68
(^) Daily Mail, Monday, August 19, 2019
68 RUGBY WORLD CUP COUNTDOWN
E
NGLAND and Wales
need to avoid each
other for as long as
possible now. That
is the most impor-
tant lesson to take from
their World Cup warm-up
double-header, which
concluded in Cardiff on
Saturday.
With the global hierarchy in a
state of flux, everyone is searching
for clues about what this month’s
phoney war results mean in the
bigger picture as a form guide for
the World Cup.
The short answer is that they
don’t mean much, but one thing is
quite clear — the cross-border foes
who locked horns under a roof in
the Welsh capital would be best
advised to dodge another indoor
encounter in the southern
Japanese city of Oita.
That is where they could well
find themselves on the weekend of
October 20-21, for the World Cup
quarter-finals. It would surely
suit Eddie Jones’s and Warren
Gatland’s teams to be kept apart.
The last eight is too soon for
another high-stakes instalment of
this rugby rivalry, for all the parti-
san passion it would generate.
England’s victory at Twicken-
ham and Wales’s win in Cardiff
lacked the resonance of Six
Nations results, but nonetheless
provided certain pointers.
One is that when any Red Rose
team operates at a fervent peak of
intensity, their power can be
mighty hard for their neighbours
to repel. The other is that Dan
Biggar is a canny conductor who
contributed to England’s World
Cup demise four years ago and is
capable of repeating that feat.
These old enemies will know that
the best solution to the threat they
pose to each other is to defer the
day when it must be addressed.
The answer is to finish top of
difficult World Cup pools. England
will expect to trump Tonga, the
United States and struggling
Argentina before a showdown
against France in Yokohama on
October 12 to determine whether
they qualify for the knockout
phase in first place or second.
Unless Fiji cause a series of
upsets in Pool D, England will go
to Oita to face Wales or Australia.
They won’t admit it, but they’d
probably rather be lining up
against the Wallabies, who they
have beaten six times out of six
under head coach Jones.
Australia suffered a backlash on
Saturday in Auckland, having had
CHRIS FOY
Rugby Correspondent
at the Principality
Stadium
13
WALES
Tr y: North.
Con: Biggar.
Pens: Biggar, Halfpenny.
6
ENGLAND
Pens: Ford 2.
WALES: Halfpenny 6.5; North 8,
J Davies 6, Parkes 7 (Watkin 75min),
Adams 6.5; BIGGAR 8.5 (J Evans 75),
G Davies 6 (A Davies 61, 6); Smith 6
(W Jones 47, 6), Owens 8, Francis 6
(Lewis 47, 6); Ball 6 (Dee 66), A Jones 7;
Wainwright 8 (Shingler 41, 6), Moriarty 6,
J Davies 5 (Navidi 24, 7).
ENGLAND: Daly 6; Watson 7, Joseph 6,
Francis 7 (Farrell 52, 6), Cokanasiga 5;
Ford 6 (Tuilagi 61, 5), Heinz 6 (Youngs 47, 6);
Genge 7.5 (Marler 45, 6), Cowan-
Dickie 6.5 (George 45, 7), Cole 7.5
(Sinckler 61, 6); Launchbury 6 (Kruis 54, 5),
Itoje 6.5; Lawes 6, B Vunipola 7, Ludlam 7
(Singleton 76).
Sin Bin: Watson (31).
Attendance: 73,931.
MATCH FACTS
England
need to
dodge
a Wales
reunion
Biggar & Co pose threat
if sides meet in last eight
the temerity to thrash the All
Blacks seven days earlier. Their
36-0 capitulation at Eden Park sug-
gests that despite recent signs of a
revival, Michael Cheika’s side
remain brittle when the heat is on.
Jones made that point in the
aftermath of his team’s defeat.
‘I watched that game with great
interest,’ he said of the Bledisloe
Cup mismatch.
‘The psychology was reversed.
Australia, the previous week, had
everything to play for. They were
free. They were tough. They played
aggressively. This week they had
to cope with expectation. The
story of the week was that the All
Blacks in Auckland are unbeata-
ble. You’ve got to be able to cope
with that and they struggled.’
Jones was also in amateur
psychology mode when he
responded to Wales’ elevation to
No 1 in the world rankings: ‘They’re
favourites for the World Cup so
they have to cope with that.’
Jones knows that’s not true.
Gatland knows that’s not true.
Even the most ardent Welsh fans
know that is not true.
New Zealand remain the bench-
mark and the tournament favour-
ites. The All Blacks last lost to
Wales in 1953. If the two current
teams played each other 10 times,
one Welsh victory would still be
greeted as an upset, whatever the
rankings say.
But there is no escaping that
Wales and other nations have
closed the gap on the winners of
the last two World Cups. Kiwi aura
has been eroded. Japan should
stage a classic tournament.
England and Wales can challenge
strongly. They are both capable of
reaching the semi-finals, at least, if
they avoid each other in Oita.
Despite the majesty of France’s
32-3 victory over Scotland in Nice
on Saturday, Gatland, given the
choice, would surely prefer a quar-
ter-final against Jacques Brunel’s
erratic side rather than Jones’s.
Wales will go to the Far East
without Taulupe Faletau and
Gareth Anscombe, but Biggar is a
masterful deputy at No 10 and
captain Alun Wyn Jones continues
to excel as a freakishly relentless
and influential figure.
When England’s third-quarter
revival ground to a halt on Satur-
day, the lock forward’s contribution
was a major factor. England’s maul,
such a potent weapon at Twicken-
ham, was nullified this time.
They were beaten on the floor
and will gladly welcome back their
specialist opensides, Tom Curry
and Sam Underhill, who are
expected to be fit for the home fix-
ture against Ireland on Saturday.
Yet again, Jones’s team gave
away needless penalties, which
scuppered their second-half come-
back. But he will take comfort
from knowing that several key men
are being re-integrated, including
captain Owen Farrell, Jamie
George and Manu Tuilagi.
Anthony Watson is looking sharp
after his long injury lay-off. His
assurance under the high ball
means England should
consider switching him
to full back, with Elliot
Daly on the wing.
For now, Wales are
more settled than their
neighbours, but for the
best of British con-
tenders, World Cup
hopes would be
enhanced by
going their
separate ways.