The Autumn Internationals Thread (Rugby)

[Taff]

Weeks of the autumn internationals are coming up, the big match of the first weekend (I'm biased) is Wales vs New Zealand, the European Champions vs the Southern Hemisphere Champions.

New Zealand:

New Zealand: M Muliaina (Auckland); R Gear (Nelsons Bay), C Smith (Wellington), T Umaga (Wellington, capt), J Rokocoko (Auckland); D Carter (Canterbury), B Kelleher (Waikato); N Tialata (Wellington), A Oliver (Otago), C Hayman (Otago), C Jack (Canterbury), J Ryan (Otago), J Collins (Wellington), C Masoe (Taranaki), R So'oialo (Wellington).
Replacements: A Hore (Taranaki), T Woodcock (North Harbour), A Macdonald (Auckland), R McCaw (Canterbury), J Cowan (Southland), M Nonu (Wellington), L MacDonald (Canterbury).



Wales is believed to be:


Duncan Jones (Ospreys), Mefin Davies (Gloucester), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Brent Cockbain (Ospreys), Rob Sidoli (Cardiff Blues), Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys), Michael Owen (vice-capt, Newport Gwent Dragons), Colin Charvis (Newcastle Falcons).
Replacements: Rhys Thomas (Cardiff Blues), Chris Horsman (Worcester), Luke Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), Robin Sowden-Taylor (Cardiff Blues), Gareth Cooper (Newport Gwent Dragons), Nicky Robinson (Cardiff Blues), Lee Byrne (Llanelli Scarlets).



I'd say Wales will lose by about 5 points.


Here are some amusing and historic rugby quotes:

"I prefer rugby to soccer. I enjoy the violence in rugby, except when they start biting each other's ears off." - Elizabeth Taylor (1972)

Followed by.....

After biting Sean Fitzpatrick's ear: "For an 18-month suspension, I feel I probably should have torn it off. Then at least I could say, 'Look, I've returned to South Africa with the guy's ear.'" - Johan le Roux



Pre-game pep talk before facing England: "Look what these bastards have done to Wales. They've taken our coal, our water, our steel. They buy our houses and they only live in them for a fortnight every 12 months. What have they given us? Absolutely nothing. We've been exploited, raped, controlled and punished by the English - and that's who you are playing this afternoon." - Phil Bennett (1977)
{I bet they don't do them like this anymore)

"The relationship between the Welsh and the English is based on trust and understanding. They don't trust us and we don't understand them." - Dudley Wood (1986)

[Humblebee]

who won

[Falcore]

NZ are obviously not serious about the game, or McCaw would be in the run-on.

Aus v France this weekend. Should be interesting for me, cos a lof of guys I used to play with are making it through to the top squad now.
Anyone know if Olivier Magne is still kicking on for the Tricolores?

[DangerMouse]

I'm happy that the season is starting again. Cricket gets a bit dull after a while :roll:

"The relationship between the Welsh and the English is based on trust and understanding. They don't trust us and we don't understand them." - Dudley Wood (1986)

Sums it up pretty well

Anyone know if this is being broadcast on terrestrial or is it all on sky?

[Taff]

Originally Posted by Falcore

NZ are obviously not serious about the game, or McCaw would be in the run-on.

Er, have you seen the line up? McCaw and Umaga are going to be rested alternately between games. Obviously Tana won't play against Ireland so McCaw will start as captain (though he's got a wrist injury so might be out of the Wales game at least).
But christ, look at the backline! Umaga, Carter, Kelleher, Smith, Rokocoko, Muliaina...not taking it seriously, eh?

The match is on BBC in the UK, not sure about everywhere else.

[Falcore]

McCaw is the lynch pin the the engineroom. That dude runs the pack, no two ways about it. If the All Blacks were running a full strength side, and McCaw was fit, we would start.

And I don't really think that much if Rokocoko. He's good, but the hype that surrounded him a few years back was just hype. and Kelleher is more solid than outstanding.

[Taff]

Originally Posted by Falcore

McCaw is the lynch pin the the engineroom. That dude runs the pack, no two ways about it. If the All Blacks were running a full strength side, and McCaw was fit, we would start.

And I don't really think that much if Rokocoko. He's good, but the hype that surrounded him a few years back was just hype. and Kelleher is more solid than outstanding.

The thing is, New Zealand could win this game without their pack anyway.

