| Japan v Wales 06:17 - Jul 5 with 3444 views | max936 |
Good start from us 7-0 up, Ben Thomas try. [Post edited 5 Jul 6:20]
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| Japan v Wales on 17:59 - Jul 5 with 1449 views | max936 |
| Japan v Wales on 11:16 - Jul 5 by union_jack |
But then the ‘we’ and ‘us’ becomes meaningless S. This is international rugby not club rugby. I’m totally against it and The Lions tour is slightly marred for me by the same token. |
Its marred for me by the lack of Welsh players on the tour. | |
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| Japan v Wales on 18:04 - Jul 5 with 1441 views | max936 |
| Japan v Wales on 12:05 - Jul 5 by Togg |
Graham Henry's Grannygate springs to mind but it was successful. There's loads of talent in New Zealand who won't make an All Black. Rather see home grown talent but we are really struggling for test quality talent. |
Exactly my point Togg, we need size in the team and we are not producing these players and I'm not talking about getting lads on the juice etc, we're not breeding these naturally physically big players. | |
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| Japan v Wales on 18:30 - Jul 5 with 1416 views | union_jack |
| Japan v Wales on 17:57 - Jul 5 by max936 |
I mentioned on the Lions Thread that I wasn't happy with foreign players getting selected, thing is that at International level it happens everywhere, Lietch the Japan Blind side Flanker and Captain is Australian by birth, he had a cracking game to even at the age of 36. |
It happens. I just don’t like it and would have pride in my chosen nation if they all had a connection to that country. Not just be able to point to it on a map or within a 1000 miles.
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em is all well and good but I’d rather the rules be tighter. |  |
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| Japan v Wales on 19:10 - Jul 5 with 1398 views | shingle |
Let's not be to hard on Wales after all it was their b team with many away with the Lions Squad
oh wait  |  | | |
| Japan v Wales on 23:53 - Jul 5 with 1327 views | JACKMANANDBOY |
| Japan v Wales on 19:10 - Jul 5 by shingle |
Let's not be to hard on Wales after all it was their b team with many away with the Lions Squad
oh wait |
England rub it in by beating Argentina easily in Argentina with 13 on the Lions trip. We are so far behind. |  |
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| Japan v Wales on 00:12 - Jul 6 with 1315 views | max936 |
| Japan v Wales on 23:53 - Jul 5 by JACKMANANDBOY |
England rub it in by beating Argentina easily in Argentina with 13 on the Lions trip. We are so far behind. |
Hang on Jacko look at their player base and the standard of rugby that they play every weekend and the RFU are all for the England International team.
The current WRU board got to look on Youtube to be able to put their shoes on of a morning, they are solely responsible for the current state of the game in Wales, I honestly think that Nigel Walker tried his best to bring change but was hamstrung by those above him and eventually give up and went back to his very successful business and god luck to him, he's a good man. | |
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| Japan v Wales on 11:23 - Jul 6 with 1228 views | GVJack |
The current eligibility rules are the eligibility rules. I don't like them, and whilst I think there should be some room for qualifying on residency, that should be somewhere around 7+ years in my opinion.
However with the current rules in place which we are not fully utilising we are being considerably left behind and overtaken by some other nations who are taking full advantage of the eligibility rules.
I take the point a previous poster mentioned that the regions can't compete financially to bring in the best players from other shores, I hadn't thought of it that way before, but we do have 4 professional sides so I don't agree necessarily that we don't have the player pool, That's over 140 professional rugby players playing in Wales, excluding those choosing to play in England/France. I'm not going to get into the financial side of things as it's not my area of expertise, but to say we don't have a big enough player pool to compete with at least the likes of Italy, Scotland, Japan and even Ireland I think is wrong.
What were not doing is bringing through elite athletes from the U19's into senior rugby or developing them into elite athletes in the first two years of senior rugby. Fast, physically big players. Is it because we're a "small nation" or is it because of our culture or conditioning programmes.
