WALES NAME TEAM TO FACE ENGLAND
WHY WALES HAVE AXED FALETAU FOR FIRST TIME IN NINE YEARS WALES ARE STRUGGLING TO SWITCH FROM WARRENBALL TO PIVAC’S PLAN – GWYN JONES’VERDICT
SO, the Wales team to face England is out and there’s lots to talk about amid four changes, with Liam Williams, Tomos Williams, Josh Navidi and Rob Evans coming into the side, while Dan Biggar has been passed fit to wear No.10. Rugby correspondent
gives his thoughts on why coach Wayne Pivac has gone with this group of players for the trip to Twickenham.
The back three dilemma
THIS is a department that has been ravaged by injury issues over the past couple of months.
Owen Lane fell by the wayside before the Six Nations even began due to a torn hamstring, while Liam Williams was unavailable for the first three rounds of matches following ankle surgery.
Then the casualty list grew longer still as George North, Josh Adams and Hallam Amos were laid low on the same weekend.
North was forced off with concussion just minutes into the defeat to France, while fellow wing Adams suffered ankle damage ruling him out of the rest of the Six Nations.
And the following day, the versatile Amos picked up a knee injury playing for the Blues which was to see him join Adams in facing a lengthy lay-off.
What’s pretty remarkable given all this is that Wales have still managed to select a back three of household names for the trip to south west London.
In Leigh Halfpenny, North and Williams, you have three hugely experienced Lions Test stars, three men with no fewer than 244 caps between them.
These are players who know all about the big stage.
The concern, of course, lies on the fitness front.
Williams hasn’t played a game of rugby since October 20, 2019. That was the World Cup quarterfinal against France in Oita.
Days later he suffered the training ground ankle injury which was to consign him to surgery and close on six months out of the game.
There had been some thought that he might get a run out for the Scarlets against Munster last weekend, given he had completed his early return to the region from Saracens.
But the Welsh management decided to keep him in camp, leaving us all trying to work out what to read into that.
Well, it turns out that meant he was deemed ready to return against England, with the additional time in camp having been spent going through his paces with the starting XV.
Now clearly it’s a big ask to throw Williams straight in to such a huge occasion after so long out.
But he is a class act and very accustomed to this kind of stage, while wing is perhaps a position where you can cope a bit more in terms of the demands of match fitness.
There would also have been concerns about North after he slumped to the floor having taken a bang to the head in an aerial collision with
France’s Gael Fickou, especially given his past record of concussions.
He failed the HIA and one wondered whether he would join the list of back three absentees.
But he posted an encouraging message last weekend saying he was back in full training and he will obviously have come through all the relevant returnto-play welfare protocols.
So that’s great news for him and a boost for Wales given the back three issues.
Wales did still have other options in Johnny McNicholl, Jonah Holmes and Louis Rees-Zammit.
But while McNicholl offers a lot with ball in hand, there have been a few defensive lapses in the games so far, notably against France when he was bumped out of the way for Paul Willemse’s try and fell off a tackle in the build-up to their disallowed score. As for Holmes, he’s been a bit of a fringe figure, while Rees-Zammit was sidelined by illness last weekend and the management might well have been wary of throwing an uncapped teenager into such a cauldron.
Some will argue Wales have nothing to lose with title hopes gone and should give Gloucester’s Rees-Zammit his chance, given his sensational form this season and the fact he will be up against players he knows well from the Premiership.
But, on the other hand, if it were to go wrong for him amid a difficult day for the team, might that set him back and knock his confidence?
In the end, with Williams and North both being passed fit, the issue has been simplified and so it is that we have the old firm back in harness for the meeting with the old enemy.
The half-backs
ALL the talk this week has been about the No 10, given the injury doubt hanging over Dan Biggar.
But, as it turns out, the change has come at 9 rather than 10.
Wales have reverted to their selection from the first two Six Nations games, with Tomos Williams back at scrum-half in place of Gareth Davies
There was a lot of talk before the Championship about the riches in that position, with Rhys Webb available again to join Williams and Davies in the mix.