Byron wants Wales to go for quick KO
JOE CALZAGHE’S former sparring partner Byron Hayward has told his Wales players to smash Ireland from the opening bell on Saturday.
Shaun Edwards’ successor as defence coach masterminded a shut-out in Saturday’s opener against Italy and is confident they can hold firm as they hunt a first Six Nations win in Dublin since 2012.
Hayward, a fine amateur boxer who won a Welsh ABA title in 1997, said: “Everything we do is about line speed and trying to regain possession as quick as we can.
“We have to start both halves well. We will be looking to get set and come out of the blocks firing. That’s our philosophy for every game.”
Wales name their side today with hooker Dewi Lake and back rower Taine Basham having been called into the squad, but they will be without full-back Liam Williams, who has an ankle injury.
However, the Grand Slam champions welcome back scrum-half Gareth Davies and centre Owen Watkin, while Nick Tompkins, above, could make his first start in midfield.
Ireland scraped an opening win over Scotland in Andy Farrell’s first game in charge after he succeeded Joe Schmidt.
Lock Iain Henderson said: “There is a different mentality around the place, a different relationship between players and coaches. Everything is done in a really positive manner to ensure that we are getting the best out of each other.
“Maybe in years gone by, guys might have been a wee bit tentative of who they went and asked questions to for fear of people thinking they don’t know their details and stuff. But now a very open learning system has been put in place.”
THE power cut that England have suffered with the loss of first Billy Vunipola and now Manu Tuilagi has left them with some lateral thinking to do.
So much of their best rugby has come off the back of the thrust their Pacific Island driving forces offer but if they are to bounce back in Scotland on Saturday after the loss to France, they will have to find another attacking method.
Which is where Team GB’s Tokyo Olympics head coach Simon Amor comes in.
Amor, right, has been brought in for the Six Nations and – when his Olympic commitments are over – beyond that to try to bring another dimension to England.
With the numbers of Gareth Southgate and Adam Peaty’s coach Mel Marshall in his phone, he has coaching friends in high places but given that the high spot of his own 15-a-side coaching career was a spell in the Championship as
SCOTLAND captain Stuart Hogg escaped a ribbing from his English clubmates after his howler against Ireland because it was just too embarrassing. When Hogg arrived at Exeter in the autumn after Scotland’s elimination by the Brave Blossoms at the World Cup, he walked into a changing room decorated with Japan flags. But clubmate Luke director of rugby at London Scottish seven years ago, his is a left-field appointment.
Can sevens patterns really translate to the intensely claustrophobic environment of international Test rugby? We are about to find out.
George Ford and Owen Farrell, the playmakers, will be his natural touchstones but Amor’s eyes are cast wider, with his mission to make England a threat right across the pitch.
Amor said: “It is really important for us to evolve this attack and play a style of rugby the world has never seen before and be absolutely outstanding and inspirational.
“We need more people to
Cowan-Dickie, who will line up against Hogg for England at Murrayfield on Saturday, revealed there was only an awkward silence on the Exeter WhatsApp group after he failed to touch down when over the try line in the defeat against the Irish last Saturday.
“Nothing was said on that,” said Cowan-Dickie. “I think we actually felt sorry for him. It’s bad enough dropping the ball over the have understanding where the gaps are in defence and where the space is in behind. And it can’t just be those guys. It has to be about the outsidebacks as well and that’s where my sevens experiences are of benefit. “When you are watching a sevens game it may appear that the space is really obvious because there are fewer people and the gaps are more clear. “What you are trying to look at, though, is the anticipation of where people are going to line, but in an international game… we’ll be nice to him when he gets back,” said the England hooker.
“It happens in some people’s careers. I think he’ll learn from that.”
There will be no blowback from Scotland today when Hogg is named at full-back as captain for the Calcutta Cup game.
Despite the blunder, he remains Scotland’s dangerman and the player England have devoted most time to shutting down. move to. You are looking less at the gaps and more at where the movement is going to be.
“You are trying to do stuff that will get the defence to move into another place so that the attack can exploit that.
“The principle is still the same in 15s. It is about what you are going to do to shift people to create space. That’s the way I look at Test rugby.”
A wet day in Paris against an inspired French side was hardly the ideal starting laboratory for the experiment. Jonny May’s two second-half tries owed more to instinctive finishing brilliance than anything ground-breakingly creative.
But for Tuilagi’s replacement Jonathan Joseph, an alternative viewpoint is a good one. “Simon is from a sevens background where the guys are quick, have good feet and like taking defenders on,” said the centre.
“Hopefully we can expand on that part of our game in looking to exploit space a bit more in the wide channels and looking for mis-matches and opportunities to create overlaps – being brave with it and not playing the safe game.”
Three weeks into his new role, Amor is still finding his feet.
The England environment under Eddie Jones can be unforgiving and the churn of backroom staff is unsettling but if Amor can help turn around the disappointment of Stade de France and make a success of the role, he could turn out to be a trailblazer.
A sevens attack coach – like a rugby league defence coach – may become a Test team’s must-have accessory.
Cowan-Dickie said: “He’s good. He has a massive boot on him and, ball in hand, he can make something happen from nothing.
“Scotland want to go wide, wide, and that will definitely help him out a bit. He’s going to be a threat but I’m pretty sure when we do our analysis this week, we’ll be able to target certain things and hopefully keep him out of the game.”
Scotland wing Blair Kinghorn insists for all Hogg’s talent they are not a one-man backline. “We have all the creativity we need,” he said.
“Every time you come back from a loss, you come in, look at the footage and try to bounce on to the next game – and there’s no better one than England at home. Everyone’s looking to get stuck in.
“It would mean everything to win on Saturday. It’s a massive game at home and we want to retain the Calcutta Cup.”