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Biggar urges Wales to make life uncomfortable for Ireland fly-half Sexton
Dan Biggar readily accepts that Wales cannot afford to give Ireland captain Johnny Sexton “a free ride” in Saturday’s Six Nations clash.
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The opposing fly-halves will have key roles to play in expected testing conditions at the Aviva Stadium as Dublin prepares to be buffeted by Storm Ciara.
The losers are likely to be blown off course in terms of Six Nations title ambitions this season and the bookmakers favour a marginal Ireland victory.
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Wales have not won a Six Nations game in Dublin since 2012, while Ireland were the last team to beat them on European rugby’s biggest stage when they triumphed 37-27 two years ago.
“He (Sexton) has been almost Ireland’s best player for the last 10 to 12 years,” Biggar said.
“It’s great to play against Johnny, one of the best blokes around that you will meet.
“He knows their game inside out, he will be driving them around the field, and I suppose it is up to us on Saturday to try and make life as uncomfortable for him as possible.
“If we give him a free ride and let him dictate play, we have seen over the years how good a player Johnny is. We need to try and force some errors out of him.
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“But Johnny has been around the block long enough to know that any side playing Leinster or Ireland are going to try and make him make mistakes, but he has done OK over his career so far.
Hit in the pocket https://t.co/vZFoJMnTqY
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 7, 2020
“It is really about which team can stop the momentum for the other team’s backs.
“With the weather as well, it looks as though it is going to be even more of an arm-wrestle – more than we initially thought it was going to be.
“I suppose it is probably going to be one for the purists. The weather is not going to be great by all accounts, so it’s certainly going to be a case of rolling your sleeves up.
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“But it’s great, isn’t it? This is what the tournament is all about, going away from home and trying to pick up an away win.”
Wales have reeled off eight successive Six Nations victories, but they field just three players in their line-up this weekend – Leigh Halfpenny, George North and Taulupe Faletau – who started at the Aviva Stadium eight years ago.
Biggar is the fulcrum of a confident Wales team, though, playing as well as he has ever done in driving his country’s Six Nations title push and Northampton’d bid for Gallagher Premiership success.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8OlNaSgLmD/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
And that was highlighted by his audacious pass through the legs pass that created a try for wing Josh Adams in last Saturday’s 42-0 victory over Italy.
Biggar added: “I realise I am not going to be around forever. I turned 30 last year, so I am still trying to think ‘I’m going to enjoy myself as much as I can in the next four or five years until I am out of the game’.
“I am really looking forward to going out there and playing. Whatever role I have in this team, it’s great to be involved.
“What we are trying to do on Saturday is make sure that we start the game well and take as much momentum away from them as possible.
“You saw that last Sunday when France absolutely steamrollered England at the start of the game, with the home crowd getting behind them. An early score, and they (England) never really found a way back.
“The big thing for us to learn this weekend is to start the game really well and make sure we keep the momentum.
“It is a tough place to play. Ultimately they try to get on the front foot early – that is how they play at home, traditionally.”
– Press Association
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Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments