Team news

[UKHamlet]

Zammit, LRZ is out of the starting lineup but on the bench.


Well, according to WalesOnline anyway.

Possible Wales XV to face Argentina: Blair Murray; Tom Rogers, Max Llewellyn, Ben Thomas, Josh Adams; Dan Edwards, Tomos Williams; Rhys Carre, Dewi Lake, Keiron Assiratti, Dafydd Jenkins, Adam Beard, Alex Mann, Jac Morgan, Aaron Wainwright.

Replacements: Liam Belcher, Nicky Smith, Archie Griffin, Freddie Thomas, Taine Plumtree, Kieran Hardy, Callum Sheedy, Louis Rees-Zammit.

If it's true, that's a disappointingly conservative team.

[Son of Mathonwy]

We'll see how good WOL's spies are in the new regime.

Yeah, pretty much a vanilla selection, except for starting Carre, which I would say is a bit risky. And having Mann in there at all (not saying he's terrible, just that there are several better 6s).

[Sandydragon]

Very safe as you say.

Don’t understand the Mann selection, I’d have preferred a more physical blind side for this one.

[UKHamlet]

The actual team:

Wales team to face Argentina: Blair Murray; Tom Rogers, Max Llewellyn, Ben Thomas, Josh Adams; Dan Edwards, Tomos Williams; Rhys Carre, Dewi Lake, Keiron Assiratti, Dafydd Jenkins, Adam Beard, Alex Mann, Jac Morgan, Aaron Wainwright.

Replacements: Liam Belcher, Nicky Smith, Archie Griffin, Freddie Thomas, Olly Cracknell, Kieran Hardy, Jarrod Evans, Louis Rees-Zammit

[UKHamlet]

Olly and Jarrod in, Taine and Callum out.

[UKHamlet]

Very safe as you say.

Don’t understand the Mann selection, I’d have preferred a more physical blind side for this one.

Mann is the only flanker employing a chop tackle at the moment. It's a no-brainer given Tandy's coaching selections.

[normanski]

Well let’s hope there’s a Tandy bounce on Sunday. We really need a tight and well disciplined first half giving nothing away. We have enough young and talented packs to do some damage when the game opens up.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Very safe as you say.

Don’t understand the Mann selection, I’d have preferred a more physical blind side for this one.

Mann is the only flanker employing a chop tackle at the moment. It's a no-brainer given Tandy's coaching selections.

No-brainer? Can you explain further?

[Graigwen]

It is not the worst selection that could be made.

Starting Carre sort of makes sense, and Smith is a helluva good player to have on the bench in case anything goes wrong. We still look vulnerable at tight head.

Cracknell on the bench is a good move.

Sheedy has been playing well, he has certainly been visibly straining to open games up, but his place kicking seems to be getting worse. I am glad to see Evans on the bench.

It feels like a team that will be altered a fair bit for the Japan game, whatever the result on Sunday.

[UKHamlet]

Very safe as you say.

Don’t understand the Mann selection, I’d have preferred a more physical blind side for this one.

Mann is the only flanker employing a chop tackle at the moment. It's a no-brainer given Tandy's coaching selections.

No-brainer? Can you explain further?

Our new tackle coach.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Mann is the only flanker employing a chop tackle at the moment. It's a no-brainer given Tandy's coaching selections.

No-brainer? Can you explain further?

Our new tackle coach.

Ah, I see the logic.

Is Mann really the only 6 who knows how to chop tackle though?

[UKHamlet]

No-brainer? Can you explain further?

Our new tackle coach.

Ah, I see the logic.

Is Mann really the only 6 who knows how to chop tackle though?

He's the only one who practices the art consistently and effectively. Quite honestly, I think he gets a bad press, and is a lot better than people make out. Punters love a show pony, and he isn't one of those. Having said that, my preferred back row is now Jac, Olly, Aaron. Three big men to strike terror into what is an inexperienced halfback pairing for Argentina, and to combat the worrying size advantage the South Americans have in their back row. Maybe Mann's pace was the deciding factor. Who knows? But obviously the coaching team see something in him that persuaded them to give him the nod.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Our new tackle coach.

Ah, I see the logic.

Is Mann really the only 6 who knows how to chop tackle though?

He's the only one who practices the art consistently and effectively. Quite honestly, I think he gets a bad press, and is a lot better than people make out. Punters love a show pony, and he isn't one of those. Having said that, my preferred back row is now Jac, Olly, Aaron. Three big men to strike terror into what is an inexperienced halfback pairing for Argentina, and to combat the worrying size advantage the South Americans have in their back row. Maybe Mann's pace was the deciding factor. Who knows? But obviously the coaching team see something in him that persuaded them to give him the nod.

Yeah, I think we're pretty much on the same page.

Damn, can't really get enthused about this team. But I will be tomorrow.

[Sandydragon]

Our new tackle coach.

Ah, I see the logic.

Is Mann really the only 6 who knows how to chop tackle though?

He's the only one who practices the art consistently and effectively. Quite honestly, I think he gets a bad press, and is a lot better than people make out. Punters love a show pony, and he isn't one of those. Having said that, my preferred back row is now Jac, Olly, Aaron. Three big men to strike terror into what is an inexperienced halfback pairing for Argentina, and to combat the worrying size advantage the South Americans have in their back row. Maybe Mann's pace was the deciding factor. Who knows? But obviously the coaching team see something in him that persuaded them to give him the nod.

I’d prefer a larger blind side to match the Pumas, but Cracknel on the bench is good.

[Sandydragon]

Ah, I see the logic.

Is Mann really the only 6 who knows how to chop tackle though?

He's the only one who practices the art consistently and effectively. Quite honestly, I think he gets a bad press, and is a lot better than people make out. Punters love a show pony, and he isn't one of those. Having said that, my preferred back row is now Jac, Olly, Aaron. Three big men to strike terror into what is an inexperienced halfback pairing for Argentina, and to combat the worrying size advantage the South Americans have in their back row. Maybe Mann's pace was the deciding factor. Who knows? But obviously the coaching team see something in him that persuaded them to give him the nod.

Yeah, I think we're pretty much on the same page.

Damn, can't really get enthused about this team. But I will be tomorrow.

I know the feeling. Not the fault of the players or Tandy tbf; think it’s just exhaustion of the whole thing and that feeling that we have taken something great and thrown it in the bin.

[Buggaluggs]

Watching RSA vs France, I can't help but think both these teams might be better than us.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Watching RSA vs France, I can't help but think both these teams might be better than us.

Yeah, and I'm not totally chilled that of those two we'll be playing the one that won comfortably.

And we'll be missing Carre, Smith, Beard, Jenkins, Cracknell, Williams, Llewellyn, LRZ, Evans...

Still, we need to get used to these out of international window drubbings. They'll only get worse once the WRU's masterplan forces 25% of our players out of the country.

[Graigwen]

The scrums should be interesting today.

.

[pompey-zebra]

Christ, we're not 15 minutes in and this is looking depressingly familiar.

[UKHamlet]

This is worse than I feared

[pompey-zebra]

That's better!