Wales given 2 days off to allow ‘time to grieve’

Wales head coach Matt Sherratt well send his side into second Test battle with Japan having allowed them to “grieve” over their heart-breaking defeat in the first encounter.

The Welsh face the Brave Blossoms under the closed roof at Noevir Stadium in Kobe on Saturday desperate to gain revenge for last weekend’s 24-19 reverse in Kitakyushu, in which they led 19-7 with 20 minutes remaining.

That represented an 18th successive defeat for a proud rugby nation, and Sherratt revealed he has taken a piece of advice from British and Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell on board as he plots the way forward.

Asked how he has lifted the players, he said: “I learned from the Six Nations. I will tell you how it happened, actually.

“I met Andy Farrell after the Scotland game and he asked what we’d done that week, and he kind of said, ‘Listen, sometimes when players have had an emotional run, they need time to grieve’, and it just made complete sense to me.

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“It’s like grieving over anything takes time, so we gave them two days off and we really just left them alone for two days because… I’ll be honest, it was a tough changing room after the boys had put so much into the week that what I didn’t want to do was get them back in Monday and almost re-open the wounds, so we had two days off.

“First and foremost, I think that was probably the most important thing, and then we showed them the score at 60 minutes, which was 19-7 to us.

“We didn’t get enough set-piece in quality positions from 20 minutes on, so we were just really factual and said if we can do that, then we’ve got a chance of winning the game.”

Only time will tell if that approach will have the desired impact, but Sherratt has been encouraged by what he has seen in training since.

He said: “Genuinely if you’d watched today, you wouldn’t know if it was a team that had won 10 on the trot or lost 10 on the trot.

“They’re a good group. I think we’ve got them back into as good a place as we can.”

Ospreys fly-half Dan Edwards will make his first start for his country in one of four changes with Gloucester second-rower Freddie Thomas replacing the injured Ben Carter, Dragons number eight Aaron Wainwright coming in for Taulupe Faletau and Bath prop Archie Griffin getting the nod over Keiron Assiratti.

Sherratt is hoping the inclusion of 22-year-old Edwards, who will win his third cap in place of Sam Costelow, will bring a certain “X-factor” to his team.

He said: “He has got some X-factor, Dan. I’m learning about the players – it’s obviously only my second campaign, it’s my second time of coaching Dan.

“What’s caught my eye? Well two things: one – and it’s the most important one for a fly-half – he’s got a very, very good head on his shoulders in terms of he’s got a great attitude, he’s very decisive, which is huge, he leads the team well.

“And the second thing, he’s a triple threat, so what I mean by that is he can run, pass and kick. I didn’t realise how quick he was, really, until this camp, but over the last couple of weeks, if he’s seen a gap, he’s got good pace to take it so he’s got some X-factor.”