The_Times__6_March_2020

the times | Friday March 6 2020 2GM 63

Sport

It is 2004 revisited. France are rebuild-
ing after a World Cup, they have won
their first three Six Nations matches
without hitting top gear and Scotland
are up next. And just like 16 years ago,
Pieter de Villiers is involved.
Then, the South Africa-born tight-
head prop was anchoring France’s
scrum. This time he is working for
Scotland, who had been without a
specialist scrum coach after Massimo
Cuttitta was jettisoned in 2015.
At times their shortcomings in that
area were exposed. But De Villiers, 47,
has added steel and solidity since he
was brought in for this year’s Six
Nations. Suddenly, unexpectedly, the
set piece is a strength.
In 2004 De Villiers had spoken of the
difference between the South African
and French scrum traditions. “South
Africa has always been very solid and
physical in the scrum, but in France
scrummaging is a lot more technical,”
he had said. “There’s a certain
individual craftsmanship about it.”

When he succeeded Warren Gatland as
head coach of Wales, Wayne Pivac was
under no illusion that his fellow New
Zealander would be a tough act to
follow. It was not only the impressive
list of achievements that Gatland had
built up in more than a decade in
charge, culminating in his third Six
Nations grand slam and a second
World Cup semi-final appearance last
year, but also the sense of theatre that
Gatland brought to the big occasions.
The build-up to a meeting between
Wales and England was invariably the
cue for Gatland to strut on to centre
stage in full make-up and dust off his
best pre-rehearsed lines, but Pivac
underlined yesterday that he will be
more inclined to play the straight man.
Whereas Gatland, before Wales
faced England in Cardiff last season,
lit the fuse for the weekend by
describing Kyle Sinckler as an
“emotional timebomb” and even
questioned England’s plans to travel
down the M4 towards Cardiff — “going
through Newport at 5pm on a Friday is
not the best thing to do” — Pivac was
keeping his powder dry as he
announced his team to play at
Twickenham tomorrow, expressing
nothing but admiration for Eddie
Jones’s side. “I thought England were
very, very impressive against Ireland,”
the 58-year-old said. “They controlled
that game from start to finish and
dominated in virtually all areas.
Judging them on that game, this is
going to be a big task.”
No big statements from Pivac, then,
but there were certainly some big
selection calls. In making four changes
to the side beaten by France in Cardiff
a fortnight ago, he has relegated
Taulupe Faletau, the evergreen No 8, to
the bench and chosen Josh Navidi,
normally a flanker, in his place. At
scrum half, Pivac has left out Gareth
Davies, 29, who has 53 caps to his name,
and opted instead for Tomos Williams,
25, who will make only his fourth
Six Nations start and has never played
against England before.
Davies is not even among the
replacements, where Rhys Webb
returns to the fold. “Tomos has been
playing well and we think at the
moment he edges it,” Pivac said.
“Webby comes on and brings a lot of

experience, communication and game

management. Hopefully he’ll close the

game out for us.”

For a game at Twickenham, these are

bold selections. Faletau, a staple

selection whenever he has been fit for

almost a decade, has missed out on the

starting line-up after picking up a

knock playing for Bath against Bristol

Bears on Sunday. Whereas England’s

players were all rested last weekend,

those Welsh players who ply their trade

over the border were obliged to turn out

for their clubs, an occupational hazard

Pivac is learning to deal with.

“[Faletau] started on Sunday and

hasn’t trained until today fully, so really

it’s counted against him,” Pivac said.

“He took a bump in that game. It’s just

one of the downsides of guys playing

outside Wales, having to play on the

Sunday before a Test match.”

sensed a change in the mood around

the camp, not least in the urgings of his

captain, Alun Wyn Jones. “You’ve only

got to listen to Alun Wyn during the

week,” Pivac said. “The intensity is

there in his voice and everything he’s

done, he’s led from the front. The level

of intensity has noticeably gone up in

training. That tells me a big perform-

ance is coming.”

After losing two of his first three

matches in charge, Pivac could do

with a step up in performance at

Twickenham. He has been in Wales

long enough to know that a season can

be salvaged for a coach by a victory over

England. He also knows that a third Six

Nations defeat will constitute a poor

first tournament in charge and will,

inevitably, prompt the first questions

over whether he is capable of following

in the sizeable footsteps left by Gatland.

French insight powering Scottish scrum

more tries than the opposition was

what mattered. Now, though, there is

an impression that Shaun Edwards, the

former Wales coach, has changed that

mindset.

“France have the advantage of having

finishers and X-factor players who can

get over the advantage line and finish

opportunities off, but yes, they do

seem to like to take time and

space away from opponents

and wait for errors to

happen,” De Villiers said.

