AWJ ready for big away-day title decider
ALUN Wyn Jones says Wales will embrace the challenge of entering uncharted Six Nations Grand Slam territory in Paris on Saturday.
Wales will complete their fifth tournament clean sweep if they topple France.
But it is also a new experience for Jones and company, given that Wales’ previous Six Nations Grand Slams – in 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2019 – were all clinched on home soil in Cardiff.
“It is an away game decider, and we are not going to shy away from that,” Wales captain Jones said.
“We know the significance away games have this competition.
“It is one we have not experienced before (in terms of a Grand Slam), and it is going to be another week of weeks leading up to the game on Saturday.”
Wales lost on their last visit to Paris five months ago in a warm-up encounter for the delayed Six Nations game against Scotland and Autumn Nations Cup campaign that followed it.
But their recent Six Nations record in the French capital is a strong one, having toppled Les Bleus three times from the last four visits.
Jones, meanwhile, will become the first player to win four Six Nations Grand Slams if Wales make it a case of mission accomplished.
“In many ways, it is a similar situation (to the autumn) with no fans away in France, and that was a clinical game by them,” Jones added.
“But that was before the start of a competition in a different situation. I don’t want to be over the top, but the world had changed and we were going into a competition (Autumn Nations Cup) that we had not experienced before.
“We are a bit further down the line now with no crowds, where we are with the game and all that is going on to make it happen.
“I think we have dealt with that, but we still have to go up a few gears to go there and perform.”
Wales’ attacking game has fired impressively during the tournament so far, with 17 tries being scored in defeating Ireland, Scotland, England and Italy.
That figure means Wales have equalled their tryscoring record for a Six Nations tournament set in 2005 and 2016, with 12 of those touchdowns being claimed by backs.
Wales head coach Wayne Pivac said: “I wasn’t aware of that statistic, but it is pleasing to score tries.
“People love seeing tries scored and we like playing a brand of rugby where we give ourselves the opportunity to score plenty of tries.
“We’ve just got to make sure we get the balance in our game right. That is something we have been working on and tweaking.”