Ireland to be Wayne Pivac’s biggest test

Cardiff: Wales coach Wayne Pivac says tomorrow’s (Fiji time) Six Nations clash against Ireland will prove the biggest test he has faced.

He is preparing for his first Wales Test away from Cardiff following a 42-0 Six Nations win over Italy and an uncapped victory against Barbarians in November 2019. Wales have not defeated Ireland in the Six Nations in Dublin since 2012.

When asked whether this was the biggest test of his coaching career, Pivac replied: “Yes definitely.”

The former Fiji and Scarlets boss added: “It will be a massive step up in what we’ve had so far.

“We’ve been very fortunate in we’ve had that Barbarians game which allowed us to iron a few things out. We then went into a competition match against Italy and now we go up against a much sterner challenge in their backyard.

“It’s built nicely and this will be a real test to see where we are at and how much work we’ve got to do to be able to play the game under pressure. It’s been an enjoyable week and you can tell it’s a bigger game than last week just from the reaction of the players. “That’s without us poking and prodding them. I expect it to be an enjoyable occasion, but with a lot of pressure.”

“We’ve made just one change after a winning start last weekend,” said Pivac.

“Nick (Tompkins) comes into the side, I thought he played exceptionally well when he came on last week so he deserves the start. George (North), who played really well last weekend at centre, moves back out to the wing.

“On the bench we have a few players back available. Rhys Carre impressed at the

RWC and he comes back in. Adam Beard comes in for Cory Hill who picked up a leg injury earlier this week, Gareth (Davies) is fully fit and Owen Williams comes onto the bench and gives us a bit more cover. “Momentum is important in the Championship. It was nice to get a good winning start under our belts and hopefully we can build on that through the tournament.”

LINE-UP

Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 George North, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Jake Ball, 3 Dillon Lewis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Wyn Jones

Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Leon Brown, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Owen Williams, 23 Johnny McNicholl -