By Andy Lewis
August 9 2015

After the build up, excitement and anticipation of Saturday's  match and the release of Gatland's young guns , today it feels just a little flat. Maybe it will all come together in the up and coming weeks, but for now the welsh public are about as enthusiastic about the performance as they are about the new welsh kit . ( Is it me or did we look a little like the Belgium football team or for our younger readers , possibly a certain character from Futurama springs to mind .

 
 Anyway I shouldn't digress , let's turn the clock back a little  and attempt to pick apart the good the bad and the ugly.
The good ,( was there any?) oh yes , a little. Well let's start with , in this writers opinion, Ross Moriarty, He made the hard yards on a few occasions , was prominent around the field and showed some decent if short carries. A little unlucky with his yellow card , no matter what the esteemed JD thought in commentary , surely 2 swinging arms in a pincer movement  are called an attempted tackle.  That coinciding with Zebo slipping to the ground under the attention of another tackler. Of course Mr Zebo must have also taken a bullet as he looked in some pain , but the magic sponge worked again and no sooner had young Moriarty's bottom touched the bench , was he up running through tackles and of course ,, applying the law of sod, touching down for a try in the corner .
Carrying on with the good , the introduction of our very own blues boys at half back instilled a little more urgency and control into a defeated unit , of course the game was broken up by substitutions on both sides and of course , the cause already lost ( or won, depending on which camp you sit in). But it looked promising never the less.

The bad, oh dear , how long have we got.... Well , let's just look at a couple of things . Defensive organisation around the fringes ( very poor), in fact , defence in general for that matter ( maybe it's time to call on the professionals -  OJ Simpson's lawyer for example).

And last but not least , the ugly ....  The scrum . What scrum I hear you say, yes indeed . After predictably watching the Aussies discover a scrummage from somewhere, anywhere in time for RWC , it was perfect time for us to capitulate to Ireland's second string. Let's be honest here Mike Ross is a good lad , a big lad , and a strong lad. But Adam Jones he is not , but he looked like him yesterday the way he tucked our young pup up neatly ( with no little help  from the ref who didn't seem to mind a little boring in before dinner ), but you play the hand you are dealt and we were holding low cards.  No excuse when you have a lump like Hibbard packing down next to you.
Don't get me wrong here , I'm all for development and I like Smith, but maybe not yet.
I know scrummaging is an eight man game and maybe we didn't get a lot of help from the 2nd row in that department, but it is a worry.

Ok , rant over . Let's try and see what we can recover from the wreckage, and also look at The Big Picture pragmatically . It's true we are conditioned up to the eye balls, and it's early in our overall rugby plan. We can question this, but I have to stand by my man as Tammy Winette once said and say that throughout his tenure Warren has made a number of questionable calls  but on the big stage  he has ( mostly ) been proven right .
Just go back 4 yrs and look at Priestland for Jones , Warburton as skipper . Then there is Rhodri Jones playing on the 'wrong side' to name a few.
We have to trust that Warren and his team have a plan , and get behind them .
No doubt there will be different protagonists in Dublin and a different and closer score line. 
We will be a few weeks closer and a few weeks wiser. We will have most of our squad selected ( I'm sure they are already ). And we will have a speed,  power, accuracy and cohesion to our game that was so obviously lacking on Saturday.
I'm not suggesting we will win , but we will compete strongly .
What was apparent was that Ireland ( ranked no2 in the world) have 2 full international 15's that can compete with most teams and they are well set for the quarter finals at least, and where our first 15 is a match for almost anyone , our emerging squad is exactly that- still emerging .

Now to the squad and more talking ( and arguing, heated discussion and intelligent conversation for the laymen in the old arcade of an evening). Who will make the 31 , what will be the split . This is an important point in picking the 31, as players like James King, for one, could be reliant on this factor.

There are some very very big decisions to be made , and I am comfortable that Mr Gatland et al are  very capable of making them .
Does he go with experience at 9 and stay with Mike Phillips , who has earned his spurs many times over and could prove important  in a scrap. Saturday he was exposed, apart from a couple of good touch finders and a great tackle. But he had a beaten retreating pack in front of him. Gats may think that's when he's at his best and feel he's lacking or give him benefit of doubt . Me, I don't think he will.
Is it the last we will see of the mercurial talents of the very likeable James Hook? Yes I believe it is. Given a big task , and receiving little help, he probably tried just a little too hard, lost his recent good form and erred just enough to ensure that his only chance of gracing Twickenham this year will be in cherry & white.

