1
Alun Wyn Jones to make history as Warren Gatland names Wales team for pool-deciding clash against Australia
Wales head coach Warren Gatland has stuck with the XV that dispatched of Georgia without too much trouble last week and named almost exactly the same 23 for Wales’ grudge match against Australia.
ADVERTISEMENT
It’s a brave move from Gatland, given that Wales will likely be forced into resting a number of players in the Red Dragons’ upcoming matches with Fiji and Uruguay – who could both represent banana skins for the Six Nations champions.
Alun Wyn Jones will again captain the team and will make his 130th appearance for Wales, which will make him the most capped Welsh player of all time.
The one change in the matchday squad comes on the bench where Owen Watkin takes over from Leigh Halfpenny in the 23 jersey.
There were some questions over the availability of Ken Owens and Hadleigh Parkes, who picked up knocks against Georgia last week, but they’ve both been cleared to play.
Last November, Wales broke a 13-match losing streak against the Wallabies and will be hoping to create a streak of their own going forward. Gatland’s latest side includes nine survivors from last year’s victory. Still, forwards coach Robin McBryde remains cautious.
Continued below…
“We know we can beat them but other than that this is a completely different tournament, different game, a lot more at stake,” said McBryde.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The Autumn internationals are very much a one-off. We’ll take heart from the fact we know we can beat them, but it’s different circumstances, there’s a lot more at stake, it’s going to be a good battle.”
Australia, who are known as one of the better teams at the breakdown thanks to the likes of Michael Hooper and David Pocock, have forced Wales to focus on their work in the rucks this week.
“They’ve got a very competitive six and seven and they’re big men. If we’re in any way slow to get to that breakdown, they’re very big men to try to move so we have to make sure there’s no separation between ball carrier and our first arrivals,” McBryde said.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1nYJ6xI11Q/
Wales’ own breakdown tyro, Justin Tipuric, who was one of the best players on the park against Georgia, will have his work cut out for him against the Wallabies duo.
ADVERTISEMENT
“It’s invaluable to have someone like Justin in the ranks, he brings that air of calmness. He doesn’t say a lot but when he speaks it carries a lot of weight,” said McBryde.
“I know he didn’t get man-of-the-match award for the Georgia game but in my view he deserved it because with and without the ball I thought the decision making he did, he made with the ball in hand, defensively he was very good as well, and he offers quite a bit in set-piece, from a line-out point of view both in attack and defence.
“To have someone like Justin with the experience he’s got, encouraging him to share that with the group this week, it’s just great really and makes my role as a coach much easier.”
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has made four changes to his starting side ahead of Australia’s clash with Wales on Sunday. #RWC2019 #AUSvWAL https://t.co/E8LE1TJ3T0
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 27, 2019
Still, there’s no sign of Tipuric’s fellow loose forward, Ross Moriarty, being returned to the first-choice lineup anytime soon.
“[Moriarty] has trained well this morning,” McBryde revealed.
“Everybody realises what is at stake to take part in a match in the Rugby World Cup and that gives training an extra edge. It is great for us as coaches because we can take a step back and motivation is not an issue. Everybody realises the magnitude of this game against Australia and are keen to stake a claim.”
The match between Wales and Australia will kick off at 4:45PM JST on Sunday from Tokyo Stadium.
Wales: Liam Williams, George North, Jonathan Davies, Hadleigh Parkes, Josh Adams, Dan Biggar, Gareth Davies, Josh Navidi, Justin Tipuric, Aaron Wainwright, Alun Wyn Jones (c), Jake Ball, Tom Francis, Ken Owens, Wyn Jones. Res: Elliot Dee, Nicky Smith, Dillon Lewis, Aaron Shingler, Ross Moriarty, Tomos Williams, Rhys Patchell, Owen Watkin.
Warren Gatland is confident that he has the men at his disposal to take out the World Cup:
Comments on RugbyPass
It will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
1 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to comments