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Wales unchanged for France clash

Wales wing George North scores a try against Ireland

Wales have named an unchanged side for their final game of the Six Nations against France on Saturday.

Rob Howley has rewarded the team line-up that started last Friday’s defeat of Ireland by sticking with the same XV for the match in Paris.

Ken Owens will win his 50th cap at the Stade de France, where Wales will also be able to call on the same replacements as they aim to secure a victory which could see them finish as runners-up to England.

Wales head coach Howley said: “I was delighted for the players at Friday’s result and performance and they deserve the opportunity to build on that in our final Six Nations encounter.

“The experience we showed and the intensity we brought to the match was hugely important and that will be just as important as we face a good France team at home.

“We put pressure on ourselves and turned that pressure into a result. For us, there are areas of the game we want to work on from Ireland and we have an opportunity to do that on Saturday and finish the campaign with another quality performance.

“The players who took to the field at the Principality Stadium deserve the opportunity to start and we were pleased with the impact from the bench, so will be looking for the same this weekend.”

 

Wales: Leigh Halfpenny, George North, Jonathan Davies, Scott Williams, Liam Williams, Dan Biggar, Rhys Webb; Rob Evans, Ken Owens, Tomas Francis, Jake Ball, Alun Wyn Jones, Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric, Ross Moriarty.

Replacements: Scott Baldwin, Nicky Smith, Samson Lee, Luke Charteris, Taulupe Faletau, Gareth Davies, Sam Davies, Jamie Roberts.

 

 

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SK 1 hour ago
The times are changing, and some Six Nations teams may be left behind

If you are building the same amount of rucks but kicking more is that a bad thing? Kicks are more constestable than ever, fans want to see a contest, is that a bad thing? kicks create broken field situations where counter attacks from be launched from or from which turnover ball can be exploited, attacks are more direct and swift rather than multiphase in nature, is that a bad thing? What is clear now is that a hybrid approach is needed to win matches. You can still build phases but you need to play in the right areas so you have to kick well. You also have to be prepared to play from turnover ball and transition quickly from the kick contest to attack or set your defence quickly if the aerial contest is lost. Rugby seems healthy to me. The rules at ruck time means the team in possession is favoured and its more possible than ever to play a multiphase game. At the same time kicking, set piece, kick chase and receipt seems to be more important than ever. Teams can win in so many ways with so many strategies. If anything rugby resembles footballs 4-4-2 era. Now football is all about 1 striker formations with gegenpress and transition play vs possession heavy teams, fewer shots, less direct play and crossing. Its boring and it plods along with moves starting from deep, passing goalkeepers and centre backs and less wing play. If we keep tinkering with the laws rugby will become a game with more defined styles and less variety, less ways to win effectively and less varied body types and skill sets.

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