Wales best centre pairing?

Roberts & Davies worked well at the world cup and maybe we shouldn't tamper with it. However we only get the best out of Roberts when Priestland is playing & playing well. Is that too many factors to consider just to get the best out of one player? Also most opposition will be ready and aware of the Roberts battering ram technique.

If Gavin Gatland Henson comes through the London Irish match unscathed and has a decent game then there is no doubt that he will be in the Wales squad. Ashley Beck has been playing awesome for the Ospreys lately, but I don't think Scott Williams deserves to be dropped. It wouldn't surprise me if Roberts, Davies, Williams and Beck are the squad centres, Henson and Byrne are picked as squad fullbacks and Halfpenny continues on the wing.

With what has happened in previous tournaments, I think the gamble of starting Henson at 12 is worth it and he will bring out best in whoever plays at 13. I would like to see JD2 start at 13 as he has far greater pace and spacial awareness than Roberts. Roberts just runs straight and when he makes a break he normally doesn't have the gas to reach try line. Roberts to come on at 13 after 50/60 minutes to sure up defence and batter a tired opposition.

I would like to see this backline against Ireland.

9. Mike Phillips
10. Rhys Priestland
11. Alex Cuthbert
12. Gavin Henson
13. Jon Davies
14. George North
15. Leigh Halfpenny

20. Lloyd Williams / Rhys Webb
21. James Hook
22. Jamie Roberts

Great mixture of skill, distribution and pace in the centres with 2 very quick beasts on the wings. Perfect balance. Just need North and Halfpenny to get as involved as possible. Can't complain having a bench that has Hook and Roberts on it.

15 Leigh Halfpenny
14 George North
13 Jamie Roberts
12 Ashley Beck
11 Alex Cuthbert
10 Rhys Priestland
9 Dwayne Peel

I think that back line would reall do some damage, Peel doesnt mess about at the base of a ruck, he picks it up and gets it moving FAST, Priestland mixes his options up well to keep defenses guessing. Beck and Roberts might be too similar but they deserve a chance on form.
I'd like Alex Cuthbert capped quickly as England may well steal him off us, he is scoring tries for fun at the moment, while George North is special, though 2 monster sized wingers might unbalance things.
Halfpenny to add some pace and guild from Full Back.

Peel over Lloyd is a step backwards. I like monster wingers and i want to see them hitting Ireland's midfield on 1st phase to bring their oppo off his wing.

cuthbert has already been capped alyn against oz.

We know Roberts and JD works and sometimes its about best combos as opposed to just getting best players on the pithc.

I'd be very surprised if these two didn't start against Ireland but certainly expect Beck to be named in squad and get some game time this tournament

Roberts and JD works and every body knows that. Dont know anything about Beck, so cannot comment, Henson cannot be considerd at all due to lack of game time.

majesticimperialman wrote:Roberts and JD works and every body knows that. Dont know anything about Beck, so cannot comment, Henson cannot be considerd at all due to lack of game time.

Do you know anything about JD, Roberts, Beck or Henson...?

We will use a big backline against Ireland and with Shane retired the backs will be big from 9 to 14 6ft + 15st+

roberts jd has worked well but it is not a stellar center partnership. we need a beck or dare i say a henson alongside either drbob or jd.

if henson goes well today, and puts lualala in space then maybe a henson beck pairing should be considered.

come feb, injuries permitting, i think we will see doc and jd2 starting with beck on the bench.

i dont think henson should be in the wales squad. he should be able to get a decent run of games at 12 in the pro12 during the 6N.

THey are all inside centers.. what wales needs is to find four or five outside centers

Oh my god! If you haven't picked Beck and Roberts you are clueless. Pick on form! So the other argument is Beck and Davies! How can you say Davies and Roberts works? It's worked in a few games - Beck might work just as well, if not better. I hope Gatland has more sense than a lot of the Welsh 606 community.

Roberts hasn't played for a few weeks and wont play for at least another one. How can you say he is the form center...?

