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Insider knowledge of Edwards' system could play to Wales' advantage says scrumhalf

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Gareth Davies is planning to give Shaun Edwards a taste of his own medicine when the former Wales defence coach returns to Cardiff with France next week.

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Edwards spent 12 years in Wales as Warren Gatland’s lieutenant, a period of sustained success which brought four Six Nations titles, three Grand Slams and two World Cup semi-finals.

In that time, Edwards forged a reputation as one of the best defence coaches in world rugby – and Davies was a major beneficiary of his tactical know-how.

Davies says he got an insight into reading plays and mastered the art of the interception to score memorable lung-bursting tries.

Continue reading below…

WATCH: Jim Hamilton discusses the affects Shaun Edwards will have on the French team’s hope at future success.

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Among such scores were his 2018 Six Nations try against Scotland in Cardiff and the decisive 60-metre effort against Australia at the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

“It was doing a lot of analysis work, seeing how different teams play,” Scarlets scrum-half Davies said of Edwards’ approach.

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“I’d have a couple of chats with him and he’d tell me what he’d expect the opposition to throw at us, so I could pop into the front line every now and again and try and pick a few passes off.

“He was right quite a lot of the time. I’ve had a couple of intercepts from the analysis work I used to do with him.

“I do a lot of that stuff myself now, so hopefully I can pick one off against the French.”

Edwards joined France after Wales’ fourth-placed World Cup finish in Japan.

He said he had “no choice” but to accept France’s offer of a four-year contract over the two-year deal on the table from the Welsh Rugby Union.

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“We were a little bit disappointed he left us, but we’ve had Byron (Hayward) coming in and doing a great job,” Davies said.

“I think everyone knows Shaun pretty well, he’s a world-class defence coach.

“It’s a big focus for us now leading up to the French game on how we can break that defence down.

“We know it’s pretty hard to break down as it’s a good defensive policy he’s got. So we’ll be doing a lot of work in training now.”

Davies was Wales’ first-choice scrum-half at the World Cup, but injury cost him his place at the start of the 2020 Guinness Six Nations.

Tomos Williams has started the first two games against Italy and Ireland, although Davies played the final half-hour of Saturday’s 24-14 defeat in Dublin.

If he does start against France on Saturday week to win his 53rd cap, the 29-year-old will be up against Toulouse star Antoine Dupont.

“He’s probably one of the most in-form players in the world,” Davies said of Dupont.

“He’s playing with a lot of confidence and seems to be making the right decisions all the time, which is an important area for a scrum-half.

“Whoever plays – whether it’s me, Webby (Rhys Webb) or Tomos – I’m sure we’ll have to be at the top of our game to keep him quiet.”

PA

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EllenMoody 3 hours ago
Great moments in Lions tour history – JPR’s drop goal and the All Blacks' brutal revenge

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JWH 5 hours ago
'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

Do you hear yourself? Do you have any concept of world view? Have you tried looking into why people call Ireland ‘arrogant’? Obviously not.


We started calling you arrogant when you called our captain a ‘shit Richie McCaw’. In New Zealand. On our turf. Don’t think that kind of behaviour really calls for respect, does it.


NZ don’t really talk ourselves up, if anything the rugby does it for us. No kiwi goes in the media and says: ‘We are gonna win the RWC’. However, I have found many instance of IRISH media saying that the Irish should win, without a doubt. THAT is disrespectful.


The All Blacks have played good rugby, even some of the best rugby ever, at many points in history, but I don’t think you could find a single instance of one of those players, or the NZ media, saying that they should whitewash their opponents. Ever.


Now, onto your analysis. Ireland DID choke the QF. They beat the champions, they were ranked first coming into it, a lot of players at the peaks of their powers. Its hard to say that they didn’t choke. Obviously, their preparation was just not as good as NZ, and thats all there really is to it.


If Ireland had repsected that ABs team and that QF more, maybe they would’ve prepared properly for it and won. But they didn’t.


Maybe if Ireland had won their QF last RWC, they wouldn’t have to be in the same pool as SA and Scotland. I mean, its called a draw for a reason. NZ got third last RWC, so of course they should get a reasonable pool, and they were ranked pretty highly too. If you want to talk about easy pools, look no further than Pool 3 with England, Australia, Fiji, and Georgia I think?


Now, obviously you don’t remember how that QF ended, so I’ll go ahead and rectify that. Ireland reclaimed the ball off kickoff and marched for 20ish phases into the opposition half. Savea then won a turnover, but the referee refused to give it, so play went on. Finally, at the NZ 22, after not giving up a single penatly in 25 phases of hard defense, Sam Whitelock, the most capped All Black of all time, wins the game with an incredible steal.


Now, NZ players having a go at Ireland. Do you cry when you get hit after making the first swing? We all know Sexton is a prick on the field, its just the truth. And Ioane never backs down from a clash, so he thought he should humble a player who has never won an international knockout game who thought he was all that. Don’t really see the issue, its poetic justice really.

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