Then.... And this is a big one for me.... We have been seriously lacking in skill and rugby intelligence for an awful long time. Wales, particularly under Gatland had a system, a structure, it worked for some time but the game moved on, we didn't. The game is quicker and looser now (for the better in my opinion) but we still seem to want to set up pods of 3 which slows the game down rather than play with width and pace. The golden years under Gatland have left their mark on Welsh rugby, most school coaches and junior coaches would have taken inspiration from that and tried to play that way... So Between 2008 and 2019 kids would have had certain playing preferences instilled in them... And where are those players now??? Our Senior players!!!
Something drastic has to change, I don't want/think cutting regions down is the answer as we want that larger playing pool, but the coaching in the 4 regions (as they currently are) and in particular in the identification of and development of talent at younger ages needs to be overhauled.
Here's what I would do :-
1) Scrap all junior pathways for each region - the money they could save on expenses, coaches etc can be re-invested back into their first team squads.
2) Centralise (probably under WRU) academies lnto East, West and North Wales for every age grade from U13's to U18's for those identified as the most talented players. Each year players need to "Graduate" to the next age band based knowledge improvements made whist continuing to account locally and hold regular trial days for any late developers/newcomers to rugby to not be missed.
3) Use a form of "draft system" for the regions to select which players they want to contract upon graduation from U18's into senior rugby.
Not all players will make it, that's life. But under a better, stricter and more consistent centrally funded development programme the regions would have the cream of the crop available for them to select to offer professional contract to. | | | |
| Japan v Wales on 12:12 - Jul 6 with 1171 views | JACKMANANDBOY |
| Japan v Wales on 00:12 - Jul 6 by max936 |
Hang on Jacko look at their player base and the standard of rugby that they play every weekend and the RFU are all for the England International team.
The current WRU board got to look on Youtube to be able to put their shoes on of a morning, they are solely responsible for the current state of the game in Wales, I honestly think that Nigel Walker tried his best to bring change but was hamstrung by those above him and eventually give up and went back to his very successful business and god luck to him, he's a good man. |
Your first paragraph sums up our problems. | |
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| Japan v Wales on 22:47 - Jul 6 with 1073 views | max936 |
| Japan v Wales on 11:23 - Jul 6 by GVJack |
The current eligibility rules are the eligibility rules. I don't like them, and whilst I think there should be some room for qualifying on residency, that should be somewhere around 7+ years in my opinion.
However with the current rules in place which we are not fully utilising we are being considerably left behind and overtaken by some other nations who are taking full advantage of the eligibility rules.
I take the point a previous poster mentioned that the regions can't compete financially to bring in the best players from other shores, I hadn't thought of it that way before, but we do have 4 professional sides so I don't agree necessarily that we don't have the player pool, That's over 140 professional rugby players playing in Wales, excluding those choosing to play in England/France. I'm not going to get into the financial side of things as it's not my area of expertise, but to say we don't have a big enough player pool to compete with at least the likes of Italy, Scotland, Japan and even Ireland I think is wrong.
What were not doing is bringing through elite athletes from the U19's into senior rugby or developing them into elite athletes in the first two years of senior rugby. Fast, physically big players. Is it because we're a "small nation" or is it because of our culture or conditioning programmes.
Then.... And this is a big one for me.... We have been seriously lacking in skill and rugby intelligence for an awful long time. Wales, particularly under Gatland had a system, a structure, it worked for some time but the game moved on, we didn't. The game is quicker and looser now (for the better in my opinion) but we still seem to want to set up pods of 3 which slows the game down rather than play with width and pace. The golden years under Gatland have left their mark on Welsh rugby, most school coaches and junior coaches would have taken inspiration from that and tried to play that way... So Between 2008 and 2019 kids would have had certain playing preferences instilled in them... And where are those players now??? Our Senior players!!!
Something drastic has to change, I don't want/think cutting regions down is the answer as we want that larger playing pool, but the coaching in the 4 regions (as they currently are) and in particular in the identification of and development of talent at younger ages needs to be overhauled.
Here's what I would do :-
1) Scrap all junior pathways for each region - the money they could save on expenses, coaches etc can be re-invested back into their first team squads.
2) Centralise (probably under WRU) academies lnto East, West and North Wales for every age grade from U13's to U18's for those identified as the most talented players. Each year players need to "Graduate" to the next age band based knowledge improvements made whist continuing to account locally and hold regular trial days for any late developers/newcomers to rugby to not be missed.
