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The bold prediction Wales have made about Christ Tshiunza
By PA
Wales boss Wayne Pivac has described Exeter prospect Christ Tshiunza as a big player for the future ahead of an Autumn Nations Series that could see him put down a World Cup marker. The head coach capped 20-year-old Tshiunza during last season’s autumn Tests, making his debut as a replacement against Fiji in Cardiff.
The versatile back-five forward has continued on an upward curve, making prominent contributions during Exeter’s current Gallagher Premiership campaign, and that progression was highlighted through a blistering two-try display, including the match-winning score, when Exeter beat Harlequins 43-42 last month.
“People like Christ we have had in the environment before and he has done well coming off the bench in two Tests,” explained Wales boss Pivac. “He has then gone and built on that for his club and we know a lot more about him. I was down in Exeter last week and we have a lot of dialogue with the English coaches who are coaching our players.
“He is making great progress at club level. They have got a great setup there, a great coaching team, and he is learning a lot. You can see that in his game. Christ is a lot more confident than when he first came in here. He is really maturing and developing nicely. He is going to be a big player for the future, definitely.”
It would be no surprise to see Tshiunza, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo but moved to Wales twelve years ago, feature in Wales’ matchday 23 against New Zealand on November 5. Argentina, Georgia and Australia then follow the All Blacks on Wales’ autumn schedule, so opportunities could present themselves for a player whose ability to feature in the second row or back row makes him an invaluable asset.
Pivac added: “It’s just great to see the development and the evolving of these players. It bodes well, not only for the World Cup next year - hopefully, we get a great pool of players without too many injuries for that - but looking through to 2027, there is a core of young guys there to take the team forward. What we have to do is learn from past World Cups and make sure we have as much depth as we possibly can. We have done that over the last three years, and now it is about trying to settle on a squad.”
Pivac’s back row resources appear particularly strong, galvanised by a fit-again Justin Tipuric, who has been named captain for the autumn and is poised for a first Wales appearance in 19 months due to a serious shoulder injury that saw him miss all of last season. “Justin has, like a number of players, suffered a serious injury in the last 18 months and done exceptionally well to work hard to get back to this level of the game,” Pivac said.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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