SCRUM’S THE WORD

ALL BLACKS back-rower ardie savea will become the first player to wear goggles at the World Cup today.

His vision in his left eye has deteriorated so much that he wants to protect his good eye and he will wear the glasses against Canada in Oita.

savea said: ‘I’ve got my little girl and hopefully future kids and a bigger family, so I want to be able to see. I’m thinking of the bigger picture and trying to protect my eyes.’

WALES are filling their time between games with fishing trips and boat cruises. They are based on Lake Biwa and were granted four days off after their win over Australia, with their next match against Fiji a week today. Liam Williams and James Davies are in charge of entertainment but haven’t managed to find too many lunch spots in the sleepy city. George North scoured Otsu but was recommended the Italian restaurant in the team’s hotel!

AUSSIE scrum-half Nic White has been growing a huge moustache, inspired by Peaky Blinders. The former Exeter Chiefs No 9 said: ‘I started growing it a little while ago. I tell people I’m into Peaky Blinders and arthur shelby has a pretty good one.

‘Maybe I am not everything like arthur shelby. Maybe just the moustache. I twirl it on special occasions!’

BRADLEY DAVIES joked yesterday that Wales’s second-row crisis was so bad they had to call up two old boys. Davies replaced the injured Cory Hill, and Adam Beard is not yet fit after suffering appendicitis. So the lock laughed: ‘There was talk that Bob Norster and Derwyn Jones were coming out!’ Luckily for Wales, Alun Wyn Jones and Jake Ball are fit, as Norster is 62 and Jones 48.