3) Use a form of "draft system" for the regions to select which players they want to contract upon graduation from U18's into senior rugby.
Not all players will make it, that's life. But under a better, stricter and more consistent centrally funded development programme the regions would have the cream of the crop available for them to select to offer professional contract to. |
That's a very good post.
We may have a pool of 140 + players, but we lack the quality, and the physical size of players needed, like at squad Gatland had when he first took over, they had the size and the quality in good numbers, we've not got that now.
And that's the point.
[Post edited 6 Jul 22:54]
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| Japan v Wales on 23:03 - Jul 6 with 1055 views | trampie |
| Japan v Wales on 11:23 - Jul 6 by GVJack |
The current eligibility rules are the eligibility rules. I don't like them, and whilst I think there should be some room for qualifying on residency, that should be somewhere around 7+ years in my opinion.
However with the current rules in place which we are not fully utilising we are being considerably left behind and overtaken by some other nations who are taking full advantage of the eligibility rules.
I take the point a previous poster mentioned that the regions can't compete financially to bring in the best players from other shores, I hadn't thought of it that way before, but we do have 4 professional sides so I don't agree necessarily that we don't have the player pool, That's over 140 professional rugby players playing in Wales, excluding those choosing to play in England/France. I'm not going to get into the financial side of things as it's not my area of expertise, but to say we don't have a big enough player pool to compete with at least the likes of Italy, Scotland, Japan and even Ireland I think is wrong.
What were not doing is bringing through elite athletes from the U19's into senior rugby or developing them into elite athletes in the first two years of senior rugby. Fast, physically big players. Is it because we're a "small nation" or is it because of our culture or conditioning programmes.
Then.... And this is a big one for me.... We have been seriously lacking in skill and rugby intelligence for an awful long time. Wales, particularly under Gatland had a system, a structure, it worked for some time but the game moved on, we didn't. The game is quicker and looser now (for the better in my opinion) but we still seem to want to set up pods of 3 which slows the game down rather than play with width and pace. The golden years under Gatland have left their mark on Welsh rugby, most school coaches and junior coaches would have taken inspiration from that and tried to play that way... So Between 2008 and 2019 kids would have had certain playing preferences instilled in them... And where are those players now??? Our Senior players!!!
Something drastic has to change, I don't want/think cutting regions down is the answer as we want that larger playing pool, but the coaching in the 4 regions (as they currently are) and in particular in the identification of and development of talent at younger ages needs to be overhauled.
Here's what I would do :-
1) Scrap all junior pathways for each region - the money they could save on expenses, coaches etc can be re-invested back into their first team squads.
2) Centralise (probably under WRU) academies lnto East, West and North Wales for every age grade from U13's to U18's for those identified as the most talented players. Each year players need to "Graduate" to the next age band based knowledge improvements made whist continuing to account locally and hold regular trial days for any late developers/newcomers to rugby to not be missed.
3) Use a form of "draft system" for the regions to select which players they want to contract upon graduation from U18's into senior rugby.
Not all players will make it, that's life. But under a better, stricter and more consistent centrally funded development programme the regions would have the cream of the crop available for them to select to offer professional contract to. |
Good post. |  |
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| Japan v Wales on 23:04 - Jul 6 with 1054 views | max936 |
| Japan v Wales on 11:23 - Jul 6 by GVJack |
The current eligibility rules are the eligibility rules. I don't like them, and whilst I think there should be some room for qualifying on residency, that should be somewhere around 7+ years in my opinion.
However with the current rules in place which we are not fully utilising we are being considerably left behind and overtaken by some other nations who are taking full advantage of the eligibility rules.
I take the point a previous poster mentioned that the regions can't compete financially to bring in the best players from other shores, I hadn't thought of it that way before, but we do have 4 professional sides so I don't agree necessarily that we don't have the player pool, That's over 140 professional rugby players playing in Wales, excluding those choosing to play in England/France. I'm not going to get into the financial side of things as it's not my area of expertise, but to say we don't have a big enough player pool to compete with at least the likes of Italy, Scotland, Japan and even Ireland I think is wrong.
What were not doing is bringing through elite athletes from the U19's into senior rugby or developing them into elite athletes in the first two years of senior rugby. Fast, physically big players. Is it because we're a "small nation" or is it because of our culture or conditioning programmes.
