‘I’ll be Welsh this weekend’
NO DIVIDED LOYALTIES FOR KIWI PIVAC AS WALES TAKE ON THE ALL BLACKS
WALES head coach Wayne Pivac will not have any divided loyalties when he sends his side out against the mighty All Blacks in Cardiff tomorrow.
Looking to mastermind an end to 68 years of hurt for Wales against his homeland, Pivac will have his feet firmly in one camp only this weekend.
“I’m going to feel very Welsh this weekend. I’ve been here seven years now, and honestly it feels like home,” said Pivac.
“I can’t get into the other country! “I’ve not seen my family for two years now, and I know they’ll be supporting and watching.
“In the role I’m doing there are a lot of friends and family and others around the globe who are supporting Wales now.
“We just want to do well for the people of Wales, and those who are supporting us.”
And as for finally laying to rest that All Blacks hoodoo, Pivac stressed that it’s the present, and not the past, which he and his squad are focused on.
“Everyone looks at history as you can pull out stats like it being 68 years of defeat,” he added.
“History speaks volumes – they’re a very good rugby nation and have proved that time and again. What we do internally is look at 15 rugby players with a referee in the middle.
“We got to make sure we bring physicality, we’re smart in how we approach the game and our game management is good so it gives us every chance to get the win everyone would love to see.
“The timing of the game, the people available is irrelevant to us. It’s an opportunity to go out there and put on a good performance.
“75,000 people have been starved of this, so we’ve got a job to do to make it a great occasion.”
With a squad severely depleted by the non-availablity of English-based players and injuries, Pivac named his side yesterday only to be forced into a change just minutes after it was announced.
Scarlets hooker Ken Owens was ruled out with a back injury and with his back-up Elliot Dee already out with a neck injury another Scarlet, Ryan Elias, takes the number two jersey with Cardiff’s Kirby Myhill coming onto the bench.
As expected Gareth Anscombe ends his injury-enforced exile from the Wales team after being named to start at fly half.
Playing opposite Anscombe will be Beauden Barrett, who will run out for his 100th All Blacks Test appearance. Wales: Johnny McNicholl; Owen Lane, Jonathan Davies, Johnny
Williams, Josh Adams; Gareth Anscombe, Tomos Williams; Wyn Jones, Ryan Elias, Tomas Francis, Adam Beard, Alun Wyn Jones (capt), Ross Moriarty, Taine Basham, Aaron Wainwright.
Reps: Kirby Myhill, Rhys Carre, Dillon Lewis, Will Rowlands, Seb Davies, Gareth Davies, Rhys Priestland, Ben Thomas.
New Zealand: J Barrett; W Jordan, A Lienert-Brown, D Havili, R Ioane; B Barrett, TJ Perenara; J Moody, C Taylor, N Laulala, B Retallick, S Whitelock (capt), E Blackadder, D Papalii, A Savea.
Reps: S Taukei’aho, K Tu’inukuafe, T Lomax, T Vaa’i, A Ioane, B Weber, R Mo’unga, S Reece.