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.
Wales Rugby World Cup
“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.
Rugby World Cup
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
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here.
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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