Then.... And this is a big one for me.... We have been seriously lacking in skill and rugby intelligence for an awful long time. Wales, particularly under Gatland had a system, a structure, it worked for some time but the game moved on, we didn't. The game is quicker and looser now (for the better in my opinion) but we still seem to want to set up pods of 3 which slows the game down rather than play with width and pace. The golden years under Gatland have left their mark on Welsh rugby, most school coaches and junior coaches would have taken inspiration from that and tried to play that way... So Between 2008 and 2019 kids would have had certain playing preferences instilled in them... And where are those players now??? Our Senior players!!!
Something drastic has to change, I don't want/think cutting regions down is the answer as we want that larger playing pool, but the coaching in the 4 regions (as they currently are) and in particular in the identification of and development of talent at younger ages needs to be overhauled.
Here's what I would do :-
1) Scrap all junior pathways for each region - the money they could save on expenses, coaches etc can be re-invested back into their first team squads.
2) Centralise (probably under WRU) academies lnto East, West and North Wales for every age grade from U13's to U18's for those identified as the most talented players. Each year players need to "Graduate" to the next age band based knowledge improvements made whist continuing to account locally and hold regular trial days for any late developers/newcomers to rugby to not be missed.
3) Use a form of "draft system" for the regions to select which players they want to contract upon graduation from U18's into senior rugby.
Not all players will make it, that's life. But under a better, stricter and more consistent centrally funded development programme the regions would have the cream of the crop available for them to select to offer professional contract to. |
In that game yesterday we had players taking the ball standing still we were so very poor at the breakdown and especially in getting the ball away from rucks/breakdowns and scrums, compare that to Japan in that second half they were crisp and sharp with players hitting the ball at pace and pulling our players all over the park, our defence, organisation was totally lacking throughout the game. | |
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| Japan v Wales on 23:09 - Jul 6 with 1041 views | max936 |
| Japan v Wales on 11:23 - Jul 6 by GVJack |
The current eligibility rules are the eligibility rules. I don't like them, and whilst I think there should be some room for qualifying on residency, that should be somewhere around 7+ years in my opinion.
However with the current rules in place which we are not fully utilising we are being considerably left behind and overtaken by some other nations who are taking full advantage of the eligibility rules.
I take the point a previous poster mentioned that the regions can't compete financially to bring in the best players from other shores, I hadn't thought of it that way before, but we do have 4 professional sides so I don't agree necessarily that we don't have the player pool, That's over 140 professional rugby players playing in Wales, excluding those choosing to play in England/France. I'm not going to get into the financial side of things as it's not my area of expertise, but to say we don't have a big enough player pool to compete with at least the likes of Italy, Scotland, Japan and even Ireland I think is wrong.
What were not doing is bringing through elite athletes from the U19's into senior rugby or developing them into elite athletes in the first two years of senior rugby. Fast, physically big players. Is it because we're a "small nation" or is it because of our culture or conditioning programmes.
Then.... And this is a big one for me.... We have been seriously lacking in skill and rugby intelligence for an awful long time. Wales, particularly under Gatland had a system, a structure, it worked for some time but the game moved on, we didn't. The game is quicker and looser now (for the better in my opinion) but we still seem to want to set up pods of 3 which slows the game down rather than play with width and pace. The golden years under Gatland have left their mark on Welsh rugby, most school coaches and junior coaches would have taken inspiration from that and tried to play that way... So Between 2008 and 2019 kids would have had certain playing preferences instilled in them... And where are those players now??? Our Senior players!!!
Something drastic has to change, I don't want/think cutting regions down is the answer as we want that larger playing pool, but the coaching in the 4 regions (as they currently are) and in particular in the identification of and development of talent at younger ages needs to be overhauled.
Here's what I would do :-
1) Scrap all junior pathways for each region - the money they could save on expenses, coaches etc can be re-invested back into their first team squads.
2) Centralise (probably under WRU) academies lnto East, West and North Wales for every age grade from U13's to U18's for those identified as the most talented players. Each year players need to "Graduate" to the next age band based knowledge improvements made whist continuing to account locally and hold regular trial days for any late developers/newcomers to rugby to not be missed.
