'I thought he sent a flare up in Argentina to say he had arrived'
Alun Wyn Jones believes that Wales flanker James Davies – the Olympic Sevens silver medal winner from 2016 with Britain – has an opportunity to continue his “stellar form” when he faces England on Saturday in Cardiff.
Davies starts in the same team as his brother Jonathan, joining fly-half Dan Biggar and lock Jake Ball as changes following events in south-west London last Sunday, the World Cup warm-up opener that saw the Welsh defeated.
The Davies are the first brothers to start together for Wales since Jamie and Nicky Robinson in 2006. It will be the younger Davies’ fourth cap, but his first since last year’s summer tour of Argentina.
“I thought he sent a flare up in Argentina to say he’d arrived,” said Jones. “He’s had injury struggles since, but he’s got an opportunity at the weekend to continue the stellar form he has shown for long periods in the Scarlets jersey.
“Obviously, there is a bit of pedigree there with his brother in the centre. James has been a stand-out in what has been a hotly-contested position in Wales for a long time. He’s been very close and has got the nod after banging on the door.”
Alun Wyn Jones might just have made young Caleb Forster's day at our captain's run this morning ? pic.twitter.com/MUMhKJycTC
— Welsh Rugby Union ??????? (@WelshRugbyUnion) August 16, 2019
Jones wants the Welsh to continue their Cardiff feel-good factor in Saturday’s clash. Wales will make a first Principality Stadium appearance since March when a 25-7 victory over Ireland secured the Six Nations title and Grand Slam glory.
A win at England’s expense this weekend would make it 11 in a row against all opponents and also see Wales replace New Zealand as World Rugby’s No1-ranked nation.
Wales have never previously reached the rankings summit so it would represent an impressive feat, especially just a month before the World Cup starts. “It’s nice to be home,” said Jones.
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“The occasion when we were here last time was obviously special and we are not going to lie, we want to carry that on. There is a big responsibility when we pull the jersey on. I say it a lot, and pardon the cliche, but it means a lot to be here and playing at home.”
Wales, though, will need to show an improvement from last Sunday’s 33-19 loss at Twickenham. ”Results are important off the back of a performance – your performance tells you a lot about your result as well,” Jones added.
“You play games sometimes where you might not play great, but you still win. That wasn’t the fact on the weekend. We were slow out of the blocks, and we have got another opportunity to put that right. It is an opportunity for us to redeem ourselves after the first game.
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“It would be very easy for us to say we were rusty (last week) because it was our first warm-up. We can’t drop our standards or allow our perception to change because of that. We pull on a Test jersey for a Test match.
“We realise where we have got to pick up, and there is an opportunity for people that played and a few guys coming in.”
– Press Association
WATCH: Warren Gatland meets the press ahead of Saturday’s World Cup warm-up match
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 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.
26 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.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments