move to Cardiff has reinvigorated him I think, I wouldn't be surprised to see him back in a Welsh shirt at some point.
Japan Team
Forwards
1 Kenta Kobayashi
2 Kenji Sato
3 Keijiro Tamefusa
4 Epineri Uluiviti
5 Warner Dearns (Captain)
6 Jack Cornelsen
7 Kanji Shimokawa
8 Faolua Makisi
Backs
9 Naoto Saito
10 Seungsin Lee
11 Tomoki Osada
12 Charlie Lawrence
13 Dylan Riley
14 Kippei Ishida
15 Yoshitaka Yazaki
Replacements
16 Shodai Hirao
17 Sho Furuhata
18 Shuhei Takeuchi
19 Harry Hockings
20 Tyler Paul
21 Kenta Fukuda
22 Shinya Komura
23 Kazuma Ueda
Wales are bloody awful, no surprise I guess but still.
Japan down to 13 and we still can't take advantage. Shows the complete lack of confidence I guess.
He's gets it.
Wales win by one against Japan.
And they celebrate like they've won the World Cup.
We were bloody awful, feel for Japan but they butchered that last 10 minutes.
That yellow for Hockin was crackers, why do that in the last minute? Bonkers.
@Steven-Harris said in November Internationals 2025 : Wales v Japan:
Huge ramifications for Welsh rugby ,what is this commentator on ?
Its not as if you have beaten a top 5 team ..
I really like Welsh rugby - attractive play, great home crowds, their history - but the commentary is so OTT, it's embarrassing.
@Steven-Harris the huge ramifications were missing the 3rd tier of world cup seedings rather than they'd beaten Japan I thought 
@pooler-fan fair point ,well done to your lads the set piece scrum especially was possibly the difference but i also thought Japan butchered that game
@Steven-Harris totally agree, we were very lucky to win that.
We only started to show any intensity in attack in those last few minutes when chasing the game.
I thought our performance was actually better last week against Argentina even though we lost heavily, that just about says it all.
@Steven-Harris said in November Internationals 2025 : Wales v Japan:
Huge ramifications for Welsh rugby ,what is this commentator on ?
Its not as if you have beaten a top 5 team ..
But as others have mentioned we’ve given ourselves a fighting chance at the next RWC
A loss yesterday would have consigned us to where Welsh football was for over 50 years
Unable to make the Euros or World Cup because we were the third ranked team in the group and the other 2 of 3 teams were of our standard
Wales blew so many good chances and didn’t utilise our best strengths - LRZ - but there is already improvement in just two matches
In two years time we will be giving Top 5 sides a fucking good game
Thought Mann had another great match and whilst he’s no Jac Morgan cemented his place in the back row
Tomos is rocks & diamonds
Best game I’ve seen from Dan Edwards
But I still prefer Jarrod Evans
Nails to kick that penalty to win the match
Adams can be put out to pasture now
Dumb, dumb, dumb
We’re going to get well beaten the next two matches
The key is to do what we’re trying to do better, with more accuracy
If we can score 3-4 tries against both NZ and SA by opening them up then the rest of it will fall in to place
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