3) Use a form of "draft system" for the regions to select which players they want to contract upon graduation from U18's into senior rugby.
Not all players will make it, that's life. But under a better, stricter and more consistent centrally funded development programme the regions would have the cream of the crop available for them to select to offer professional contract to. |
"Here's what I would do :-
1) Scrap all junior pathways for each region - the money they could save on expenses, coaches etc can be re-invested back into their first team squads.
2) Centralise (probably under WRU) academies lnto East, West and North Wales for every age grade from U13's to U18's for those identified as the most talented players. Each year players need to "Graduate" to the next age band based knowledge improvements made whist continuing to account locally and hold regular trial days for any late developers/newcomers to rugby to not be missed.
3) Use a form of "draft system" for the regions to select which players they want to contract upon graduation from U18's into senior rugby.
Not all players will make it, that's life. But under a better, stricter and more consistent centrally funded development programme the regions would have the cream of the crop available for them to select to offer professional contract to."
That or anything similar ain't gonna happen with this current board at the WRU, they've not got any idea on how to move the game forward. | |
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| Japan v Wales on 06:33 - Jul 7 with 1003 views | Whiterockin |
| Japan v Wales on 11:23 - Jul 6 by GVJack |
The current eligibility rules are the eligibility rules. I don't like them, and whilst I think there should be some room for qualifying on residency, that should be somewhere around 7+ years in my opinion.
However with the current rules in place which we are not fully utilising we are being considerably left behind and overtaken by some other nations who are taking full advantage of the eligibility rules.
I take the point a previous poster mentioned that the regions can't compete financially to bring in the best players from other shores, I hadn't thought of it that way before, but we do have 4 professional sides so I don't agree necessarily that we don't have the player pool, That's over 140 professional rugby players playing in Wales, excluding those choosing to play in England/France. I'm not going to get into the financial side of things as it's not my area of expertise, but to say we don't have a big enough player pool to compete with at least the likes of Italy, Scotland, Japan and even Ireland I think is wrong.
What were not doing is bringing through elite athletes from the U19's into senior rugby or developing them into elite athletes in the first two years of senior rugby. Fast, physically big players. Is it because we're a "small nation" or is it because of our culture or conditioning programmes.
Then.... And this is a big one for me.... We have been seriously lacking in skill and rugby intelligence for an awful long time. Wales, particularly under Gatland had a system, a structure, it worked for some time but the game moved on, we didn't. The game is quicker and looser now (for the better in my opinion) but we still seem to want to set up pods of 3 which slows the game down rather than play with width and pace. The golden years under Gatland have left their mark on Welsh rugby, most school coaches and junior coaches would have taken inspiration from that and tried to play that way... So Between 2008 and 2019 kids would have had certain playing preferences instilled in them... And where are those players now??? Our Senior players!!!
Something drastic has to change, I don't want/think cutting regions down is the answer as we want that larger playing pool, but the coaching in the 4 regions (as they currently are) and in particular in the identification of and development of talent at younger ages needs to be overhauled.
Here's what I would do :-
1) Scrap all junior pathways for each region - the money they could save on expenses, coaches etc can be re-invested back into their first team squads.
2) Centralise (probably under WRU) academies lnto East, West and North Wales for every age grade from U13's to U18's for those identified as the most talented players. Each year players need to "Graduate" to the next age band based knowledge improvements made whist continuing to account locally and hold regular trial days for any late developers/newcomers to rugby to not be missed.
3) Use a form of "draft system" for the regions to select which players they want to contract upon graduation from U18's into senior rugby.
Not all players will make it, that's life. But under a better, stricter and more consistent centrally funded development programme the regions would have the cream of the crop available for them to select to offer professional contract to. |
One of the major issues regarding players in the 18 to 21 age group is the lack of personal finance. Many of that age need to earn a wage of some sort to have any kind of life outside of rugby. Most are in education, train evenings and play matches on the weekend, there is very little time to work even part time. Even if they do find some work employers need to very flexible because matches need to be a priority and can take place mid week/Friday evening/Saturday/Sunday. This is why so many young players drop out of rugby and return to club rugby a couple of years later, when they are working and can fit it around a working life. |  | | |
| Japan v Wales on 18:14 - Jul 7 with 886 views | shingle |
| Japan v Wales on 00:12 - Jul 6 by max936 |
Hang on Jacko look at their player base and the standard of rugby that they play every weekend and the RFU are all for the England International team.
