Mon 24 Oct: RLWC: Tonga v Wales KO 7.30pm

[welshmagpie]

4 hours ago, Madrileño said:

Thanks for this @welshmagpie did he say WHY it suits him so much better?

Not in great detail but suggested he gets more ball yet less space which means his decision making has become far sharper. 

[tim2]

5 hours ago, Josef K said:

I went to my second RLWC match tonight and it was another mild evening with no rain which is a very big bonus. I went over the Stevie Prescott bridge and they (id imagine the organisers of the RLWC) had put on the booming music with some lights again. Then as you get closer to the ground there was another place with more booming music and two women dancing, whilst a fella was on his own twirling a couple of things with fire in them. I don’t know what that is all about and i don’t know who it is meant to impress. 
There was two separate groups from a religion handing out leaflets, and it is amazing how many people get their phones out to pretend they’re on their phone just before they get to them. Two mates who i went with did exactly that, how bizarre. 

At Donny a woman handed my grandson what she said was a "rugby magazine" but it was some God bothering thing. I thought Jesus would have been disappointed with her lies.

[Gomersall]

8 hours ago, Dunbar said:

Just to put some facts into the refereeing debate.

Penalties 8 - 3 in Wales favour.

Ruck infringements 5 - 1 to Tonga.

So on the whole, Wales got more calls in their favour on the penalties/ set restarts.

True but most penalties are black and white whilst set restarts, as we saw last night, are a bit more subjective.

[Gomersall]

8 hours ago, Old Frightful said:

Yes, I agree, I was just suggesting it was a shame that’s all.

It would have been a great try had his foot not touched the white line.

His foot never touched the line. Keep up OF.

[MZH]

8 hours ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Much more competitive than expected, which in turn leads me to think Tonga won’t trouble England if their paths cross. Famous last words, of course. 

Tonga's performance last night, coupled with their performance against the Kumuls, has definitely made me reconsider whether they are a genuine contender or not. They haven't played badly per se. But they have laboured against a couple of sides that you would have expected the big 3 to put away very easily. It does make me wonder whether they are actually as good as we thought. 

[Mr Frisky]

4 hours ago, Tosh said:

4 more words mate…….wales international Allan bateman.

”” “” Scott quinnell.

“” “” Phil ford.

”” “” kevin ellis.

”” “” John deveraux.

etc, etc.

Its a good game this

So are you still going back over a quarter of century to prove a point as I only went back 18 months.......

[Tosh]

12 minutes ago, Mr Frisky said:

So are you still going back over a quarter of century to prove a point as I only went back 18 months.......

Yeah,

To prove that not everyone is like Luther Burrell.

[Mr Frisky]

5 minutes ago, Tosh said:

Yeah,

To prove that not everyone is like Luther Burrell.

A quarter of a century ago?

[Tosh]

18 minutes ago, Mr Frisky said:

A quarter of a century ago?

Yeah.

Not sure if you’ve noticed but since RU went professional a quarter of a century ago the number of cross-code converts has dried up unfortunately.

[rlno1]

10 hours ago, jacksy said:

My argument is about the Aussies always wanting reffing to be done how they like it.

My complaint is we don't get neutral refs because of their crowing.

My complaint is how often they want a meeting with the ref coordinator before make or break matches involving us.

My complaint is that you wouldn't see an Aussie ref give a 50/50 our way that would lose the roos the ashes or a final to us.

My complaint is that you don't see aussies get sent off. 

I would just prefer it if they would let the cards fall where they fall.

I didn't say any of this is why we lose did i?

I would prefer it if we don't get Sutton if we reach the WC Final..

Mark my words Sutton is already pencilled in.

 

 

 

 

Agree it's like the NRL has rewarded their favourite refs with a WC trip.

Why can't we have a PNG ref, more from France and NZ or minor nation touch judges.

Stop just turning it into a copy of the NRL, we don't want that.

[redjonn]

11 hours ago, Dunbar said:

Just to put some facts into the refereeing debate.

Penalties 8 - 3 in Wales favour.

Ruck infringements 5 - 1 to Tonga.

So on the whole, Wales got more calls in their favour on the penalties/ set restarts.

I find the ruck infringements stat interesting.  At many PTB Tonga player was always having to step to one side or back to have space to PTB.  Surely because a Welsh player was lying in the way - I would suggest it was a tactic they got away with and should have been penalised far more.

[David Dockhouse Host]

41 minutes ago, redjonn said:

I find the ruck infringements stat interesting.  At many PTB Tonga player was always having to step to one side or back to have space to PTB.  Surely because a Welsh player was lying in the way - I would suggest it was a tactic they got away with and should have been penalised far more.

That happens when you win the collision.

You want to tie up a defender and land on top of them, they could step back to PTB but step to the side, leaving either a defender on the floor, a late returner to the line or you make them offside. Not a pen for me as you already have an advantage. Not a tactic by Wales, but an advantage for Tonga

[Kirmonds pouch]

14 hours ago, SydneyRoosters said:

I think we’ll see Kyle Evans having a starting winger role in SL next year.

Hold your horses cowboy!

I’ve been a fan of this lad since he trialled for Trinity in May this year.

He’s a handy player, and I said earlier in this thread that he should play for Wales as he will shine and he did. Players like him do in the less structured world of International RL.

However having him as a starting SL winger next season is totally OTT and blind to reality.

He’s only played half a dozen real games in his life. He’s 32 years old and was plying his trade at Doncaster RU last year, hardly the top tier.

At Trinity he is fourth choice winger at best and rightly so. He’s nowhere near as fast or effective as youngsters Murphy or Kershaw and is 164 NRL games behind Taufua, who incidentally is a year younger.

That would almost certainly be the case wherever he went in SL.

Age alone isn’t the issue but age and the fact that he still has a lot to learn is. In the SL games he’s played for us his attack has been great, but defensively he’s easily caught out. Sure he tackles well when in the right position, but he often isn’t.

I’d like to keep him as a back up, but whether he’d take the Trinity back up player salary, which is about 25K a year I don’t know.

Let’s be realistic here, he’s good for Wales and will be for a few years to come. But IMO SL is not where he should be. He’s a winger and SL isn’t short of those. Also the difference between a decent SL winger and a good Championship one is not that big.

He needs to be at an ambitious Championship side, where he can carry on working on his own terms (part time) but earn a sizeable wedge from the game. He will simply be a star in that division and will learn the game far more than on the fringes of a SL team. He has 2-3 years at best in the sport so in this scenario he wins, Wales wins.

[redjonn]

3 hours ago, David Dockhouse Host said:

That happens when you win the collision.

You want to tie up a defender and land on top of them, they could step back to PTB but step to the side, leaving either a defender on the floor, a late returner to the line or you make them offside. Not a pen for me as you already have an advantage. Not a tactic by Wales, but an advantage for Tonga

Yep, maybe but it was more often with a number of tacklers and at least one not attempting to move... Plus whilst your accurate in why you would attempt a faster PTB in the case of Tonga they weren't particularly fast PTB attempts but just ponderously moving aside. 

[Shaggy]

Still can't believe that decision on the "knock on". Completely killed the momentum for Wales.