'There are a few seats left' - Nearly 10,000 tickets unsold for Wales-France
Wayne Pivac says he hopes the remaining unsold tickets for Wales France will be snapped up before kick-off tomorrow night in Cardiff.
Pivac believes that Wales will face “the in-form team in the world” when they tackle Guinness Six Nations opponents France.
While Wales’ hopes of a successful title defence were effectively ended by defeat against England last time out, France remain on course for Six Nations silverware and a first Grand Slam since 2010.
They are unbeaten this season, having toppled the likes of New Zealand, Argentina, Ireland and Scotland, and arrive in Cardiff as red-hot favourites.
Cardiff’s Principality Stadium could be some 10,000 short of hitting its 74,500 capacity – the Friday 8pm kick-off an inevitable hindrance to ticket sales – but a fascinating encounter looks in store.
The countries’ last five Six Nations meetings have produced an aggregate winning margin of just 14 points, and France can reflect on a solitary Cardiff triumph in the last 12 years.
“There are a few seats left. It would be great to see those seats filled up,” Wales head coach Pivac said.
“Both sides want to play an entertaining brand of rugby and I think you have got the side at the moment who are probably the in-form team in the world in France.
“We certainly have had a couple of great games against them in recent times, so I think it will be a cracker.”
Pivac has never fielded an unchanged team during his 26-Test reign, with that sequence continuing as Jonathan Davies, Gareth Thomas, Seb Davies and a fit-again Josh Navidi have all been called into the starting line-up.
Navidi features in a reshaped back-row alongside Davies and Taulupe Faletau, with the breakdown set to be a crucial factor behind which team finishes on top.
“We all know who the players are that have picked up some serious injuries. That’s the nature of the game. There have been certain times where we wouldn’t have wanted to make many changes, or any at all, if we were playing well enough,” Pivac added.
“It has been a little bit frustrating, but it is also part and parcel of it.
“In a way, it is preparing you for anything that can happen, and if you just settle on 15 players it is probably going to come back and bite you somewhere further down the track.
“At the moment, what it is allowing us to do is look at other players and build depth, which we need to do regardless.
“We go through from one to 15 and are trying to build depth in all positions, so if we get multiple injuries in one position we can have someone who can come in with the skill-set required to play the way we want to play.
“I think come the (2023) World Cup we will hopefully be in a strong position across the squad from one to 15.”
Pivac’s match-day 23 features 11 players involved when Wales suffered a Grand Slam-ending 32-30 defeat in Paris last season, being denied by Brice Dulin’s injury-time try.
The boot is on the other foot this time around, with France holding Grand Slam aspirations, but asked if stopping that clean sweep bid was a motivation, Wales captain Dan Biggar said: “We haven’t once mentioned it.
“We are really not bothered if us winning stops France winning the Grand Slam or championship. We really are just worried about making sure we finish on a high.
“The form they have shown over the last 12 months, they are playing some really exciting rugby underpinned by an incredible-sized pack and ball-carriers they’ve got.
“They are not going to dish too much up for you to feast on, and it is about being disciplined ourselves, matching them physically and starting the game well.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Does a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
128 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
128 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
128 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
128 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to comments