An Italian Job

[normanski]

Italy deserve to win. They’re sharper and more dynamic at the breakdown. I think this may be AWJ’s last game for Wales. He looks so off the pace and he missed a few tackles. Time to look to the future.

[morepork]

Italy have a great shape to them in this game.

[switchskier]

Italy have a great shape to them in this game.

Talk about timing. The nation of Italy wants to talk to you about the concept of the mocker god

[morepork]

Rats cocks.

[Ross. S]

Congrats guys, its taken a few years of hard work and looked shakey for a while there but we've finally regained our crown as village idiots

[normanski]

Pivac's mistake. Don’t make major changes even if it is only (only?) Italy. We’ve made this mistake in the past.

Well done Italy. Massive result for them. The better side won in the end.

[Wallpaperman]

Italy played well, fair play to them. They had to win one day. Still took some losing by Wales though

[Sandydragon]

That was absolutely shocking. Well done Italy you deserved that.

We were just awful. Felt like we disrespected Italy with the selections and the turning down of kick able penalties.

And Dan Biggar has had a total meltdown on the sideline. Not a happy camper.

Fuck it. Pub.

[Sandydragon]

Pivac's mistake. Don’t make major changes even if it is only (only?) Italy. We’ve made this mistake in the past.

Well done Italy. Massive result for them. The better side won in the end.

This. Totally this.

Provac you screwed this one up.

[Sourdust]

Well... at least we won the second half again.

[fivepointer]

Horrible result for Wales but for the neutral it was great to see an Italian win which will give them an enormous boost and re-energise the 6N's.

[Sandydragon]

Italy deserve to win. They’re sharper and more dynamic at the breakdown. I think this may be AWJ’s last game for Wales. He looks so off the pace and he missed a few tackles. Time to look to the future.

We lacked any momentum. Three or four phases and we would usually lose the ball. No dynamism going forward. The Gareth Davies would pass over Biggars head and that’s about to eat lve dead.

Shame that fourth try was disallowed but there you are.

[Sourdust]

Horrible result for Wales but for the neutral it was great to see an Italian win which will give them an enormous boost and re-energise the 6N's.

The right kind of thing to say, of course. But it's the same thing that was said after Italy's last win seven years ago. And after the one before that.

I guess one difference this time is there isn't another game next weekend to burst their bubble, which might be worth something.

[Mr Mwenda]

Horrible result for Wales but for the neutral it was great to see an Italian win which will give them an enormous boost and re-energise the 6N's.

The right kind of thing to say, of course. But it's the same thing that was said after Italy's last win seven years ago. And after the one before that.

I guess one difference this time is there isn't another game next weekend to burst their bubble, which might be worth something.

I'd say one difference is that their youth results have been getting better and better and the average age of the
current team is about 12.

[Sourdust]

Horrible result for Wales but for the neutral it was great to see an Italian win which will give them an enormous boost and re-energise the 6N's.

The right kind of thing to say, of course. But it's the same thing that was said after Italy's last win seven years ago. And after the one before that.

I guess one difference this time is there isn't another game next weekend to burst their bubble, which might be worth something.

I'd say one difference is that their youth results have been getting better and better and the average age of the
current team is about 12.

Fair points both.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Wow. That was dire. Just when I was accepting that we were too crap to score the 4th try (shame about the disallowed one - thanks for the on-field decision, Brace) we went and let an Italian run through our whole team and win the match.

Having said that, the match was really lost in the first half, not able to get enough points. It's possible that the outcome would have been different if we hadn't needed the try bonus. I guess, in future, since we are that shit at rugby, we'll treat Italy with more respect.

I feel like shit but I guess Pivac & Co are probably in a worse place. Can they survive?

[Sourdust]

Wow. That was dire. Just when I was accepting that we were too crap to score the 4th try (shame about the disallowed one - thanks for the on-field decision, Brace) we went and let an Italian run through our whole team and win the match.

Having said that, the match was really lost in the first half, not able to get enough points. It's possible that the outcome would have been different if we hadn't needed the try bonus. I guess, in future, since we are that shit at rugby, we'll treat Italy with more respect.

