Wales Rugby World Cup: Alun Wyn Jones revenues to the starting line-up after improving from a shoulder injury to win his 150th Test cap, spreading the record that he holds. The Welsh legend has been on the hobbies since late October when he hurt the injury against New Zealand in the Autumn Nations Series.
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Jones had two processes – and most medical forecasts were that he would miss the entire Six Nations – but he is back ahead of timetable, as he was for the British and Irish Lions against South Africa last summer following shoulder worry, and partners Adam Beard in the second-row.
Fly-half Dan Biggar, who took over as captain from Jones for the Six Nations, recalls that role and becomes the seventh Welshman to win 100 caps for his country after Jones, Gethin Jenkins, Stephen Jones, George North, Martyn Williams, and Gareth Thomas. Asked about Jones’ forecasts of going to his fifth World Cup in 18 months, Pivac said: “I hope so because we have contracted him that distant.
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“There was never any question in my mind that he would unless there was injury. He has to maintain form and be selectable.
“Certainly, he and I have the understanding that is his target, that is what he is going towards and we’ve certainly discussed that.
“He has been with us a few weeks and we’ve monitored him. He has trained very well, ticked all the boxes.
“To be playing 150 Test matches for your country, something no one else on the planet has ever done, just shows he is a special person.”
Pivac paid tribute to Biggar, who has excelled for Wales during the Six Nations and enjoyed the captaincy role.
“He is a champion, isn’t he?” the coach added. “Dan is somebody that demands high-quality training from himself and his teammates.
“He leads by example and is everything you want in a leader and a good number 10 in terms of managing and running the game.
“To play 100 games, it shows resilience, and I am really pleased that he gets to do it in front of a home crowd.”
Biggar captains a team showing seven vicissitudes following the 13-9 defeat against title and Grand Slam-chasing France last Friday.
Alun Wyn Jones
Jones apart, other players called up are full-back Johnny McNicholl, wing Louis Rees-Zammit, cente Uilisi Halaholo, scrum-half Gareth Davies, hooker Dewi Lake and prop Dillon Lewis. Players plummeting out include Liam Williams, Alex Cuthbert, Jonathan Davies, Ryan Elias and Will Rowlands.
A bonus-point victory for Wales over the Azzurri in Cardiff could see them claim a third-place finish, depending on how England and Scotland fare in their final games.
Wales won 42-0 when Italy last visited the Welsh capital and their opponents have lost 36 successive Six Nations Tests since toppling Scotland at Murrayfield in February 2015.
Pivac said: “We would love to (finish third). It would be a great way to finish.
“We’ve got to get a job done on Saturday and then we will sit and wait and see how the other results go.
“Mathematically there is an opportunity to do that and we will certainly be trying to do our bit by getting the win at home.
“We want to attack. We want to create scoring opportunities, which we did against France four or five times, which we’ve been through in the review process.
“We weren’t clinical enough. We want to continue that theme of creating chances, but we want to make sure we make good decisions and finish teams off when we get into that position.”
Wales’ player of the year on verge of quitting Welsh rugby amid a freeze on new regional contracts
Wales Rugby World Cup: The first-choice Wales lock is out of the agreement at the end of the season and there is currently a restriction on offering new contracts in Wales. Will Rowlands is on the edge of quitting Welsh rugby with Bath the front sprinters for his signature. To know more about Wales Vs Australia Tickets click here.
The 31-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and is a board for a host of Gallagher Presidency clubs. Wales Online understands Rowlands is unfulfilled at the current climate in Welsh rugby with the four professional sides powerless to offer new contracts due to an embargo on ratification players for next season.
The Professional Rugby Board has been locked in talks for months in an effort to thrash out a long-term backing deal for the professional arm of the men’s game in Wales. A deal is very close to being signed off, but it is unspoken the numbers involved will allow the regions to live rather than thrive.
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As a result, a number of players in Wales are unfortunate with their salary banding, and Rowlands falls into this group. No deal has been signed yet, and the Dragons are frantic to hold onto the Wales lock, but a change back across the Severn for Rowlands looks progressively likely with Bath having pushed ahead of other English clubs in the race for his signature.
