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Francis gunning for England revenge - 'Next weekend is a huge opportunity'

Tomas Francis

Tomas Francis says Wales will target improvements in every area of their game as they prepare for a quickfire return Test match against England.

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Wales’ opening World Cup warm-up clash ended in a 33-19 defeat at Twickenham. To make matters far worse, fly-half Gareth Anscombe suffered a serious knee ligament injury that has ruled him out of the tournament in Japan.

Anscombe joined No8 Taulupe Faletau (broken collarbone) in being sidelined from the competition, dealing Wales a second major injury blow in the space of 11 days.

But World Cup preparations continue at pace, with England arriving in Cardiff on Saturday and looking to inflict a first home defeat on Wales since they were beaten by New Zealand in November 2017.

Wales have reeled off 10 successive victories at the Principality Stadium since then, although their overall record 14-Test unbeaten run and hopes of becoming world rugby’s number one-ranked nation ended in south-west London.

“In the past 18 months, we’ve made very few unforced errors in this team and stuck to our processes,” said Wales and Exeter prop Francis. “(On Sunday), we either scored or dropped the ball, and we will go back and work on that. It’s stuff we can work on and fix.

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“Every area of our game is an area for improvement after Sunday, and that includes the scrum and lineout. England got the better of us as a pack, and if we are going to win the World Cup we are going to have to improve on those areas.

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“In the first half we weren’t good enough, and we know that. Now, it’s about how we react and move forward. It’s an opportunity gone to assert our dominance, but we have a chance to do that on Saturday. Next weekend is a huge opportunity for us as a squad.”

Reflecting on the world rankings scenario, Francis added: “Would it have been nice to be number one? Yes. But does it matter at this point? Not really.

“It was nice to have a run of winning games, but that doesn’t matter now, and being at the top in six weeks or so is the aim. It’s where you finish in the tournament (World Cup) that counts.

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“You always know that in your first Test match for a while it’s always going to be very physical. The first game of your pre-season is always very tough, and I guess we got caught a little cold.”

– Press Association

WATCH: Wales coach Warren Gatland and captain Alun Wyn Jones speak to the press following last Sunday’s defeat to England

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fl 36 minutes ago
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“He made history beyond the age of 50. History.”

He made history before the age of 50, why are you so keen to downplay Pep’s early career achievements? In 2009 he won the sextuple. No other manager in history had achieved that, and Pep hasn’t achieved it since, but here you are jizzing your pants over a couple of CL finals.


“If continuing to break records and achieve trophies isn't a metric for success”

Achieving trophies is a metric for success, and Pep wins fewer trophies as he gets older.


“He's still competing for a major trophy this year. Should he get it, it would be 8 consecutive seasons with a major trophy. Then the world club cup in the summer.”

You’re cherry picking some quite odd stats now. In Pep’s first 8 seasons as a manager he won 6 league titles, 2 CL titles, & 4 cup titles. In Pep’s last 8 seasons as a manager (including this one) he’s won 6 league titles, 1 CL title, & 2 (or possibly 3) cup titles. In his first 8 seasons he won the FIFA world club cup 3 times; in his last 8 seasons he’s won it 1 (or possibly soon to be 2) time(s). In his first 8 seasons he won the UEFA super cup 3 times; in his last 8 he won the UEFA super cup once. His record over the past 8 seasons has been amazing - but it is a step down from his record in his first 8 seasons, and winning the FA cup and FIFA club world cup this summer won’t change that.


Pep is still a brilliant manager. He will probably remain a brilliant manager for many years to come, but you seem to want to forget how incredible he was when he first broke through. To be clear - you said that Pep had gotten better with age by every metric. That was false!

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