There have been debates raging across many message boards as to who should be wearing the 15 shirt. With the shocking form that Lee Byrne is in many want to see him removed from the 1st choice 15…which has led to talk as to who should be the fullback.
The options outside of Byrne are
- James Hook
- Leigh Halfpenny
- Rhys Priestland
All have their strengths and weaknesses.
For the most part it is accepted that without Henson we need Hook somewhere in midfield, 10/12/13 to add creativity. A combination of Jones/Roberts/Davies lacks the ability to spot and exploit space. Leaving us with Priestland and Halfpenny.
I am an advocate of Priestland at 15, though I have no problems with putting him in at 10. At 15 he is the only one outside of Byrne that has real experience at fullback – Halfpenny has maybe half a dozen games at the rather poor Celtic League level.
That said Halfpenny seems to the favourite option for many fans – offering pace, skill and a monster boot. The idea of a back 3 involving Shane/North/Halfpenny is certainly an attractive one…the counter-attacking possibilities are tremendous.
Rob Howley
However it seems that Howley is ruling out that option. He had this to say
“We have to dominate the sky with our back three because the aerial kicking game is so crucial when we play South Africa.”
Given Halfpenny’s small stature this would tend to indicate that he is not in the running…especially given his lack of game time in the 15 shirt, so assessing his ability under the high ball is even harder (please note I am starting to think I am reading too much into Howley’s words after the quote at the bottom of the page from Halfpenny today)
Where does that leave us? With Stephen Jones looking increasingly likely to miss the game through injury (he only managed his first training session in weeks today) one of Hook or Priestland has to be in the 10 slot. This leads to a straight toss up between Byrne and one of the other two as the man to be our last line of defence.
Halfpenny though hints he may well be the ‘sky domination’ that Howley was talking about. This from the BBC
“I like to look at it as owning the sky. Every time that ball goes up in the air I look to win that ball back,” said the 20-times capped Cardiff Blue.
“And we do a lot of work on that. I’ve been working on that as a big part of my game and it’s a big strength, hopefully, of mine and there’s a big job to be done there.”
Now that could mean he is being considered as part of the sky battle. My gut feeling is that actually suggests him over North who is, iirc, less secure under the high ball. But Halfpenny at 15 would be interesting, even if leaving me a little worried
Personally I would choose Priestland…but how about you? Let us know in the comments or on this debate on the 15 shirt on our Welsh Rugby Forum
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If Halfpenny is fit it’s insane not to play him. He’s faster than the rest of our backline combined and he can kick goals from the Moon.
If not at 15, then where? Shane and George must surely start on the wings?
So start an inexperienced 15 vs one of the biggest kickers in the game, where positional ability and skill under the high ball are vital?
Halfpenny should start and i dont agree with your argument that hes not experienced enough, both of them aren’t expereinced really! Halfpenny played there for all of his youth rugby and it was his preferred position but in his first year of pro rugby he played extremely well at wing and was selected there for Wales, the rest his history. Priestland on the other hand has played fullback quite a few times for the Scarlets quite well, not spectacular but ok. In my view Halfpenny has the attributes to play there at international level while Priestland is too slow and weak physically.