I thought that Japan played some very entertaining rugby.

AKA pointless, especially at 41 mins

Anything but the useless players. The WRU are rubbish but they can’t control the uselessness of those players. Yet people will still use the WRU narrative. 

As much as there was to criticise the players in terms of coherence in performance, they exhibit huge degrees more sense and coherence than the WRU executive.

Better with 14 men, Cracknell played really well, as did Mann. They kept trying to the very end, with a man down. Evans held his nerve. Scrum, especially 2nd half was good.

Wainwright obviously wasn't fit, Plumtree made a difference, should have started. Dan Edwards is an exciting runner, but stands too deep and doesn't take the ball to the line. Centres made no impact, defence was ready and they came from deep. Murray is badly lacking confidence. LRZ doesn't look 100%. Murray had a hard time under the high ball, but as last time, so did everyone else. Why do we persist with high ball? Lineout was a shambles.

So many silly penalties, especially for offside. Japan's discipline was even worse.

Did I see a certain WRU high-up giving Tandy a hug!?

I'm afraid two thumpings are on the way.

That does not look like a happy Welsh camp, LRZ seems constantly angry, Adams seems to be on double what LRZ is on and the players seemed to have dozed off daring the defence coaching session.

The big disappointment for me - No picture of Reddin on the big screens. It would have been so funny if he had been booed more than Eddie Jones

Tend to agree with you. Professional sport only really thrives where the money is. Look at football. Celtic were the first British team to win the European Cup with a team all born within 30 miles of Parkhead, now Scottish professional football is a joke. Similarly Ajax were a great power in Europe, the best Dutch footballers now play in the Premiership, Seria A, La Ligua or for PSG. 

Personally I miss the true local derbies Swansea, Neath etc. and also the cup trips. Unfortunately Wales is one of the most deprived areas in Europe and doesn’t have the money to support professional sport at the top level. At least if our best players play in England or France they will still be available for Wales unlike when they were lost to rugby league.

The football team won 1-0 away to country with a population roughly the size of Carms/Pembs 

Our 2 replacement props look like they've been open mouth swimming in the chocolate river in his factory.

These players are an absolute embarrassment.

But in comparison the Japanese hooker was slim, light weight, could run and sidestep - yet held up his part in scrum.

I don't..

Who was left at home better? Embarrassing amateur looking players. You can’t default to coach blaming. 
 

Japan's desire to play is a pleasure to watch even if they sometimes don't get the final pass correct. Two players who looked like Internationals for Wales on the night - Cracknell & Mann. Fully expecting us to ship 200+ over our next 4 games. 

After a small win what we need next is a couple of games against opposition we have a chance of beating.

I'm happy for the players to get a win. They try their best, put their bodies on the line, it's tough when you lose game after game. That they are not 'good enough' when selected to face other teams is not their fault. 

That combinations don't work, are out of balance and that systems fail or are inadequate IS a coaching and selection issue. We currently don't have a pool of world class players - some are barely adequate at URC level - but selection of Murray at FB doesn't work, the centre pairing doesn't work, there is no discernable plan for attack or defense and there are better players in the squad and outside in certain positions who could have been selected. Again all that IS down to the coach and his team. They deserve as much criticism as the players get.

Criticising the various elements that separate the team’s and/or player performance from perfection.

No matter what the weaknesses of yesterday, the team demonstrate a much closer grasp of competence than the WRU Executive. Country miles do not even get close to measuring the gulf.

It seems like the game in Wales has been carried away on a torrent of fast flowing water, with many in there being victims of the flooding (of incompetence) doing their best to grab on to something to get to the safety of dry land. 

These victories against Japan are welcome, if only in reality they are some driftwood that can be grasped for a while before the inevitable momentum continues downstream. 

I honestly thought you meant just the Japan game. My apologies for misunderstanding it. I agree with you in that respect when you say in general. Apologies again. 

Couldn't agree more. 

I can easily understand the frustration and at times anger here. Things are in a mess and have been for a while. There are many reasons for it: some can be controlled (improved leadership at the top; better coaching... etc.) and some that can't (we're a small country with a limited number of payers; the economy is not in great shape; bigger unions will inevitably draw more form sponsors, and more press coverage; this is not a 'golden era' of players with talent coming through.. etc.) So, I won't comment here on those issues as others have debated them at length.

There were a few good things to come out of yesterday... a win always lifts the spirits of players and fans, regardless of how it is achieved. In terms of the play - we did score three tries to two, proving that the defence was pretty good a lot of the time (Japan had far more bal and territory) - the weak points being 1:1 defence especially out wide, and again weakness under the high ball - but an improvement on the previous week. Long defensive sets often worked out well, in fact. And given the imbalance in territory, we were pretty clinical to score three tries... plus kicked all (? not sure) our goals - a very high success rate anyway, thanks to Edwards (nailed one from the touchline) and Evans holding his nerve. Tomos Williams and Cracknell were excellent overall (no one was perfect). The scrum was solid, and the 'chocolate eaters' (as someone called them) who came on as front row subs marmalised their opponents towards the end, in scrums and that final rolling maul (perhaps a penalty try should have been awarded). I've not been a fan in the past, but Tompkins made a difference when he came on. 

The weaknesses are many and obvious: the high ball defence remains a problem... as someone said, it might be an idea to not bother competing but to place one or two players to intercept tap-downs, and make sure you immediately tackle (legally) a catcher - IF you can't compete. Poor Murray - an exellent player within his limits - is not going to grow 6 inches taller a this age. OR - you pick someone else at 15. I've not seen much of Beetham, but he has the size. Rogers and LRZ can compete in the air, but both have fitness issues. (LRZ, amusingly, put in one excellent run of 40m or so... but scored from a 1m flop-over instead.) The centres have been totally anonymous... and why play Thomas as a second 5-8th if he's not gong to kick or contribute much? What is the point of Llewellyn at 13? A big banger like that needs to start at 12 and do the old Doctor Roberts role - bash it up. Once, yesterday, he had the ball with room to run forward - and drew a pass back. FFS! 

There are too many of these draw-back passes - opposing defences are wise to them. We need to vary it. Maybe that's one reason why Edwards managed to wriggle and skip over for a try - the defence is bound to expect extra passes. But he is good on his feet, so there we gave Japan a taste of their own medicine. 

Adams was totally stupid to give away that RC - no need for what he did - though a YC would have been enough. It was definitely no worse than two of Japan's YCs. He looks finished at test level.

Let's face it - the next few games look like being exercises in damage control. I hope the squad and coaches focus on getting better at what they do in defence and attack, and cut down on the stupid errors. The very first lineout we had yesterday - near Japan's line - Lake dummies a throw and gives away a free kick! That's unforgivable from the player an the coaches. Mistakes like that must stop. 

That's enough for today, I think. 

Really? Being coached by a different team has ruined his form in about 3 weeks? Does that mean Gatland was better? I’d just say teams have found out he’s not a very good full back at this level. Unless he was taller last season. 

Quite frankly how many of our players would get in any other Six Nations teams