The George North/Josh Adams experiment that will pique Wayne Pivac's interest this weekend
Given the injury crisis that Wales are currently enduring with their centres ahead of the Six Nations, Cardiff Blues’ Josh Adams and the Ospreys’ George North are both set to start this weekend at outside centre for their clubs in Europe.
Wayne Pivac currently has a dearth of options in the No13 Test team shirt, with first-choice Jonathan Davies ruled out as is Willis Halaholo. Owen Watkin is set to miss the start of the tournament and Scott Williams is currently carrying a hamstring injury.
Given the abundance of wingers that the new coach has, the matches this weekend could be a trial for Adams and North to see who may start there in the opening match of the Six Nations against Italy at the Principality Stadium.
With the Ospreys’ hopes of making it out of their pool in the Champions Cup already extinguished, this is the ideal scenario to test North out in the 13 channel again before the Six Nations without the fear of sacrificing points in the league or a place in the quarter-finals.
However, the two-time British and Irish Lion has played in that position before, although not much, and his defensive capabilities have been called into question there, particularly as it is possibly the trickiest position defensively on the field, certainly for someone who is not accustomed to it.
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Equally, North could be deployed as a useful ball-carrier in the middle of the field, as could Cardiff’s winger Owen Lane as well.
Meanwhile, there is more on the line for Cardiff this Sunday when they travel to Pool Five leaders Leicester Tigers, as there is still a chance they can proceed to the knockout stages of the competition.
However, before Pivac makes any hasty decisions to shoehorn natural wingers into the midfield, there are still players in Wales that many feel are worthy of a call-up. The Scarlets’ Steff Hughes and the Dragons’ Tyler Morgan are two names being tipped to fill this hole in the team.
And there's players like Steff Hughes who would get over looked for the sake of playing two wings in the centre, North was awful last time he played centre! And Adams is on fire as a winger at the minute ridiculous
— Richie1664 (@Richie16641) January 10, 2020
Steff Hughes has been brilliant for us. Not sure he offers enough with the ball for international rugby but proper defender. Shut down Thomas and Lee Lo last Friday. Only time they got round that 13 channel Adams finished a worldy
— Ricky Harries (@RickyHarries) January 10, 2020
The 24-year-old Morgan is seeking to rebuild his international career and add to his five caps, having played in the 2015 World Cup. He played his last Test for Wales in November 2018, so this is a prime opportunity to impress Pivac.
You've got Tyler Morgan at the Dragons or Steff Hughes at the Scarlet's. There's no need to move any winger's infield.
— Thomas Hurley (@merthyrscarlet) January 4, 2020
https://twitter.com/BedwyrMorgan/status/1213292608476340226?s=20
The uncapped Hughes will also be able to provide a lot more defensive certainty in the 13 channel, having impressed in Davies’ absence this season for the Scarlets.
I see both he and North are playing 13 this weekend. Wonder what the likes of Tyler Morgan are thinking?
— John Pearce ??????? (@JPearce_JP) January 10, 2020
I would stick with Parkes and bring in Tyler Morgan for this 6N although I'm not against seeing what Lane or Adams could do. We shouldn't pin our hopes on them, though. Love Steff Hughes but not sure he's quite test level.
Ben Thomas, Tian T-W, Corey Baldwin all possibles?— Rhiannon Garth Jones (@rhigarthjones) January 9, 2020
The reality is, though, that Pivac will need to assess all possibilities before the Six Nations given the injury crisis – and there is still a very real possibility that North or Adams may need to fill in at some point.
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Comments on RugbyPass
An 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!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 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.
24 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.
24 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 commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments