'When he played for Wales against New Zealand, Steve Hansen asked who he was because he was so impressed with him'
Wayne Pivac feels “a big performance is coming” from his Wales players thanks to an increase in training intensity ahead of tackling England at Twickenham.
Wales’ Guinness Six Nations title hopes effectively disappeared on the back of successive losses to Ireland and France.
They have not suffered three defeats on the bounce in one Six Nations campaign since 2007, while it is eight years since they claimed an away win against England in the tournament.
It promises to be the toughest assignment of Wales’ Six Nations campaign so far, but head coach Pivac is relishing the challenge on Saturday.
“You’ve only got to listen to (Wales captain) Alun Wyn (Jones) during the week,” Pivac said.
“The intensity is there in his voice and everything he’s done in training. He has led from the front.
“The level of intensity has noticeably gone up in training, certainly in the live stuff, and it has been no holds barred.
“No one has been holding back. That tells me a big performance is coming.
“Clearly, they (England) have got a great record there – one we respect and one which tells us we will have to be at the peak of our powers and play well to win.
“With my background coming from New Zealand, we look at England like the Welsh do.
“They are a strong team, one of the world leaders and a very capable team, as we saw at the World Cup against the All Blacks and last week against Ireland.
“They put away two of the top teams in the world comfortably. There is a healthy respect, but it’s a game we are looking forward to – me included.”
Pivac has made four changes from the side beaten by France 12 days ago, calling up wing Liam Williams, scrum-half Tomos Williams, prop Rob Evans and number eight Josh Navidi.
Navidi’s selection ahead of 75 times-capped Taulupe Faletau is particularly eye-catching, with the Cardiff Blues player having recovered from a hamstring injury to make a first competitive appearance since mid-January.
Pivac added: “Josh Navidi is a fantastic player over the ball. The breakdown work that he does, his defensive work and ball-carrying.
“When he played for Wales against New Zealand (in 2017), Steve Hansen (then All Blacks coach) asked who he was because he was so impressed with him.
“He is a tough character and is someone that puts a lot of pressure on the opposition.
“If you look at the Six Nations match last year (against England), he played a massive role in that win for Wales and he plays well in big games.
“I touched on that All Blacks game a few years back. He has stood up and played in some very big matches for us, so we are confident he can do that again.”
– PA
Comments on RugbyPass
The URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to comments