Wales aiming to halt Harry Randall and avoid another 'slow start' at Twickenham
Wayne Pivac wants his side to be switched on from the first whistle against England
©PA
Manu Tuilagi's latest injury setback may have become the main narrative in the lead up to England's Six Nations meeting with Wales, but their selection at nine will certainly not go under the radar.
The exciting prospect that is Harry Randall has been handed another opportunity by Eddie Jones and the Bristol Bears livewire is now preparing for arguably the biggest game in his short career.
The selection of the former Hartpury University scrum-half suggests England will be looking for a high-tempo start at Twickenham against a Wales side which Jones believes are slow at getting out of the blocks.
Wayne Pivac's men did concede first in their victory over Scotland two weeks ago and the Wales boss hopes his team will be sharp from minute one on Saturday evening.
"The stats would back [Jones' comments] up," Pivac said. "We have talked about it ourselves that we have been slow to start. We haven't been the first team to score on a number of occasions, we've been second.
"England have got away to flyers in a number of Test matches in recent seasons, so the statement's correct and Eddie has a very quick player, you have to keep an eye on Harry all the time.
"He's exceptional around the base of those rucks. We are going to have to make sure our defence around the ruck is rock solid and our aim is not to give England a fast start."
Whilst England will be hoping Randall can offer them an extra spark this weekend, Wales' own ball of energy has been omitted from their squad.
Josh Adams and Alex Cuthbert are on the wings with Louis Rees-Zammit returning to Gloucester ahead of their meeting with Leicester Tigers in the Gallagher Premiership.
Jones' possible mind-games were in full swing once again as the England head coach suggested the 21-year-old might be injured, but Pivac hit back by revealing Rees-Zammit - who lit up the 2021 championships - was still developing as a player.
"Has Eddie got spies in our training sessions?! Louis did pick up an ankle injury in the Irish warm-up and that probably hasn’t been at 100 per cent.
"Louis is fit to play. Is he at 100 per cent with his ankle? Many, many rugby players play at not quite 100 per cent. I expect him to be playing at the weekend.
"We’ve gone with experience, we’ve gone with a bit of extra work rate across the park without the ball as well as with the ball.
"He [Louis] will be frustrated but I think if you look back to the first Six Nations (in 2020), he didn’t get any game time, he went away, listened to what the coaches had passed on, worked hard and then had a very successful Six Nations last year.
"We expect him to go and work hard on his game and come back stronger. There are a few things we've spoken to him about and also George Skivington, his Gloucester coach."
As Pivac alludes to, Wales have 'gone with experience' not only in the backs, but in the forwards department too. The welcome return of Taulupe Faletau means the Bath man slots straight in at No.8 with Ross Moriarty and Taine Basham either side of him in the back-row.
On Faletau, Pivac added: "He’s had a couple of games under his belt and he’s been training well in the week. He brings good footwork in the contact area and he’s a very knowledgeable player on the game. He brings a wealth of experience. He lifts other guys around him.”
The added nous of Faletau (91 caps) will know doubt aid skipper Dan Biggar, as the pair are just two of four players in Saturday's matchday squad to have experienced a Wales win at Twickenham.
Along with Tomas Francis and Cuthbert, the quartet were part of Warren Gatland's side who defeated England 28-25 in the 2015 Rugby World Cup and the current Wales boss knows the size of the challenge that awaits his team if they are to end their seven-year wait for a victory in London.
"History would show it's a hard place to go and get a result, but we're certainly going there with that aim in mind," said Pivac. "This is the game the fans want Wales to win.
"We know it means a lot to the public and it also means a lot to the players. We need to transfer the performance we had in front of our own supporters (v Scotland) to Twickenham."
Wales: Liam Williams; Alex Cuthbert, Owen Watkin, Nick Tompkins, Josh Adams; Dan Biggar (capt), Tomas Williams; Wyn Jones, Ryan Elias, Tomas Francis, Will Rowlands, Adam Beard, Ross Moriarty, Taine Basham, Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: Lake, G Thomas, Brown, S Davies, Morgan, Hardy, Anscombe, J Davies.