Roberts was on form until he was injured. If he hasn't played a club game to a good level before the Six Nations then you go with Davies and Beck on form.

North played most of his youth rugby at centre.

About right...!

Adam Warren has been very good too.

Todays rugby will be carefully scrutinised to see who out of the Welsh centers plays themselves into contention.

Henson is at 12 for Blues, Davies for Scarlets, Williams outside him. Adam Hughes might be an outsider at the Dragons but is a good bet too.

All have to live up to Becks MOM performance last night.

I even here young Shingler is on the bench for London Irish.

Gareth Maule could be a potential future outside centre, hes hasn't been able to play constantly because of injuries. But he reminds a lot of Shanklin

the question is a bit strange, at the moment I would say Beck and Sc Williams are the 12 and 13 in form for the regions but we have a number of pairings that are better or could be better for different sides.

Against Ireland whose midfield defence was exposed in the RWC we would probably be better playing two monsters in the centre to break the defensive line and offload to the back three coming in on a different angles. so Roberts and JD,

Against England or France, both of whom have good midfield defence, a playmaker like Beck or Henson to act as second reciever at 12 is probably a better pairing because you will need their distribution to beat the midfield rush and find gaps outside.

Against Italy or Scotland it doesnt matter what players we pick or style we decide to play it we should still win.

So do you pick a team entirely on form or just a bit to chance nad have faith in players.

In we were to pick entirely on form then this would be the likely team

I Thomas
Rees
R Thomas
R Jones
A Jones
Lydiate
Faletau
Tipuric

Peel
Priestland

Cuthbert
Beck
Hughes
North

Thomas

Would anyone be happy with that side, I certainly wouldn't be so you have to show bit of faith and hope players come good once in camp.

People are getting too obsessed with form. If teams were always picked on form then the Hurricanes contingent of the Allblacks backline wouldn't be selected.

go,

I agree mate, we have seen how players respond better in the Welsh camp than when in their Region/Club etc.

I agree that players on form need to be rewarded but you cant just pick a team like above on that principle, you have to show bit of trust that certain players will come good.

Exactly. You need to slowly incorporate new guys into the mix, you can't just throw in a bunch of inform players who haven't played for Wales before especially in the 6 nations. Also some people need to realise that some players are just not good enough however well they may play for their region.
With the Allblacks you see guys like Cory Jane and even Dan Carter are pretty anonymous during the Super rugby season but when they pull on that Allblack jersey they suddenly play well.
We've seen the same with guys like Phillips, Bennet and Roberts for us.

Roberts should be the first name on the team sheet. He's been in good form (before injury), is our most experienced centre, pivotal to our defensive line and acts as a leader on the field.

The question is, who do we pair with him?

Beck is the form centre in Wales, he's untested at this level, has never played along side roberts and is predominently a 12, but what better time to try new things than the present?

Davies is the safe option, being the only centre to have played with roberts regularly with some good results.

Henson has had a lack of game time, but has shown glimpses of his old class already. He's far better at 12 than 13 so it could be interesting to see how his distribution and game awareness effects Roberts game (running from 13).

Hughes, Williams and Maule all may be good prospects in the future but aren't really up to the same standard at the moment.

I'd go for 12. Roberts 13. Davies. Henson on the bench to come on for Davies and Roberts move to 13. Beck in the squad.

If Roberts is injured, I'd go for Beck and JD2.
JD2 plays better when he is at 13 and not with Jamie Roberts, I think they do the same job.
Beck is the battering Ram, at inside center.

JD2 is a 12 he plays all his rugby there exept for a few games for Wales Also he is bang on form playing really well at present!

Wales need some options at 13, with Roberts likely to be unavailable the options are: Hughes, Beck or Williams (both 12s) or Hook, who is nowhere near a test standard 10 or 12 but has looked good at 13 in the past.

Maule and Bishop are both 13s.
Bishop seems to be Mr. Consistant down at the O's being the 3rd most capped player (most capped back), doesn't set the world alight though so he's never going to be a Welsh fan favourite.

