Wales Team v England

we wont be getting anywhere  near winning grand slams  and making wc senis  for 15 years plus  tbh we may never getbthere, with our limited numbers of players, under funded schools, lack of physical size and dreadful board leadership  we could well become “the west imdies” of rugby .  looking at the regions we have no hugely impressive tight heads , locks blind sides, 9s  or full backs coming through. morse may or may not be the next big  thing at 8 and i don’t see any stand out  13s.   even in the 80s snd 90s we had a sprinkling of top stars. now we have 3 players who are test level stand outs no wonder the lions didn’t look at the rest of our lot. i cam’t think of a single good rugby decision the wru have made post 2019 rwc

Edited by RR1972 - 09 February 2026 at 5:14pm

Not to be

Eastern outpost wrote: lofty evans wrote: GPR - Rochester wrote: Well expected result but what did I learn. The overriding lesson of course in yesterdays games is that selection & in game management are the biggest factor in achieving results. Gregor drops 3 Lions out of the game & while Kinghorn sits in the stand protecting himself from the deluge his replacement goes missing in action. Hope that Gregor has his contract with Red Bull for next season signed & sealed as he will be looking for a job shortly. Tandy could not pick his nose or run a corner shop. We have dealt with the selection issues already but one thing stood out for me in that pooshow of a performance and that was the decision by Tandy to remove Eddie James to accomodate one of the two front rowers in the bin. He compounded it by then trying to defend with LRZ in the backfield & asking Ellis to defend 50% of the field width. FFS its common bloody sense that you mark up in midfield in that situation & test them to make something of the fact that you don't have a 15.  England did nothing of quality & scored 48 points. 4 yellow cards 16 penalties. For sure we have serious resource issues but I would put my house on the fact that if we broke the bank & bought Shaun Edwards out of his contract & made him an offer he couldn't refuse we would see an instant massive improvement from that squad.  His first decisions would be that Ben Thomas, Belcher, Beard & Mann never get selected again. One proviso is that Mann could alter that if he put on 10 kgs because he does at least have a big heart. LRZ will never be an international 15, Eddie is wasted at 13, Edwards bless him is very limited at 10 but who else is there, Lake is not an International hooker & definitely never a captain. Tandy is responsible for these deecisions & I have seen more than enough to know he is not up to the job. Selection is key & discipline is non negotiable. Shaun Edwards would have that squad in fear of their lives after a performance like that. Eddie was given the ball 3 times......3 poxy times. And that’s with a play-making immediately inside him

I just don't know where we go from here really...selection was flawed in too many places (already been said on here but was away this weekend), lineout was a shambles, players backing off in the tackle & not being aggressive & discipline made everything so much worse.