What Pivac has been saying about return of coach he sacked last November
Wales boss Wayne Pivac has hailed Leigh Halfpenny as a “true professional” and a shining example to other players ahead of his 100th Test match appearance. Full-back Halfpenny will clock up three figures, 96 Tests in Wales colours and four for the British and Irish Lions, when he features against a Canada outfit coached by Rob Howley and Byron Hayward on Saturday.
Halfpenny will be joined in the starting XV by two uncapped players, Scarlets wing Tom Rogers and Dragons lock Ben Carter, while three more are on the bench in prop Gareth Thomas, back row forward Taine Basham and centre Ben Thomas. “It (100 Tests) is huge for any player,” Pivac said.
“In the modern game, with the brutality of the sport and for a guy his size. He is not the biggest bloke, but he looks after himself well. It speaks volumes of his professionalism, the way he recovers after each effort, the way he prepares himself mentally and physically for the next challenge.
“He is a good one for these young guys to get alongside in training, to see how a true professional operates, the time he puts into his body and the homework that he does. A guy like Tommy Rogers has had a bit to do with Leigh in club football, and with Jonah (Dragons wing Jonah Holmes) as well, who is in good form for his club, it is an exciting back-three.”
Wales are without ten players on British and Irish Lions duty in South Africa. That group includes late call-ups Adam Beard and Josh Navidi after captain Alun Wyn Jones and flanker Justin Tipuric suffered tour-ending injuries during the Lions’ victory over Japan three days ago.
There was a quick catch-up on Sunday morning in Edinburgh before they went their separate ways…#LionsRugbyhttps://t.co/uSrflBCyNQ
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Wales’ summer series of games sees them tackling Canada at the Principality Stadium, followed by two matches in Cardiff against Argentina, with crowds of just over 8,000 permitted. Joining Halfpenny and Davies in providing an experienced edge are the likes of scrum-half Tomos Williams, plus Dragons forwards Elliot Dee, Ross Moriarty and Aaron Wainwright. On Rogers and Carter, Pivac added: “There were obviously things that we saw in their club game that we liked, and they have progressed well in this environment.
“They have trained well and learned a lot in a short space of time. We think they are good to go. With a lot of these players, we don’t just want to see them in a training environment, we want to see them in a Test match. Five of them will get that opportunity this week.”
Wales will come up against two former members of their coaching staff, Howley and Hayward, this weekend with both now working for Canada. Howley, a long-serving member of Warren Gatland’s Wales coaching team, was sent home from the 2019 World Cup in Japan. He subsequently received an 18-month ban from rugby, half of which was suspended, for breaching betting rules.
Hayward, meanwhile, left his role as Wales defence coach last autumn after working alongside Pivac. Asked if it was good to see Howley back, Pivac said: “Yeah. You have got a guy who has that much experience, having been on Lions tours and coached Wales for a long period of time with a lot of good results behind him. “It’s sad to see anyone out of the game for any length of time when they still have something to offer.
“Byron has worked really hard to be at the level of the game that he was operating at. It was well-documented when he left (Wales job) that the chemistry just didn’t work at that point in time with this group, but you don’t become a bad coach overnight and Byron has done very well in his coaching career. I knew that he would bounce back from that, it was just about waiting for the right opportunity.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Absolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
97 Go to commentsHo hum.
97 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
97 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
97 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
97 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
97 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
97 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
97 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
97 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
97 Go to commentsI'm happy for the people of SA to get a second WC. And I mean that. I was very disappointed with this man's “stand on the hand” incident with Josh Van Der Flyer (Ireland). Ireland's downfall in the last WC was they did not rotate their first 15 as the head coach probably should have. That said, I'm happy for SA and genuinely hope it lifts the mood in their country. Ireland did beat them in the first match of the tournament. And before the trolls start trolling ….. please don't bother. Etzbeth said recently that the Irish players said after the match “see you in the final”…..this was actually wishing the SA team the best of luck in the rest, the Irish team were not dismissing the AB’s. This is what Etzbeth was implying. But he was wrong. I no longer live in Ireland. But I hope to see them lift that cup before I pass. Anyway, congratulations SA. 👍
12 Go to commentsMore bloody click bait. Dan Carter has said absolutely nothing. As he should do. Poor journalism again from a site that should know better
9 Go to commentsOh god please help these loosers get over it!!!! You lost. Doesn't matter how many times you dummies are gonna analyse the game, you still lost and we are still Rygby World Champions….get over it, you lost.
97 Go to commentsThe next Willie le Roux. SA are made not to use him.
3 Go to commentsDan has always been as controversial as tea with milk so we were never going to get any definitive answer. So DMac for the win.
9 Go to commentsGoodness. When are the All Blacks and New Zealand commentators going to stop complaining about how they could have won and just try to win next time 😂. In South Africa if you lose you get up and try again. Get over it.
97 Go to commentsHonestly, it doesn’t matter a whole lot. RSA has a ton of experienced talent in its leadership group. I am more interested in who is the new 8 man/8 men and the younger props. The captain may change but the system does not
1 Go to comments