McCaw will be crucial though. Wales rely on quick ball. Preferably, an offload will occur, but sometimes the ball has to go to ground. The supporting runners who were there for the offload then clear out the ruck immediately and the scrum half is there in a flash. If New Zealand could stop this kind of play, which McCaw would excell at, then we'd have even less chance than we do now!

[Taff]

France: Julien Laharrague; Aurelien Rougerie, Florian Fritz, Yannick Jauzion, Cedric Heymans; Frederic Michalak, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde; Remy Martin, Thomas Lievremont, Yannick Nyanga; Jerome Thion, Fabien Pelous (cap); Pieter De Villiers, Dimitri Szarzewski, Olivier Milloud
Replacements: Sebastien Bruno, Sylvain Marconnet, Lionel Nallet, Gregory Lamboley, Sebastien Chabal, Yann Delaigue, Thomas Castaignede

Australia: Chris Latham, Wendell Sailor, Lote Tuqiri, Morgan Turinui, Mat Rogers, Matt Giteau, George Gregan (cap), Phil Waugh, George Smith, Rocky Elsom, Nathan Sharpe, Mark Chisholm, Al Baxter, Brendan Cannon, Matt Dunning
Replacements: Stephen Moore, Greg Holmes, Hugh McMeniman, John Roe, Chris Whitaker, Lloyd Johansson, Drew Mitchell


Two very good backlines there. I think Turinui is very over rated, and Jauzion will outclass him. Giteau is far more reliable than Michalak though. Fritz is a youngster and will find Tuqiri a real handful.
Latham is probably one of the most interesting players in rugby. Such a lanky git, distinctive running style, he's a very good player when he's on form.
France have a big edge in the forwards, just watch their new hooker, he's pretty awesome.

[Taff]

COME ON WALES!

[Ikken Hisatsu]

after the fairly poor show the Lions put on I dont see too many challenges for the All Blacks in this tour. we have an awesome team at the moment, have held the bledisloe and tri nations as well as beating the Lions 3-0... wales will have to really pull something out of their hat especially considering the injuries they have sustained.

[Taff]

Originally Posted by Ikken Hisatsu

after the fairly poor show the Lions put on I dont see too many challenges for the All Blacks in this tour. we have an awesome team at the moment, have held the bledisloe and tri nations as well as beating the Lions 3-0... wales will have to really pull something out of their hat especially considering the injuries they have sustained.

The Lions squad was not very good on paper, but it actually played to less than the sum of its (rather poor) parts. Thanks to Woodward and his nutty ideas. I know we didn't see much ball in the first test, but did you see the backs? Whenever we had some ball there were bloody forwards getting in the way all the time, putting the blinkers on and running up blind alleys.
The second test, well I was leaping for joy when we scored that early try But obviously all downhill from there.

We're missing Gethin Jenkins who's one of the best props around these days
Also Ryan Jones, the Lions best player of the series
Peel, exposed physically on the Lions tour but he's still got a great pass and an incredible break
Henson, over rated!
Shanklin, under rated! A vital cog for Wales

I would think it'll be an exciting game today.
They've fiddled the order of events by the way, to make it match up to the 1905 game.
ie I think it's going:
NZ anthem
Haka
Wales anthem
Kick off


I'm just hoping that Mike Phillips has a good game. He's very physically strong, I doubt Kelleher will get the better of him in that department. He's played flanker, wing and centre over the last two years so he's got a good all round game in terms of power and pace. One worry is his pass- it's liable to be a bit...er......crap. That could make life even harder for us!

On the New Zealand side, the player I fear most is Conrad Smith, very classy player and he's up against an old guy who has totally lost it- Mark Taylor.
BTW, if you see Taylor squander overlaps don't be surprised, he's lost us games over the last few years cos he thinks he still has pace and doesn't need to pass

[Falcore]

Ahhh superstar mindset in an old body - such a shame.
Just on Latham, You spot on with the discription of "Interesting". He doesn't play to his full potential with the wallabies - stifled by Eddie Jones and his ideas from '98 (not really his own, just an old scrapbook that Rod Macqueen left behind...). If you've seen him play for the Reds of even better for Wests, you'll understand that he is a real livewire. Quite often takes the role of playmaker/director.

Ok, now that we have a reasonable discussion on rugby going - any one remember Bobby Skinstaad? my fave player of all time - could run a backline from number 8. First good ball playing forward I've seen in rugby.

[Taff]

My God I expected to be beaten but that was pretty horrific.

