The surprise blindside pick Wales are set to unleash on the French
Josh Navidi and Taulupe Faletau look set to be reunited in the Wales back row for the Guinness Six Nations clash against France on Friday, a combination that could also contain lock Seb Davies chosen at blindside. Navidi and Faletau have not played a Test match together since Wales saw their Grand Slam dream ended by France in Paris almost a year ago.
Number eight Faletau returned to international action after a lengthy injury lay-off when Wales lost to England at Twickenham ten days ago. And flanker Navidi, who was out for five months due to a shoulder problem, could now follow suit after making his comeback in Cardiff’s United Rugby Championship game against Ulster last week.
Wales head coach Wayne Pivac, meanwhile, is understood to be considering a role at blindside flanker for Davies, Navidi’s Cardiff colleague. Pivac names his team on Wednesday for the Principality Stadium encounter, with Faletau a key figure as Wales try to halt unbeaten France’s title and Grand Slam bid.
Victories over Wales – then England in Paris eight days later – would secure Les Bleus a first Six Nations clean sweep since 2010. “They are a team that is playing some really good stuff and they can hurt you from anywhere,” Faletau said. “We have seen it throughout the last year or so with the form they are in.
“The players they have got and how they are playing, it will be a tough challenge for our defence. They have got it all, really, and that is what you want to play against. You want to play against the best.
“I don’t see any weaknesses in that French squad. They challenge you wherever you look. The French, we have seen in the last year or so, there hasn’t been any implosions, so I think they have moved away from that and we expect the best France to turn up.”
Faletau was sidelined for seven months because of an ankle injury before returning in Bath’s Gallagher Premiership games against Wasps and Leicester and then earning a Wales squad recall. It was a long and frustrating period in the 31-year-old’s career, but it looked like he had never been away, given the all-round quality of his display against England.
“Looking back over my injuries, it’s when you get to the end of a timeline and then it (return) keeps getting pushed back,” he added. “That is when you kind of lose track of where you are and lose your head, sort of thing. I think throughout the seven months that I was out for, it was almost like a rolling two weeks. Every two weeks, it was go back two weeks and go again.
“I guess it is just learning from these experiences of coming back from injuries, and when you do kind of feel like it is too many setbacks, not to totally lose the plot. With the injuries I’ve had, they haven’t been that serious if that makes sense. They have been quite lengthy, but nothing major. I guess I haven’t had the experience of feeling an injury is going to be my last.”
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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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