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Follow all the action right here on the RugbyPass live blog from the Guinness Six Nations match between England and Wales at Twickenham.
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Here are some of the key talking points heading into the game in London:
Disruption must not distract England
England’s 2020 Six Nations campaign – at least for the time being – will stop on Saturday. After the coronavirus outbreak caused their final game against Italy in Rome next week to be postponed, they will wind things up with Wales’ visit to Twickenham.
Off-field events will undoubtedly have proved unsettling, but England have previous experience of dealing with such unexpected situations following Typhoon Hagibis forcing their World Cup pool game against France last October to be scrapped. England went on to reach the final and this weekend will again be about staying concentrated on the job.
England fired up after Cardiff defeat
England head coach Eddie Jones feels that his players “owe them one” following a painful Six Nations loss in Wales just over 12 months ago. England, chasing a third successive win in the tournament, led 10-3 at half-time as Tom Curry scored a try that reflected their dominance.
But Wales were a different animal after the break as they shunted England on to the back foot for long periods before lock Cory Hill’s touchdown and a late Josh Adams score confirmed an outstanding 21-13 victory. Wales went on to win the Grand Slam, while England could only lick their wounds. The pain has not gone away.
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The odds are stacked against Wales
Wales head to English rugby headquarters striving to avoid a third successive defeat in one Six Nations campaign for the first time since 2007. Losses to Ireland and France derailed hopes of a successful title defence following last season’s Grand Slam, and life is not about to get any easier.
Wales’ Six Nations record against England in Cardiff reads won five, lost five but at Twickenham, they have suffered eight defeats from 10 visits. Wales’ last success in the tournament there came eight years ago, and most bookmakers rate them a distant 9/2 shot for victory this weekend.
England farewell for Steve Borthwick
After England’s Italian job was put on hold it unexpectedly brought forward Borthwick’s departure from the Red Rose set-up. The 40-year-old former England captain will be Leicester Tigers’ head coach from this summer, ending his association with the national team.
He won 57 caps as a player and has been part of Jones’ coaching staff since the Australian was appointed more than four years ago, working as forwards specialist and then skills coach for over 50 Tests. Saturday’s game will be the last for Borthwick in an England tracksuit at Twickenham, while England lock George Kruis is also set to bow out as he ponders a prospective new playing career in Japan.
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"Wales have won only two of ten Six Nations fixtures at Twickenham, so the odds are stacked against them. @OwainJTJones asks can Wayne Pivac stage the ultimate smash and grab with question marks over many key players?"#GuinnessSixNations #ENGvWAL
https://t.co/Z4UFztWQgZ— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 6, 2020
Are Wales asking a lot of Liam Williams and Josh Navidi?
Yes, is the simple answer. Their quality and experience is unquestioned, with Williams one of world rugby’s most exciting backs and number eight Navidi a breakdown specialist whose physical presence is always felt by opponents.
Williams, though, has not played since Wales’ World Cup quarter-final victory over France on October 20, suffering an ankle injury during training just a few days later, while Navidi’s last competitive outing came eight weeks ago before a hamstring problem laid him low. Wales head coach Wayne Pivac feels that both players have enough training volume in them, declaring they are “ready to go.” Welsh fans will hope he is right.
ENGLAND: E Daly (Saracens); A Watson (Bath), M Tuilagi (Leicester), O Farrell (Saracens, capt), J May (Leicester); G Ford (Leicester), B Youngs (Leicester); J Marler (Harlequins), J George (Saracens), K Sinckler (Harlequins), M Itoje (Saracens), G Kruis (Saracens), C Lawes (Northampton), M Wilson (Sale Sharks), T Curry (Sale Sharks). Reps: L Cowan-Dickie (Exeter), E Genge (Leicester), W Stuart (Bath), J Launchbury (Wasps), C Ewels (Bath), B Earl (Saracens), W Heinz (Gloucester), H Slade (Exeter).
WALES: L Halfpenny (Scarlets); G North (Ospreys), N Tompkins (Saracens), H Parkes (Scarlets), L Williams (Scarlets); D Biggar (Northampton), T Williams (Cardiff Blues); R Evans (Scarlets), K Owens (Scarlets), D Lewis (Cardiff Blues), J Ball (Scarlets), A W Jones (Ospreys, capt), R Moriarty (Dragons), J Tipuric (Ospreys), J Navidi (Cardiff Blues). Reps: R Elias (Scarlets), R Carre (Saracens), L Brown (Dragons), A Shingler (Scarlets), T Faletau (Bath), R Webb (Bath), J Evans (Cardiff Blues), J McNicholl (Scarlets).
WATCH: Wales coach Wayne Pivac sets the scene as they visit Twickenham on the back of defeats to Ireland and France
Comments on RugbyPass
Guys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
105 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
105 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
105 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
105 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
105 Go to commentsHo hum.
105 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
105 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
105 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
105 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
105 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
105 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
105 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
105 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
105 Go to commentsI'm happy for the people of SA to get a second WC. And I mean that. I was very disappointed with this man's “stand on the hand” incident with Josh Van Der Flyer (Ireland). Ireland's downfall in the last WC was they did not rotate their first 15 as the head coach probably should have. That said, I'm happy for SA and genuinely hope it lifts the mood in their country. Ireland did beat them in the first match of the tournament. And before the trolls start trolling ….. please don't bother. Etzbeth said recently that the Irish players said after the match “see you in the final”…..this was actually wishing the SA team the best of luck in the rest, the Irish team were not dismissing the AB’s. This is what Etzbeth was implying. But he was wrong. I no longer live in Ireland. But I hope to see them lift that cup before I pass. Anyway, congratulations SA. 👍
13 Go to commentsMore bloody click bait. Dan Carter has said absolutely nothing. As he should do. Poor journalism again from a site that should know better
9 Go to commentsOh god please help these loosers get over it!!!! You lost. Doesn't matter how many times you dummies are gonna analyse the game, you still lost and we are still Rygby World Champions….get over it, you lost.
105 Go to comments