Wales v Wallabies

Wales team to play Australia

1 Rob Evans (Scarlets) (17 Caps), 2. Ken Owens (Scarlets) (50 Caps), 3. Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs) (23 Caps), 4. Jake Ball (Scarlets) (26 Caps), 5. Alun Wyn Jones (CAPT) (Ospreys) (110 Caps), 6. Aaron Shingler (Scarlets) (10 Caps), 7. Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues) (3 Caps), 8. Taulupe Faletau (Bath) (66 Caps),
9 Gareth Davies (Scarlets) (26 Caps), 10. Dan Biggar (Ospreys) (56 Caps), 11. Steff Evans (Scarlets) (2 Caps), 12. Owen Williams (Gloucester) (1 Cap), 13. Jonathan Davies (Scarlets) (64 Caps), 14. Liam Williams (Saracens) (43 Caps, 15. Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets) (71 Caps).

Reserves:
16 Kristian Dacey (Cardiff Blues) (4 Caps), 17. Nicky Smith (Ospreys) (14 Caps), 18. Leon Brown (Dragons), (*UNCAPPED), 19. Cory Hill (Dragons) (6 Caps), 20. Sam Cross (Ospreys) (*UNCAPPED), 21. Aled Davies (Scarlets) (2 Caps), 22. Owen Watkin (Ospreys) (*UNCAPPED), 23. Hallam Amos (Dragons) (11 Caps)

Wallabies to take on Wales
1 Scott Sio (40 Tests), 2. Tatafu Polota-Nau (79 Tests), 3. Sekope Kepu (88 Tests), 4. Rob Simmons (79 Tests), 5. Adam Coleman (19 Tests), 6. Ned Hanigan (10 Tests), 7. Michael Hooper (c) (76 Tests), 8. Sean McMahon (23 Tests)
9 Will Genia (vc) (85 Tests), 10. Bernard Foley (vc) (52 Tests), 11. Reece Hodge (21 Tests), 12. Samu Kerevi (15 Tests), 13. Tevita Kuridrani (55 Tests), 14. Marika Koroibete (5 Tests), 15. Kurtley Beale (68 Tests)

Reserves
16 Stephen Moore (126 Tests), 17. Tom Robertson (16 Tests), 18. Allan Alaalatoa (20 Tests), 19. Matt Philip (1 Test), 20. Ben McCalman (50 Tests), 21. Nick Phipps (59 Tests), 22. Karmichael Hunt (3 Tests), 23. Henry Speight (18 Tests)

Going to go out on a limb and predict a close last minute loss for the Welsh. Not that past performance is a reliable indicator of future performance or anything. Or at least that's what my broker says in 2pt font....

Biggar has 56 caps? That bloody snuck up.

Gatland has picked in form players / fit players.

Not convinced that Navidi and Shingler are good enough against Tier 1 opposition.

Would have preferred to have seen Thomas Young in there at 7.

Our backline is the smallest it's been for many a year.

If we can't contain the Australian midfield it could be a very long evening.

@mikethesnow Young has been playing very well for a couple of seasons now. England qualified too - would have taken him in a heartbeat.

Looking at the caps in the Oz team, they are heading toward a very experienced side come RWC. That really does count and even overcomes many ability issues.

final play of the game a TMO call for a try to Wales (one of those touch and go ones where it comes down to seperation between hand and ball rather than control)

FT 21-29.

Had to leave my local club - Llandeilo RFC - before I was barred.

Was ready to go off against the next person that said 'plucky loss'

Plucky loss. Get fucked.

Congratulations to Gatland et al.

You've made Wales more than competitive physically but in a decade you haven't taught them to draw a man and create an overlap through passing.

As the Americans so succinctly put it
'Same shit, different day'

We're good enough physically, but once again we're not skillful enough AND NOT SMART ENOUGH

Even I was shouting at the Welsh blokes when they dropped the ball or forced a horrible pass, so I don’t know how you survived Mike.

They created enough chances to win, but some of the handling was just dire.

We did well to win. Stayed patient in attack and got the results. Discipline was just horrible, though.

Two big centres just isn’t our game, and our attempts to steamroll through the midfield failed almost every time. Hunt to 12 next week for mine.

@barbarian said in Wales v Wallabies:

Even I was shouting at the Welsh blokes when they dropped the ball or forced a horrible pass, so I don’t know how you survived Mike.

They created enough chances to win, but some of the handling was just dire.

We did well to win. Stayed patient in attack and got the results. Discipline was just horrible, though.

Two big centres just isn’t our game, and our attempts to steamroll through the midfield failed almost every time. Hunt to 12 next week for mine.

Lacked balance didn’t it. Don’t mind two big centres as long as their skills complement each other.

Who was that dapper bloke in a suit hanging around with the Wallabies? Looked a bit like Cheika.