There were questions raised all over the park. A lot of players more confirming their status as fringe players rather than pushing for a trusted RWC place.
Dan Baker flopped and I personally was disappointed and long to see him back to his barnstorming best. He only offers 8, where as some of his closest rivals showed more and offer more versatility . Sorry Dan , not for me this time.
The afore mentioned James King has a chance and dependant on  the split possibly a good one , especially as he has the  capability of wearing 5  , and with the demise of Jake Ball and the fact ( regardless of height) that Charteris is more at home at 4 than 5. He must have a chance.
Day? Well it wasn't his day, was it . No shortage of effort and a great recognition for his form last year as well as his consistency over the years , but no , not for me, we already have better.
Tipuric obviously was not playing for his place although he did come out as one of the few to hold his head above water . An out and out 7 who tackled hard but came into his own with the introduction of Faletau , who could take on the ball winning skills previously lacking against the determination of Jordi Murphy and the refusal of Mr Jackson to put mouth to whistle in that controversial area of the game.
I've already mentioned the front row in part , but it is obviously an area of huge concern , especially tight head . An abundance of riches have suddenly disappeared and the cupboard appears almost bare at present. We are carrying injuries inexperience and old soldiers to the most important competition on earth for us initiated, and I repeat, it is worrying. Samson barely able to scrummage against Delilah at present. Let's hope ( and pray) he makes it in time and more importantly makes it fully fit. Big Tom Francis is a great find and I predict he may well end up a first choice but we don't want him to be our only choice. Aaron Jarvis always battles and gives his all but is that enough??? At times Scott Andrews ( yes he has his critics) has offered more , especially when paired with a big scrummaging hooker.
And talking of hooker , a good effort from Kristian Dacey , but let's be honest, does anyone really I expect Gatland to sway from his 3 prime choices - I certainly don't . Probably one of the most predictable pieces of his squad jigsaw.
So now to the back row. As I have said this writer is impressed with Moriarty. He's big , he's young , he's strong he's versatile ( very important)  and offers something different from what we already have , for me , and I think , for Gatland , he's in.
At half back we have the 4 into 3 won't go and I believe he will be brave, and so to reiterate, I believe that was the swan song for 2 great servants , Phillips and Hook.
At centre, without the sometimes, under estimated talents of Jonathan Davies we are extremely stretched . We have untried,  untested , out of form and on Saturday's performance, a little jaded. We also of course have Gatland's go to guy , Jamie Roberts . Love him or hate him, like Gatland himself, he always turns up on the big stage . But of course there are 2 centres and who plays with him? . I would've liked to have seen Scott Williams at 13 yesterday with Jack Dixon inside . Testing them both at once when it was less important . As it was SW didn't look capable of playing 12 yesterday let alone 13, so we still don't know if his so called defensive frailties have been rectified and he can play at 13. Widely accepted as being the linchpin position in the modern defensive game.
We already know Morgan is a 13 and he could've been thrown in  with Roberts further down the path. My opinion is that this was an opportunity missed.
The back three once again gives us a few discussion points. We have what we believe are the first choice line but Liam Williams is recovering from injury ( yes another one) and big George is as yet still to pass his protocols ,so it's important we get the make up of the reserves exactly right.
Eli walker has been unlucky with injury and opportunities but even though he flattered in moments against our Celtic neighbours , I am still not sure he fits the Gatland plan. He won't be first choice, that we can guarantee.  Gatland likes big and strong, therefore is he reduced to running in a host of tries against the minnows of the group ( and I don't include Fiji in this). Maybe , but if that's his role then Cuthbert is more than capable of coping with that workload and he is experienced ( big , strong) and is no worse ( if no better) in defence. It was only a short  moment in time ago that Cuthbert was running in tries against the Aussies for the Lions and tearing the boks apart. If it's a straight choice then I know which way I will go and I believe that Gats will follow suit.
Then we throw Hallam Amos into the pot and it becomes more complicated . A promising talent realising itself more and more every day. He could well fit into the James king mode of ' dependant on the split' , or maybe not. His versatility is a plus . He could be the X factor and the wild card . He has come on leaps and bounds since his first cap and deserves a chance.  So who, I hear you ask will be the 31 to bring back the cup.
I am sure there will be many opinions out there that will differ and that is what makes this country great. 3 million selectors and all of us with a god given right to that opinion.
So , humbly I will try and read Mr Gatland's mind and pick his 31

Backs
Leigh Halfpenny, George North, Liam Williams, Alex Cuthbert.
Jamie Roberts, Scott Williams, Tyler Morgan
Dan Biggar, Rhys Priestland, Gareth Anscombe
Rhys Webb, Gareth Davies, Lloyd Wiiliams

Forwards
Gethin Jenkins, Paul James, Rob Evans
Tomas Francis, Samson Lee, Aaron Jarvis
Ken Owens, Scott Baldwin, Richard Hibbard
Alun Wyn Jones, Bradley Davies, Luke Charteris, James King
Sam Warburton, Dan Lydiate, Talupe Faletau, Justin Tipuric, Ross Moriarty

So there we go. A 13/18 split , heavy on forwards as I believe the modern game needs it . Light on centres, but I think he'll show faith in Scott Williams ability and the versatility of Priestland  and possibly North if fit.

If I get this right then Derren Brown had better beware, then of course being Derren Brown, he'll already know that won't he.

As the best Rugby fans in the world, your thoughts are always welcome.