Should he opt to reappearance to the Premiership, where he spent seven seasons playing for Wasps, it would spell an end to his international career with Rowlands now well below the 60 caps obligatory to carry on behalf of Wales while plying his trade outside of the four areas.
Whoever is coaching Wales after the Rugby World Cup 2023 will be frantic to have Rowlands at their removal given the lack of depth in this area. Rowlands has been a expose since making his Test debut against France in 2020, quickly founding himself as Wales’ first choice second-row. At the end of last period, he was named Wales’s men’s player of the day by the Welsh Rugby Writers Association.
Once a deal between the WRU and the four areas gets signed off, the Dragons will move heaven and earth to try to keep Rowlands at Rodney Parade, but it may well be a circumstance of too little too late.
Whom Wales will really have to beat to spread the Rugby World Cup final next year
Here’s the road to Paris for Wayne Pivac’s squad
Wales coach Wayne Pivac has made it clear that the last goal is winning the Rugby World Cup in France next year. So what precisely needs to happen for that dream to become a realism? Who would Wales have to beat to get to the final in Paris and give themselves a shot at the Webb Ellis cup? Here’s the road map.
Group stage
To start with, Wales would need to development from their group. They are in Pool C along with Australia, Fiji and Georgia. That’s a real deja vu scenario as those three were all group adversaries in Japan back in 2019.
There will be one new team on panel, however. That’s because the pool will be finished by the addition of either the USA, Portugal, Hong Kong or Kenya. Those four republics will lock horns in a round robin play-off in Dubai in November, with the final empty spot at the Rugby World Cup 2023 up for grabs.
In order to development to the knock-out stage, Wales would have to finish in the top two in the pool. Realistically, that means they could only afford to lose one of their four competitions. They kick off their campaign against the Fijians in Bordeaux on Sunday, September 10 next year, while the possibly pivotal meeting with the Wallabies will take place in Lyon a fortnight advanced. To know more about
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Quarter-finals
If Pivac’s squad do make it through, they would meet a side from Pool D in the last eight. That unit is made up of England, Argentina, Japan, Samoa and tournament debutants Chile. Eddie Jones’ England will be favourites to win the group, although it won’t be plain marine.
Should Wales top Pool C, they will meet the Pool D runners-up in the neighborhood-finals. Most people would imagine that to be the Pumas or the Japanese. If they finish second, then that sets up the very real option of a huge showdown with the old enemy England. They would play their last eight competition at the Stade Velodrome in Marseilles on the weekend of October 14-15.
Semi-finals
Now this is where it starts to get a bit complex. If Wales were to reach the last four, as they did in Japan in 2019, their adversaries would hinge both on their own route and what occurs in the other side of the draw. The likelihood is it would be one of ruling champions South Africa, hosts France, New Zealand or Ireland.
Those are the top four flanks in the world rankings at the moment. But, due to the competition format, two of them will miss out on the semifinals. That’s because the sprouts were based on how the rankings looked at the start of 2020, a decision prejudiced by the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time, Wales were reigning Six Nations Grand Slam winners and ranked fourth.
It meant they were among the top kernels when the draw was made in December 2020. That, in turn, means they would avoid the present top four until the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup. Those semis will be theatrical at the Stade de France on October 20 & 21.
The Final
Well, it would be nice wouldn’t it? Should Pivac’s custodies make it all the way, then it could be one of half a dozen teams they meet in Paris on the evening of Saturday, October 28, with England and Australia both possibly in the mix along with the present top four in the world – the Irish, Les Bleus, the Springboks and the All Blacks.
If Wales were to get this far, it would be their best exertion in a World Cup campaign, eclipsing their third-place finish at the inaugural competition in 1987, along with their two losing semi-finals in 2011 and 2019. And once you are in the final, who distinguishes? So there you have it. As Pivac has continuously said, “Judge me on the World Cup”.
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