Daily Mail - 12.08.2019

Daily Mail, Monday, August 12, 2019

73

Fringe men eye

glory as they

pray for call

England have set their

sights on winning the World

Cup after ending Wales’

hopes of topping the world

rankings.

Coach Eddie Jones names

a squad of 31 today with

the fringe players who

starred at Twickenham

admitting that they face a

sleepless night but feeling

confident of England’s

chances in Japan.

‘as a collective, we can go

to this World Cup and be

successful,’ said fit-again

Jonathan Joseph, one of

many impressive perform-

ers at Twickenham. ‘I

believe this team is going

to peak at the perfect

time.’

Man of the match Billy

Vunipola, another player

who has been dogged by

injury, issued a frightening

warning to the rest of the

world. ‘I feel probably the

best I have for the last two

and a half years — the big-

gest challenge is mentally,’

said the no 8.

debutant lewis ludlam

was playing for northamp-

ton’s reserves at the start

of the season. asked if he

would sleep well ahead of

the announcement, the

rookie flanker said: ‘no.

not at all. It was surreal for

me. This time last year I

was fighting for a contract.

These boys have welcomed

me in over the last seven

weeks and I wanted to rip

in for them and do them

proud. It was a special

occasion.’

The head coach left with

a parting shot at World

Rugby, calling for consist-

ency from referees after

new Zealand lock Scott

Barrett was sent off for a

high shot in Saturday’s

defeat against australia.

Jones claimed that Wales

could have received two

red cards yesterday if refe-

ree Mathieu Raynal had

taken the same approach

to officiating.

‘I thought we saw two

instances today where that

could have happened,’ he

said. ‘I urge World Rugby,

although I don’t think they

do anything at great pace

do they, to get some

consistency in that area

because otherwise we

will have games being

destroyed by an inconsist-

ent official making a deci-

sion on a law that’s not

clear.’

NIK SIMON

at Twickenham

Wales fear Anscombe

could miss World Cup

WALES will pray that

Gareth Anscombe’s knee

injury does not rule him

out of the World Cup after

he hobbled off in the

33-19 defeat by England.

The fly-half, 28, was

substituted after just 34

minutes having tweaked

his right knee twice in

quick succession.

He later emerged on

crutches — an ominous

sight with the opening

game of the tournament

just six weeks away.

And Wales head coach

Warren Gatland said

Anscombe will be

assessed today, while

aiming a dig at Eddie

Jones’ decision to name

his final World Cup squad

this afternoon.

‘I wouldn’t want to be

naming my squad on

Monday, I can tell you

that!’ said Gatland.

‘I’ve spoken to the

physios. Gareth’s got to

get a scan. If it’s just a

strain of the ligament,

he’ll be out for a few

weeks. We’ll know more

details after the scan.’

The defeat ends Wales’

unbeaten run of 14

matches and means they

will not rise to No 1 in the

world rankings today.

‘It’s a nice accolade,’ said

Gatland, ‘but the biggest

prize is a couple of

months away in Japan.

‘Whoever wins the World

Cup is No 1 in the world.’

Gatland was disappointed

with the way his scrum

crumbled at Twickenham.

‘England did what they’re

good at. Their scrum was

excellent, they drove the

lineouts well and they

were pretty direct in the

way they played.

‘We’ve got some things

to tidy up on to negate

that. They’ve scored a try

from our errors.

‘We need to be more

accurate in attack. We

think those things are

pretty fixable. To stop

them getting momentum

at driven lineouts is

something we’ll work on

this week, the scrum as

well. That’s 90 per cent of

their game.’

3

WALES players suffered

their first Test defeats —

Adam Beard, Aaron

Wainwright and Dillon Lewis had

never before lost for their country.

IF BEN YOUNG’S late try had been

allowed, Wales would not only have

been denied No 1 in the world rankings,

but would have dropped to third.

Defeat by 14 points sees them stay

second, as England move up to fourth.

WORLD RANKINGS

1 New Zealand 89.04

2 Wales 88.89

3 Ireland 88.69

4 England 87.34

5 South Africa 86.83

6 Australia 84.41

7 Scotland 80.17

8 France 79.42

9 Japan 77.21

10 Fiji 76.98

ENGLAND’S FAST START

BILLY VUNIPOLA’s first try was scored

in less than four minutes to continue

England’s remarkable run of early

tries.

Opponent Mins Scorer Result

NZ (Nov 2018) 2 Ashton Lost

Japan (Nov 18) 4 Care Won

Australia (Nov 18) 3 May Won

Ireland (Feb 2019) 2 May Won

France (Feb 19) 2 May Won

Wales (Feb 19) 27 Curry Lost

Italy (Mar 19) 8 George Won

Scotland (Mar 19) 1 Nowell Draw

Wales (yesterday) 4 B Vunipola Won

70

PLAYERS capped by Eddie

Jones since he took charge of

England in 2016. Willi Heinz,

Lewis Ludlam, Joe Marchant and Jack

Singleton all made their debuts

yesterday. As head coach, Jones has

also picked 129 players in squads,

meaning there are 59 players that he

has not capped.

÷

HOW WALES HAD

TO SETTLE FOR

SECOND BEST

3

LUKE COWAN-DICKIE became just

the third England hooker to score

against Wales, after Dorian West

in 2003 and Phil Greening in 2000.

Capped: debutant Ludlam GETTY IMAGES

Knee injury: Anscombe

was on crutches BPI/REX

WILL KELLEHER

at Twickenham