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Tipuric on what rising teammate must do to cement his Wales place

By PA
(Photo by Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images)

Wales captain Justin Tipuric wants a mistake-free approach from his team to keep Georgia on the back foot in Saturday’s Autumn Nations Series clash.

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The countries meet at the Principality Stadium just under 11 months before a World Cup encounter in Nantes.

Georgia’s last two visits to Wales saw them prove dogged opponents as the home side prevailed 13-6 in 2017 and 18-0 two years ago.

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“They are big physical men, a very good set-piece team and they are just getting better and better all the time,” said Tipuric, who along with prop Dillon Lewis took no part in Wales’ final training run on Friday, although their absence was understood to be purely precautionary.

“Their players are playing in the top leagues now, and that is only going to make them better.

“They are a tough, nitty-gritty team, and if you let them into the game they are going to stay there all game.

“We have got to make sure we start well, do everything right and not let them into the game with our mistakes.”

Wales head coach Wayne Pivac has made six changes from the starting line-up that defeated Argentina last weekend.

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Wing Josh Adams’ return from injury is among them, with Scarlets back-row forward Josh Macleod making his Test debut at number eight, packing down alongside Tipuric and Jac Morgan.

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The 26-year-old was selected for Wales’ 2020 autumn squad, but then suffered a hamstring injury, before being picked to start against Scotland in last year’s Six Nations, only to rupture his Achilles tendon in training just a few hours later.

Tipuric added: “It is horrible what has happened to Josh in the past.

“But it just shows his resilience and his attitude and the type of person he is to just keep coming back, no matter what.

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“I am looking forward to going out there with him and Jac on Saturday.”

With Australia looming as Wales’ final autumn opponents next week, Pivac’s 2023 World Cup squad continues to take shape.

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But second row is one area where fierce competition sees the likes of Adam Beard, Will Rowlands, Ben Carter, Dafydd Jenkins, Christ Tshiunza and Alun Wyn Jones – rugby union’s world record cap holder – among those contesting places.

Rowlands is now out injured, with Carter and Beard starting against Georgia, but Exeter pair Tshiunza and Jenkins are making rapid strides, although they will not be available against Australia due to that game falling outside World Rugby’s autumn Test window.

Pivac said: “For Ben, he is the young guy in the mix, with Daf coming through, and they are the future.

“The few opportunities he (Carter) has had, he needs to back them up with a solid performance on the weekend.

“He is just a very honest player. He does not say a lot at training, he just gets stuck in and rolls his sleeves up.

“That is what you need in the engine room from time to time, that sort of player who gets on with his business.

“We are trying to build depth, and that has been going on since we took over. If we don’t get many injuries between now and the World Cup, the depth will be quite nice.”

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Tom 1 hour ago
Will Bristol's daredevil 'Bears-ball' deliver the trophy they crave?

Also a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.


I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.


I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.


Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.


“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”

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