The current WRU board got to look on Youtube to be able to put their shoes on of a morning, they are solely responsible for the current state of the game in Wales, I honestly think that Nigel Walker tried his best to bring change but was hamstrung by those above him and eventually give up and went back to his very successful business and god luck to him, he's a good man. |
Yep very badly run just like everthing else in Wales but if the people continue to sit back and do nothing these highly payed smooth talking muppets who allegedly run things will continue to earn big money for messing everything up. | | | |
| Japan v Wales on 22:29 - Jul 9 with 701 views | max936 |
6:50 Ko this Saturday, I'll be up, hopefully not at 5:30 like last Saturday  | |
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| Japan v Wales on 22:35 - Jul 9 with 696 views | max936 |
| Japan v Wales on 22:29 - Jul 9 by max936 |
6:50 Ko this Saturday, I'll be up, hopefully not at 5:30 like last Saturday |
AB's v France Ko 08:05 miss most of the first half though, Lions Ko at 11am, another Saturday morning of wall to wall Rugby, Lovely Jubilee | |
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| Japan v Wales on 09:35 - Jul 10 with 637 views | theloneranger |
| Japan v Wales on 22:29 - Jul 9 by max936 |
6:50 Ko this Saturday, I'll be up, hopefully not at 5:30 like last Saturday |
Team v Japan Saturday ...
15-Blair Murray, 14-Tom Rogers, 13-Johnny Williams, 12-Ben Thomas, 11-Josh Adams, 10-Dan Edwards, 9-Kieran Hardy, 8-Aaron Wainwright, 7-Josh Macleod, 6-Alex Mann, 5-Teddy Williams, 4-Freddie Thomas, 3-Archie Griffin, 2-Dewi Lake (captain), 1-Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16-Liam Belcher, 17-Gareth Thomas, 18-Christian Coleman, 19-James Ratti, 20-Taine Plumtree, 21-Tommy Reffell, 22-Reuben Morgan-Williams, 23-Keelan Giles. |  |
| Everyday above ground ... Is a good day! 😎 |
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| Japan v Wales on 19:46 - Jul 10 with 419 views | max936 |
Can't see it he knows full well that Welsh rugby is a basket case. | |
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| Japan v Wales on 20:08 - Jul 10 with 402 views | union_jack |
| Japan v Wales on 19:46 - Jul 10 by max936 |
Can't see it he knows full well that Welsh rugby is a basket case. |
I tend to agree sadly. | |
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| Japan v Wales on 20:22 - Jul 10 with 388 views | max936 |
| Japan v Wales on 20:08 - Jul 10 by union_jack |
I tend to agree sadly. |
Anything on down yonder this weekend Uni. | |
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| Japan v Wales on 21:09 - Jul 10 with 364 views | union_jack |
| Japan v Wales on 20:22 - Jul 10 by max936 |
Anything on down yonder this weekend Uni. |
The sun will be out so it will be busy.
Off to London Monday for a week so I’ll be in all weekend. | |
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| Japan v Wales on 22:36 - Jul 10 with 328 views | max936 |
| Japan v Wales on 21:09 - Jul 10 by union_jack |
The sun will be out so it will be busy.
Off to London Monday for a week so I’ll be in all weekend. |
i've curbed my drinking, I've limited myself to 4 pints or 4 bottles maximum, I still have couple of glasses of wine on a Friday much prefer red to white, but it depends on what food we have. | |
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| Japan v Wales on 09:51 - Jul 11 with 247 views | union_jack |
| Japan v Wales on 22:36 - Jul 10 by max936 |
i've curbed my drinking, I've limited myself to 4 pints or 4 bottles maximum, I still have couple of glasses of wine on a Friday much prefer red to white, but it depends on what food we have. |
Can’t be a bad thing Steve.
Anyway, Wales to end their winless streak tomorrow I’m sure. | |
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| Japan v Wales on 08:45 - Jul 12 with 165 views | theloneranger |
Finally 😂
Japan 22 v 31 Wales | |
| Everyday above ground ... Is a good day! 😎 |
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