CurlyOsp wrote:Maule and Bishop are both 13s.
Bishop seems to be Mr. Consistant down at the O's being the 3rd most capped player (most capped back), doesn't set the world alight though so he's never going to be a Welsh fan favourite.

Bishop has played 158 games for the O's and has scored 8 tries

That is an appalling record for a centre.

Tau Filise - 8 tries - 130 Games - At Prop
Huw Bennett - 8 tries - 140 Games - At Hooker
Sonny Parker - 29 tries - 154 Games - At Centre

So, clearly Parker is the try scoring fancy centre at the O's.

Consistant doesn't mean fancy try scorer. Williams, Bowe, Parker and untill this season Byrne have all been try-scorers in the backline, it's not everybodies role in every gameplan to score tries.

Nevertheless Bishop is an average club player. Nowhere near international class.

Gavin is playing at 40%.Lord knows why.He is not impressing me and Gatland isnt being fooled either.Why bother??

After one game at centre?

Lets give him a chance boys! Perhaps he wont make the 6N, but should be allowed to keep developing his game. A full, firing on all cylinders Henson can only be good for Wales.

wales606 wrote:

CurlyOsp wrote:Maule and Bishop are both 13s.
Bishop seems to be Mr. Consistant down at the O's being the 3rd most capped player (most capped back), doesn't set the world alight though so he's never going to be a Welsh fan favourite.

Bishop has played 158 games for the O's and has scored 8 tries

That is an appalling record for a centre.

Tau Filise - 8 tries - 130 Games - At Prop
Huw Bennett - 8 tries - 140 Games - At Hooker
Sonny Parker - 29 tries - 154 Games - At Centre

So, clearly Parker is the try scoring fancy centre at the O's.

I would have thought that he would be high on the list of try assists though.

Not my man for the job, but a player i respect.

Draigoch wrote:After one game at centre?

Lets give him a chance boys! Perhaps he wont make the 6N, but should be allowed to keep developing his game. A full, firing on all cylinders Henson can only be good for Wales.

Drai,surely he must put in some performances before he usurps the opposition for the place or are you a "pick on past glories" man?

Taffineastbourne wrote:

Draigoch wrote:After one game at centre?

Lets give him a chance boys! Perhaps he wont make the 6N, but should be allowed to keep developing his game. A full, firing on all cylinders Henson can only be good for Wales.

Drai,surely he must put in some performances before he usurps the opposition for the place or are you a "pick on past glories" man?

He still has a hell of a lot to do for me to want him included, when on form he is a fantastic player... But at the moment he has not done enough...

Mind you you have to feel sorry for any bugger playing with Dan parks at flyhalf.

Sure, I agree with you - but not bothering isn't the answer. Let him play and have a fair shot like everyone else.

I'd like to see him play a bit more in the pro12 but he knows the Wales set-up and there's no denying he's outrageously talented. He could be involved, and he'd probably develop more being for the Wales squad than being in the pro12.

Draigoch wrote:Sure, I agree with you - but not bothering isn't the answer. Let him play and have a fair shot like everyone else.

I'd like to see him play a bit more in the pro12 but he knows the Wales set-up and there's no denying he's outrageously talented. He could be involved, and he'd probably develop more being for the Wales squad than being in the pro12.

You referring to Henson mate?

I think the management will make that decision IF, Roberts is not going to be fit, if Hook is unavailable for the pre 6N training or if we have another injury.

Yup, good to have selection issues like this!

Henson, Roberts, Davies, Williams, Beck, Hook. 4 of those ain't a bad thing, but we could really do with an out and out outside centre..

Draigoch wrote:Yup, good to have selection issues like this!

Henson, Roberts, Davies, Williams, Beck, Hook. 4 of those ain't a bad thing, but we could really do with an out and out outside centre..

Agreed

I thought Hook did well there, I think Davies has done well there, I don't rate Henson there. I think Beck good be there.