I feel like shit but I guess Pivac & Co are probably in a worse place. Can they survive?

Yes, we were still in 5th at 21-15 so we were looking for the bonus and forgot to win. Box-kicking down the throat of their attacking 15 who hasn't dropped anything all game; if the win was enough, Hardy would surely have stuck that in Row Z?

The Jones try was annoying, but there's no way the TMO could give it once Brace had asked that question.

[Sandydragon]

Just how long did the Italian kicker get at the end for that conversion?

[morepork]

Italy controlled that game and their defense kept Wales on the back foot. Finally, Italy produced a controlled 80 minute game. That's why Wales lost, not because they threw it away. Wales play as they have for years...by percentages. The opposition were up to is all.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Wow. That was dire. Just when I was accepting that we were too crap to score the 4th try (shame about the disallowed one - thanks for the on-field decision, Brace) we went and let an Italian run through our whole team and win the match.

Having said that, the match was really lost in the first half, not able to get enough points. It's possible that the outcome would have been different if we hadn't needed the try bonus. I guess, in future, since we are that shit at rugby, we'll treat Italy with more respect.

I feel like shit but I guess Pivac & Co are probably in a worse place. Can they survive?

Yes, we were still in 5th at 21-15 so we were looking for the bonus and forgot to win. Box-kicking down the throat of their attacking 15 who hasn't dropped anything all game; if the win was enough, Hardy would surely have stuck that in Row Z?

The Jones try was annoying, but there's no way the TMO could give it once Brace had asked that question.

Not that I'm complaining that we were focused on scoring tries . . . obviously that's what we had to do, given the table (ie given our previous results).

[Sourdust]

Italy controlled that game and their defense kept Wales on the back foot. Finally, Italy produced a controlled 80 minute game. That's why Wales lost, not because they threw it away. Wales play as they have for years...by percentages. The opposition were up to is all.

I think that's largely fair.

But if England or France had beaten us like that, we'd be calling it what it was - a smash and grab. Fair and square, no arguments; but that's still the team who hadn't looked like scoring all game, pulling one out of their arses at the death, after conceding three but staying in it with kicks. We're only being gushing about it because of who it was. When that was Elliot Daly running back at us, we called it a Wales fuck-up. So was this.

[morepork]

Sorry man. Italy were clearly the better side for at least 60 minutes of that game. They made plenty of metres, kept Wales in the right half of the field, and had a rush defense that extinguished the majority of Welsh attack.

[Sourdust]

Sorry man. Italy were clearly the better side for at least 60 minutes of that game. They made plenty of metres, kept Wales in the right half of the field, and had a rush defense that extinguished the majority of Welsh attack.

All true.

And Wales were six points ahead in the 80th minute, and in possession of the ball.

From that position, you win.

[morepork]

20 minutes of mistake-free defensive rugby for a mere 6 points? Yeah, nah.

[Sandydragon]

Fair play Italy they played well and made fewer errors. Thoroughly deserved to win. Their supporters in the stadium were going nuts and I don’t blame them. And we’ll done to the welsh supporters who stayed until after the final whistle and clapped the Italian team too.

We were crap. Yes the Italians largely defended well, although we did managed to score three tries ( not sure what was wrong with Wyn Jones effort) but too often we lost the ball after a couple of phases. It really did look like half the team didn’t know the other half.

Tactically I don’t think going for lineouts when we had very lockable penalties in the first half was a good idea. Getting a BP win is all very well but win the game first.

Gareth Davies is a liability. Dan Biggar needed a step ladder to take some of the passes. Huge momentum killers and he wasn’t the only one putting in some iffy passes.

AWJ wasn’t match fit. Dropping Rowlands sent out a very poor message.

Seb Davies didn’t play that well today.

Halaholo was ineffectual, ditto McNichol.

But as a team we looked lethargic. With ball in hand it was just painful to watch. And that has been a feature of this championship. But for sure changing half the team for no fucking reason had a massive impact. Provac has had three season but I can’t see much sign of improvement. Yes the regions are shit but Gatland had to endure that too. At this rate we won’t be competitive at the RWC or indeed in next years six nations. You can’t even blame injuries for todays performance, we weren’t missing that many players.