Wales team v SA

[Sandydragon]

I hadn’t realised James missed so many tackles. He needs to work on that as a priority. This is where we miss a Lydiate type player.. one big hit to take away momentum.

We do have those players but they arent stand out and dont get selected - SLH is 6'3 and nearly 18st, Ratti 6'5 and 18st, Woodman coming through is 6'5 and touching 17st, Martin at 8 is 6'5 and over 18st, Mcleod is another one that comes to mind.

All of those are under 26 I think - we need to get them involved, we need to develop them - we need A games

Im not a size is everything advocate, but you do need power and our pack is under powered.
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SLH is knocking on the door. If he keeps on he must be in contention for the six national. Too soon for Woodman.

Ratti is interesting. He has been near the squad IIRC but never had much opportunity. He probably could do that hard tackling blind side role. Martins time I think will come.

[Sandydragon]

And now the scrum is getting pulled. Archie Groffin getting a hard time of it

That was a humiliation for Griffin........ difficult one to come back from......

I disagree. Pretty much every pro gets done over at some point early on. For most of us it’s not in front of tens of thousands of people but he can develop into a tidy tighthead.

He really needs game time

[Puja]

And now the scrum is getting pulled. Archie Groffin getting a hard time of it

That was a humiliation for Griffin........ difficult one to come back from......

I disagree. Pretty much every pro gets done over at some point early on. For most of us it’s not in front of tens of thousands of people but he can develop into a tidy tighthead.

He really needs game time

Frankly, the main thing he needs is to leave Bath. It's a shame for them, cause they've developed him and were probably planning their squad-building around having him be their third choice for a few years, getting game-time while their two internationals are away and developing in the hope that he'll take over when du Toit and Stuart's contracts are up (assuming Sela doesn't snipe that role out from under him), but Gatland catapulting him from Bath's reserves to the starting Welsh tighthead jersey has changed things. If he wants to keep that shirt, he can't do that while being a distant third choice for his club.

I don't know whether moving to a Welsh region that will make him first choice is the best thing for his development overall, but it is his only option if he wants to keep being an international at the age of 23, cause he isn't ousting either du Toit or Stuart for at least a year.

Puja

[Sandydragon]

That was a humiliation for Griffin........ difficult one to come back from......

I disagree. Pretty much every pro gets done over at some point early on. For most of us it’s not in front of tens of thousands of people but he can develop into a tidy tighthead.

He really needs game time

Frankly, the main thing he needs is to leave Bath. It's a shame for them, cause they've developed him and were probably planning their squad-building around having him be their third choice for a few years, getting game-time while their two internationals are away and developing in the hope that he'll take over when du Toit and Stuart's contracts are up (assuming Sela doesn't snipe that role out from under him), but Gatland catapulting him from Bath's reserves to the starting Welsh tighthead jersey has changed things. If he wants to keep that shirt, he can't do that while being a distant third choice for his club.

I don't know whether moving to a Welsh region that will make him first choice is the best thing for his development overall, but it is his only option if he wants to keep being an international at the age of 23, cause he isn't ousting either du Toit or Stuart for at least a year.

Puja

Agreed. There’s a lot of learning he can do with such experienced internationals in the same team but he really needs to be playing. I’d have him at the dragons in an instant given how injury prone Brown is.