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Why Wayne Pivac has every confidence in Liam Williams after 20-week layoff

(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Wales head coach Wayne Pivac says Liam Williams and Josh Navidi are “ready to go” in Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations clash against England following lengthy injury lay-offs.

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Scarlets wing Williams has not played since Wales beat World Cup quarter-final opponents France on October 20, suffering an ankle problem during training just a few days later. Back-row forward Navidi last featured on the pitch in mid-January before a subsequent hamstring issue laid him low.

But both players will start at Twickenham, with Williams replacing an injured Josh Adams and Navidi preferred to 75 times-capped number eight Taulupe Faletau, who is on the bench. “The key was to get enough volume into them,” said Pivac, who has also called up scrum-half Tomos Williams instead of Gareth Davies and selected prop Rob Evans over Wyn Jones.

“We’ve done that, and we think they are both ready to go. They’ve put in a lot of hard work to get to the start line this weekend. They are both very experienced players and they know their bodies as well as anyone. We are confident they can do a job for us.”

Wing George North and fly-half Dan Biggar, meanwhile, are both fit and retain their places following Wales’ defeat against France on February 22. North failed a head injury assessment during that game, but he has passed all return-to-play protocols and also been independently assessed by a concussion expert.

(Continue reading below…)

Wales coach gives his views on the coronavirus outbreak affecting the Six Nations

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Biggar has recovered after going off with a knee injury in his club Northampton’s loss to Saracens last weekend. Reflecting on the changes to his pack, Pivac added: “Wyn has had all the starts so far. He’s had a hip flexor (problem) and he hasn’t trained for about 10 days, and that has counted against him.

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“Rob had a pretty good experience against England in the Six Nations last year, and he is chomping at the bit for an opportunity. Taulupe started on Sunday (for Bath against Bristol) and hasn’t trained fully until today. That has counted against him. He took a bump in the game on Sunday.

“That’s just one of the downsides to guys playing outside of Wales, having to play on a Sunday before a Test match. We think it’s better this weekend for him to come off the bench and have a smaller part in the game.”

Wales last beat England in the Six Nations at Twickenham eight years ago, and defeat on Saturday would make it three successive losses in one tournament for the first time since 2007. It is also the first occasion that new Wales supremo Pivac will have opposed England head coach Eddie Jones in the international arena.

“He is a fantastic coach,” Pivac said. “His track record speaks for itself. I find him one of the game’s great characters, and I am really looking forward to it and I’m looking forward to catching up with him afterwards. We’ve prepared as well as we can. We’ve got a good side taking the field.

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“We are going there to try and improve each week, improve on the French performance which, apart from the scoreline, we did well in most areas of the game. I thought they (England) were very impressive against Ireland. Very impressive. They controlled that game from start to finish, dominating in virtually all areas.

“They wouldn’t have been happy with that first half against France, but since then, there was a bit of weather in Edinburgh which made it difficult. But judging them on that Ireland game, this is going to be a big task.”

– Press Association 

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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