[Taff]

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Friday, 11 November
Kick-off: 1930 GMT

Wales are looking for a morale- boosting win against Fiji on Friday.

Coach Mike Ruddock has made 11 changes to the side beaten by New Zealand last Saturday, with Lee Byrne, John Yapp and Chris Horsman making their full debuts.

Fiji have never beaten Wales in five previous Test matches, the last being a 58-14 loss in Cardiff three years ago.

Their hopes of an upset have been hit by the absence of Toulouse centre Maleli Kunavore and Leicester Tigers utility back Seru Rabeni.

Nicky Little is also out suspended, but the Pacific Islanders have arrived in Wales on the back of two encouraging wins over Samoa and Tonga.

Ruddock is aware they could prove difficult customers for his experimental side.


We wanted to get a look at Sonny Parker at 12 and John Yapp in the front-row, in particular
Wales coach Mike Ruddock

He said: "They are a pretty effective team. They have got a very efficient lineout with two athletic locks and they have a big ball-carrier at number eight (Sisa Koyamaibole) who is mightily impressive.

"He is incredibly strong, he's very quick off the base of the scrum and if we don't stop him in the collision area we will come off second best.

"If we don't get on top in the scrum and manipulate the angles we need then he is going be picking the ball up and making holes in our defensive structure."

Scarlets full-back Byrne gets his first start in the absence of captain Gareth Thomas, one of five French or English-based players unavailable on club duty.

International Rugby Board regulations make clubs release players for three international games in the autumn period, and Wales chose the New Zealand, South Africa and Australia weekends.

Number eight Michael Owen, who led Wales for the majority of last season's Grand Slam success, takes the armband again and is joined in a strong-looking back row by Martyn Williams and Dafydd Jones.

Owen, Shane Williams, Kevin Morgan and Brent Cockbain are the only survivors from the 41-3 loss to New Zealand - a record defeat in Cardiff.

Horsman, like Byrne, made his debut as a replacement against the All Blacks last Saturday after the English-born prop completed a three-year residency period.


Hungry Robinson out to oust Jones

Yapp and hooker Rhys Thomas complete an inexperienced front row, while Ruddock tries a new centre partnership in Sonny Parker and Matthew Watkins, and a new half-back pairing in Nicky Robinson and Gareth Cooper.

Ruddock added: "We wanted to get a look at Sonny Parker at 12 and John Yapp in the front-row, in particular.

"John offers a height advantage which we want to see in his lineout lifting, and Sonny is returning to form after a long lay-off."

Lions stalwarts Dwayne Peel, Gethin Jenkins, Tom Shanklin, Ryan Jones and Gavin Henson are still out injured.

Even so, the Welsh Rugby Union is expecting the match to be a near 75,000 sell-out at the Millennium Stadium.

Wales:
L Byrne (Scarlets); K Morgan (Dragons), M Watkins (Scarlets), S Parker (Ospreys), S Williams (Ospreys); N Robinson (Blues), G Cooper (Dragons); J Yapp (Blues), R Thomas (Blues), C Horsman (Worcester), B Cockbain (Ospreys), L Charteris (Dragons), D Jones (Scarlets), M Williams (Blues), M Owen (Dragons, capt).
Replacements: H Bennett (Ospreys), A Jones (Ospreys), R Sidoli (Blues), A Popham (Scarlets), R Sowden-Taylor (Blues), M Phillips (Blues), C Sweeney (Dragons).

Fiji: N Ligairi (Secom, Japan); M Luveitasau (Naitasiri), E Ruivadra (World, Japan), J Vulakoro (Suva), S Bobo (Biarritz); S Bai (Secom), M Rauluni (Saracens, capt); J Bale (Suva), S Koto (Ovalau), A Nagi (Lautoka), I Rawaqa (World, Japan), I Domolailai (Northland), A Doviverata (Yamaha), S Koyamaibole (Taranaki), A Ratuva (Agen).
Replacements: V Gadolo (Suva), T Matawalu (Nadroga), K Leawere (Nadroga), K Salabogi (Nadroga), M Volavola (Nadroga), A Vata (Ovalau), K Ratuvou (Tailevu).

Referee: Lyndon Bray (New Zealand).

Touch judges: Rob ****son (Scotland) and Wayne Barnes (England).

This is the first match of the weekend. I hope Wales win, or I will cry (seriously, I probably will).

[Ikken Hisatsu]

How the hell did wales win the 6 nations? we played like crap and still thrashed them. I hope we look better against Ireland and England.