Test passed Heinz takes new career challenge in his stride
WILLI Heinz was presented with a new challenge in his fledgling international career at the Principality Stadium.
Having impressed on his England debut at Twickenham six days earlier, facing Wales in the Cardiff cauldron was always going to be an altogether different test for the Gloucester scrumhalf, who was once again given a chance to start.
So, how did he get on?
Dealing with the atmosphere
The atmosphere was electric with the passionate home fans keen to see their team go top of the world rankings with a victory over their arch-rivals, something they duly achieved with a 13-6 triumph in a highly-charged game.
To experience this high-pressured environment was the perfect preparation ahead of what is to come in the Rugby World Cup, which starts next month, and an ability to deal with these situations is one of the reasons Heinz became one of the surprise selections for the 31-man squad from head coach Eddie Jones.
He may be new to international rugby but at the age of 32 he has settled in so quickly into it that it looks like he has been at that level for a long time, bringing the maturity and calmness from his years of experience in Super Rugby and Premiership Rugby that Jones has been looking for to put him ahead of his younger rivals in the number nine pecking order.
Heinz demonstrated this at the Principality Stadium with the Welsh fans baying for blood as England came under pressure in the first half, particularly from Dan Biggar’s notoriously testing up-and-unders.
He started from where he left off at Twickenham. Once again his first task was to clear the danger after the Wales kick-off and he found touch with a good kick up to the 10-metre line.
If there was one area of his game that that was questioned on his debut, it was his defence, but he made a good tackle on Wales flanker Aaron Wainwright early on and put his body on the line on more occasions throughout the first half.
Heinz’s highlight came when England moved the ball quickly from a lineout and he made a smart grubber kick into space with the ball only just evading Joe Cokanasiga as it ran out to touch in the Wales 22.
His box-kicking was also good as Wales, with Leigh Halfpenny a late replacement for aerial specialist Liam Williams, struggled to deal with some of his high balls, while his service was good.
Head injury and Wales try controversy
Just after the half-hour mark Heinz was heavily involved as well-timed passing to find runners helped England quickly made inroads into the Welsh half before he spilt the ball in a tackle.
As Heinz raced back to cover the Wales counter, he made a good tackle
but was taken out by Ken Owens at the ruck, which led to him going off for a head injury assessment.
At the same time as he received treatment on the pitch before being taken off, Anthony Watson was shown a yellow card and, as Ben Youngs had not entered the fray, England only had 13 men on the field when they were caught out by a quickly taken Wales penalty, which resulted in the only try of the game for George North.
Heinz’s absence for that short period raised the debate about what would happen in the World Cup if one of the scrum-halves was ruled out for one or more games through concussion.
With no specialist cover for Heinz and Youngs, George Ford has been nominated as the man to fill in but Jones resisted the temptation to move his fly-half there during this game.
It remains a concern for many and is certainly a gamble from Eddie Jones.
As it was, Heinz recovered to return after half time but did not get long to make his mark as he was replaced by Youngs in the 47th minute.
Is Heinz pushing Youngs for a starting spot?
Despite the result not going in England’s favour, it was another encouraging performance from Heinz that justified his place in the World Cup squad.
He is still finding his feet at international level, which is why it is important to get games under his belt before the tournament in Japan.
As one of just two scrum-halves in the squad, Heinz will get plenty of game time over the next couple of months and he could end up playing a key role.
Gloucester legend James Simpsondaniel reckons Heinz could push Youngs for a starting spot and if he can build on his displays against Wales he will certainly stake his claim.
Youngs has been such an ever-present in the England side over such a long period that it seems unimaginable that he won’t start the World Cup as first choice but Heinz has shown he is capable of stepping up if required.