WALES REFOCUS ON GEORGIA
CLASH AFTER HOWLEY SHOCK
Six Nations champions Wales will seek to put betting allegations around assistant coach Rob Howley behind them and focus on staking out their World Cup credentials when they take on Georgia today.
Stephen Jones, the former Wales fly-half and skipper, has flown in as the new attack coach to replace long-term incumbent Howley, who was sent home to face an investigation into alleged gambling infringements.
It is an unwanted development for a team touted as genuine title contenders under the canny eye of head coach Warren Gatland.
With Australia beating Fiji 39-21 in Pool ‘D’s opening match, Gatland named his strongest side for the clash against the Georgians, who have won just four of their 16 games in the last four World Cups.
“We are never short of a little bit of adversity in Welsh rugby or a story breaking in a match week,” Wales hooker Ken Owens said, adding the Howley affair had come as a “shell shock”.
“The boys have just responded perfectly. We’ve just had to get on with it and use it as a galvanising force.”
Veteran lock Alun Wyn Jones will equal the Wales record for Test appearances of 129 held by prop Gethin Jenkins and play his fourth Rugby World Cup after he was named to lead the team.
It will be the oldest Welsh starting side at any World Cup, with an average age of 28 years, 331 days -- 80 days more per man than the team that played Japan at the 2007 edition. Wales will start with 10 of the team that lost 19-10 to Ireland in their final warm-up, with Dan Biggar at fly-half and Hadleigh Parkes and Jonathan Davies lining up in midfield for the 11th time in the past two years.
“We’ve been out here just over a week and, not having a game yet, we just can’t wait to get started,” said back row forward Justin Tipuric.
Georgia defensive coach Levan Maisashvili insisted he did not believe Howley’s absence would affect Wales, who were briefly World Rugby’s number-one ranked team before Ireland took the mantle.
“The Welsh team are a highquality team. All of the players are professionals, so I don’t think it will be a reason for them to play poorly,” he said. “Obviously, for the Welsh team it is not good and will add some pressure, but they are all professional players.” Head coach Milton Haig said he had been pleased with Georgia’s run-in to the tournament, which has included long periods of acclimatisaton to heat and humidity, notably in Turkey.
“We’ve prepped pretty well,” said the Kiwi, who named Mamuka Gorgodze at openside flanker on his return to rugby at the age of 35 after two years in retirement.
“We’ve had a good build-up to the World Cup with three warm-up matches, two against Scotland, so we’ve learned a lot out of that.
“And with another Six Nations team coming up as our first game, against Wales, it’s prepared us really well.’’ -AFP
We’ve been out here just over a week and, not having a game yet, we just can’t wait to get started