Joe Hawkins

The la- You've just published the lineup for, for the game, which is at half five, a bit earlier than, than previous ones on this Saturday, we've got to re- remember to say.

Um, and interestingly, we've got a lineup that maybe you're a bit more familiar with playing for Wales these days than it has been for Scarlets, in that you've got Sam Costello starting at 10, you've got Eddie James moving from 12 out to 13, and Joe Hawkins coming in at 12.

So you've now got, by my count, sort of three, including Blair, like, confident distributors, like, in that back line.

As...

Um, Hawkins came on off the bench in the Dragons game and immediately went to 12 with EJ moving to 13.

Looks like we've got that from the get-go this week.

So Sammy at 10, Joe Hawkins at 12, Eddie James at 13.

Let us know in the comments below what you think about this.

So it depends who they bring along, but they're, they'll be moving-

But then it's the s- it's the same for us, like who ends up on our bench, you know? Is our bench gonna be Joe Hawkins coming on at 10 and, um, Johnny Williams? Well, you know, that's not gonna do massive amounts of impact, is it? Um, is the bench gonna be Gareth Anscombe and, you know, whoever...

Like, this is, it's a big difference, and I think at the moment we really need somebody that we know that Sam Costelo can't play a full 80.

We don't want him to play a full 80, quite frankly, because he will get broken.

...

the real momentum shift I think at the weekend was the Dragons were able to bring on Shay Hope.

We brought on a bunch of morons, um, in our forwards, and J- Joe Hawkins came on, tempo went down, and then we get that yellow card and it, everything just sinks.

Um, I love them dearly, but, like, they're my morons, but, like, that was really painful.

I, yeah, I think, you talk about bolter, I think the midfield needs to find a settled partnership.

I don't think it's been, you know, uh, Joe Hawkins, Danny James, you know, showed promise in the Six Nations at the end, but in the, in the summer games, I just felt that they went off the boil slightly.

And I think there's opportunity for the likes of Louis Hennessy-

Mm

Players that have gone on for Wales.

Joe Hawkins, I know we're talking a couple of years ago, but went through, uh, Swansea and then played for Wales in the same season.

Me went through Llandovery, Scarlets, Wales within a 12-month period.

Now they've just got the Dragons 15 up, well, Dragons matchday squad that drew with Benetton last week.

But then Taine Basham went over from close range just before the break, and it was Cardiff slightly ahead, thanks to Shidy kicking both conversions, where Anscombe missing one of his.

Joe Hawkins with a, a penalty after replacing Anscombe nudged the Scarlets in front, but then an Evan Lloyd really smart finish off the back of a maul, uh, not long before time, plus a Jarrod Evans conversion gave Cardiff the victory.

We had a, a bunch of three wood thoughts in the emotional w- tidal wave that came at full time.

Uh, Hugh said, "East is best." Rhys went with, "Normal service resumed." Richard, "Surprisingly easy win." Gareth, "Basham bashed them." Uh, Matt praised the top two inches.

Generally, every one of our players did better than them at that.

But that one right at the end, 75th minute when Joe Hawkins kicks it away, when we just got a turnover ball, it was a poor decision.

Anscombe kicked a lot of ball away as well.

And it was kind of the ones where you could see what he was trying to do and it just didn't quite come off.

And I felt like him, like Anscombe putting on that first 50 minutes, it wasn't as strong as when we've got Costi steering everything, but it was a big improvement on when we were playing without him last season.

His execution wasn't always great, but his decision-making was broadly quite good, if that makes sense.

It is kind of a thing for Hawkins and I've got it so in my mind that I don't want to be like just bashing Joe Hawkins is what we do every episode.

If the selection of this game is anything to go by, Joe Hawkins is fourth choice fly half and second choice inside centre for the Scarletts.

Anybody who's anybody knows that Eddie James and Joe Roberts is the best Scarlet Centre partnership ever.

Joe Hawkins, who is Wales starting 12, is not first choice in any Scarlets position.

So I think he's fourth choice fly half and second choice 12.

I even think there are people in the Scarlets who tell you that they picked Johnny Williams at 12 before Joe Hawkins.

We'll see.

We'll see how that pans out in terms of selection, but I think they got the selection right.

... insult to injury.

Um, and we swapped out what would be our first choice kind of backline for more of like a Wales preferred backline, if that makes any sense, with, um, like Joe Hawkins going in and stuff like that.

So yeah, I think we obviously had a really shit year last year where our coaching wasn't working.

Our-- We had a couple of really key injuries that kind of screwed us up.

steadySomeone who-

He's just gonna be there, and something I think the Scarlets setup has needed for a while is an experienced 10 to just sort of help, help two very young 10s through.

I mean, and three young if you, you include Joe Hawkins there, who I still st- I, I stand by he's a 12.

He is a n- he is a 12 back there.

Yeah.

It's gonna be Joe Hawkins on the, wearing 22, isn't it?

That's what I've seen as well.

Where, where is-

So I recently wrote an article for the website about players, Welsh players who coach.

Um, I spent a day, I spent an evening with Joe Hawkins.

Yeah.

Um, you're with Caldicot Youth.