wales named side to face All Blacks,,,

Wales named side to face 'best All Blacks ever'

Wales head coach Warren Gatland has made five changes to the starting side for Saturday's showdown with the All Blacks in Cardiff.

a fired up welsh team who have lost their last 5 games and the return of warren gatland into the team has me a little nervous.
while they have lost a few players, they have jonthan davies returning and warburton and chateris are back in the starting lineup too.

wont be easy, but the All Blacks should win and seal the game by the 65th min, i do want our top team playing though, and not the watered down versions weve been playing with on the EOYT so far.

All Blacks team i want to see this weekend,,,

1 t woodcock

2 a hore

3 o franks

4 l romano

5 s whitelock

6 l messam

7 king richie

8 k read

9 a smith

10 d carter

11 j savea

12 m nonu

13 c smith

14 c jane

15 i dagg

16 k mealamu

17 b franks

18 c faumuina

19 b retallick

20 v vito

21 p weepu

22 a cruden

23 b smith

All Blacks team i want to see this weekend,,,

1 t woodcock

2 a hore

3 o franks

4 l romano

5 s whitelock

6 l messam

7 king richie

8 k read

9 a smith

10 d carter

11 j savea

12 m nonu

13 c smith

14 c jane

15 i dagg

16 k mealamu

17 b franks

18 c faumuina

19 b retallick

20 v vito

21 p weepu

22 a cruden

23 b smith

It will be interesting to see if the welsh can bounce back and casue an upset now Gaitland is back. They must be horrified at the collapse they have experienced.

This ab team is way overrated for the many reasonas already enumerated saSUE.

Sasue

There were promising signs last year that Wales were on the up in both the WC and earlier this year in Australia - but that could be because they got that reputation playing against rather weaker opposition.   The games they played this year was up and down.   The Springboks played atrociously bad rugby in their away games in the Championship - bar in the Dunedin test where there were signs of improvement.   However, the Wallabies therefter only had one good game and that was the draw against the All Blacks. Since then they lost against the French - but beat the POMS.   The tests played between Wales and the other opposing teams do not really convince me that Wales is really a side to be worried about this year.

The All Blacks should win this one with ease even if they field their weakest possible side..         

well the welsh are in a bit of spot as there RWC seeding and placement has really taken a turn for the worse since gatland has his accident. with gatland at the helm you can be sure that wales can at least compete. the welsh as always tend to punch above there weight. i dont see them swinging around complety but they should be more competive against the AB side. might be a running feast while across the border meyer will try to outbore the poms with tactical kicks.

@ben10,

yep All Blacks are overrated, undefeated in 2012, clean sweeped the IRC where the pumas and the No2 & 3 ranked IRB (Boks & wallabies) teams failed to score any championship points of the All Blacks. put 50+ pts on scotland while missing 7 incumbents, bleeding in 2 new debutants and playing people out of position, put another 40+ pts on the azzuris missing 6 incumbentsand again expereminting with players out of position.
ur overrated comment is still a few notches behind ur theory on how the stormers won the 2012 spXV, but it is right up there,
BAWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. :oD

@ clevermike,

ive always rated the welsh as the best NH team, followed by the french. their team contains some true stars of the game in j roberts, s warburton, m philips, j davies, g north, a cuthebrt, t falettau and i rate these players very very highly.
the return of super coach warren gatland will also give the welsh a much needed morale and confidence boost, as on their day they are capable of some great rugby, a 6nats grandslam is no small feat.

i wouldnt feel comfortable if we were to field our weakest team possible, IMO thats what test matches against the likes of the azzuri and scotland are for, to try new combos and test the teams depth adn give new talent a chance to prove their case, an opportunity that i think meyer has sqaundered BTW, but at least u got an easy june test series next year with the likes of scotland who will be missing their top players thanks to the 6nats.

im expecting the welsh to be all fired upbut i do i expect the All Blacks to win, but i have a feeling that it will be a lot closer then most would expect.
All Blacks by 20pts.