Selection ‘warning’ for North after lapses
DEFENCE COACH EDWARDS UNHAPPY AS SOME PLAYERS ACCUSED OF ‘DOING WHAT THEY WANTED’ IN SCOTLAND DEFEAT
WALES wing George North has been given a selection ‘warning’ after his lacklustre defensive display against Scotland, with Shaun Edwards accusing some Welsh players of ‘doing what they wanted’.
Edwards was clearly annoyed at the nature of the tries Wales conceded against the Scots, coming on the back of the late Elliot Daly touchdown that saw Wales exposed in heartbreaking fashion against England in the previous match.
Speaking to the media from Wales’s Vale of Glamorgan base, defence coach Edwards conceded that the Northampton star wasn’t at his best in the 29-13 Six Nations loss to Scotland, making a point of stressing that it was errors ‘on the edge’ that allowed the Scots to cross for their two second-half tries from wings Tommy Seymour and Tim Visser.
“When it comes to conceding tries, we have conceded tries on our edge, usually our right edge and one on the left side,” he said.
“They were individual mistakes because they didn’t do what they practised in the build-up to the game.
“They decided to do what they wanted to do and not what the rest of their team-mates expected them to do.”
Asked if it was an area they were working on in training, Edwards admitted: “You could say that, yes.”
He added: “I think that George North had a very good game against Italy, in very difficult circumstances; he got a really bad bang on his leg and toughed it out well.
“Yes, he wasn’t at his best against Scotland, but I think great players, who have done great things for you in the past, sometimes deserve a warning.
“If he is selected against Ireland, I expect George to be certainly on his mettle.”
There have been calls for changes to Rob Howley’s starting XV for the clash with the Irish with uncapped Scarlets wing Steffan Evans and Ospreys fly-half Sam Davies being touted for starts.
However, Edwards remained cautious on both.
On Davies, who produced a sublime piece of skill to set up a try for Josh Matavesi in the Ospreys’ Guinness Pro12 win in Edinburgh on Friday night, Edwards said: “Sam’s been very useful for us. We know he is a very creative player.
“He is pretty much a regular in the 23 now and he has come off the bench and added a lot of creativity, there is no doubt about that. “I keep going back to the same thing, sometimes your best players are on the bench because it is all about that last 25 minutes.
“It has been proven time and time again, games are won and lost in the last 20 minutes. What do England call them? Finishers? I like that it pretty good terminology for what is a 23-man game now.”
As for Evans, Edwards added: “He is definitely one for the future, he has got good footwork, he is not the biggest of wingers, but there is not only one style of winger, we all remember how good Shane Williams was in attack over the years.”