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Reigning champions Wales aim to blast out of the Guinness Six Nations starting blocks on Saturday – helped by a video message from Usain Bolt.
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The eight-time Olympic gold medallist and sprint king was part of Wales’ so-called Bobby Cup award ceremony earlier this week.
Set up by Wales’ strength and conditioning coach Paul Stridgeon, whose nickname is Bobby, it is only awarded to a player when Wales win two successive games, and its latest recipient was flanker Taine Basham.
“Every Bobby Cup presentation, he gets a celebrity to announce who the winner is, and on Monday night we had Usain Bolt,” Wales captain Dan Biggar said ahead of the Six Nations opener against Ireland in Dublin.
“He did a pre-recorded message for Taine and it was a bit of a thrill for the lads.
“The Bobby Cup is one of the main reasons I am still playing international rugby. It is the pinnacle of your rugby career winning the Bobby Cup.”
Serious Six Nations business begins this weekend, with Wales not rated as major title contenders by the bookmakers, despite winning it last season.
“As I have said all week, we always start as fourth or fifth favourites,” Biggar added.
“Every year, we come into the Six Nations behind the big three (France, England and Ireland), and I think Scotland are ahead of us with the bookies this week.
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“It has been the same for the last 10 years. But I think people forget as well, the last 10 years we have been the most successful team in it, winning it four times and Ireland and England winning it three times.
“It is no issue for us, it is absolutely no different for us coming into the tournament as underdogs.
“Whether we’ve won it the last year, whether we have got a full-strength team, half a team missing, whatever it is, it’s always the same.”
Wales have not claimed a Six Nations victory against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium since 2012.
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And their degree of difficulty is considerably increased by injuries sidelining the likes of Biggar’s fellow British and Irish Lions Alun Wyn Jones, George North, Leigh Halfpenny, Ken Owens, Justin Tipuric and Josh Navidi.
But after ending their Autumn Nations Series campaign with victory against Australia just over two months ago, Wales will not lack confidence.
“There is no doubt we are missing a lot of key men who have got a serious amount of caps and quality around the pitch,” said Biggar, who skippers his country for the first time.
“We have got to make sure that we have got to have a little bit about us, go on the front foot and try and take the game to Ireland.
“I want to make sure that the lads who are playing in their first Six Nations, or starting their first game or haven’t had as much experience, I want them to believe they are good enough and that we are not just rocking up tomorrow to soak up everything Ireland have got.
“These young lads have nothing to fear. They are into their first real Six Nations campaign and it’s great for us because it keeps senior boys like myself really young and hungry.
“For us to come on the right side of the result – or to certainly make it a bit easier for ourselves – we have to make sure we start well, ruffle a few feathers early doors, stop the crowd from getting onside and giving them a big start.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 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
4 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 comments