“The French like us-

ing space and love the

disorganised side. When

structure is applied

those natural finishing

abilities come to the fore

because structure creates

opportunities. Fabien has got it

right: he’s still got talent but he’s

given them a structure.”

Scotland have engaged De Villiers on

a short-term contract until the end of

the Six Nations. However, he makes no

secret of the fact he would be happy to

stay on. It may be a clever piece of busi-

ness to get that contract nailed down.

Now De Villiers has chanced on

eager students in Scotland. “The players

I’ve walked in on are top-end players

whose work on and off the field is excel-

lent, whose work ethic is outstanding,”

he said. “The base was very solid.”

De Villiers’s insight could turn out to

be most valuable against France at Mur-

rayfield on Sunday. Technically

and culturally he has his fin-

ger on the pulse of French

rugby, and it is no harm

that he played alongside

Fabien Galthié, the

France head coach, and

Raphaël Ibañez, the

team manager.

“They have certainly

changed their approach a

bit to become a bit less

predictable and give less turn-

overs,” De Villiers said. “We’ll have

to front up to that but Scotland have

also proved to be very physical and to

have a good set piece so it will be a very

good battle.”

There was a time when France

thought defence was something for

Anglo-Saxons to worry about. Scoring

Alasdair Reid
Scottish Rugby Correspondent

Dan Biggar was another to

emerge bruised after playing for

Northampton Saints against Sara-

cens last Saturday, but he has

recovered sufficiently after

hyperextending his knee

to be named at fly half.

“He ran well today

and he’s been goal-

kicking,” Pivac said.

“Dan’s good to go.”

Rob Evans re-

places Wyn Jones

at loose-head prop

and Liam Williams

starts on the wing in

place of the injured

Josh Adams, despite

not having played since

suffering an ankle

injury at the World

Cup four months ago.

In this case, Pivac is relying on

Williams’s experience compensat-

ing for his lack of match activity.

George North has recovered from

a blow to the head to start on the

other wing.

This may be Pivac’s first

experience as head coach of

a Six Nations clash with

England, but he is well

aware of the significance of

the fixture for fans across

Wales.

During his successful

five-year spell in charge

of Scarlets before he

stepped up to inter-

national level, he used

to enjoy watching Six

Nations matches in the

pubs around Llanelli.

This week, he has

Pivac opts to keep his powder dry

John Westerby

Pivac, below, has made four changes to the side beaten by France and says that the intensity in training, led by his captain Jones, above, has increased significantly

BEN EVANS/HUW EVANS/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

Pepperell’s Masters hopes

drop after disqualification

Golf Eddie Pepperell thinks that the

manner of his disqualification from

the Qatar Masters was “a fair distance

away from common sense”.

Pepperell, 29, recorded a

level-par 71 in Doha, only to be

disqualified for signing for a lower

score than he had taken on the 17th.

His overall score was correct but a

second disqualification in his past six

European Tour events — he ran out

of balls in the third round of

November’s Turkish Airlines Open —

leaves Pepperell struggling to secure a

place at the Masters. He began the

week No 63 in the world and needs to

be inside the top 50 on March 30.

“My partner had me down for a five

on one hole where I made a six, and a

four on another, where I made three,”

Pepperell said. “I picked him up on it

and I changed the card to reflect the

fact I actually made a six on hole 11 as

opposed to a five, and a three on hole

16 as opposed to a four. I then

however mistakenly changed the 17th

hole, not the 16th hole. Quite

disappointing as I actually took the

time to change the original error, only

to make a costlier one myself.”

Scotland

v France

Sunday, 3pm

Murrayfield

TV: BBC One, 2.30pm

Radio: BBC 5 Live

Extra, 2.15pm

2

Games in a row Wales

have lost. They haven’t lost

three in a row in the Six

Nations since 2006 and

2007 when they lost

five on the bounce

Saunders lined up to take

on Álvarez in Las Vegas

Boxing Billy Joe Saunders has beaten

Callum Smith for the right to fight

Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez in Las Vegas on

May 2.

Saunders’s WBO super-

middleweight crown will be on the

line against the four-weight champion

last seen winning the WBO light-

heavyweight belt in November.

Saunders, 30, who turned

professional in 2009 and is unbeaten

in 29 fights, stands to earn $8 million

(£6.2 million) which will be a quarter

of what Álvarez will make through his

contract with the sports streaming

service DAZN.

Saunders did not look convincing in

his most recent fight, against Marcelo

Esteban Coceres. He reigned as a

middleweight world champion from

December 2015 to December 2017

and made three defences before

testing positive for a banned

substance in 2018.

Smith, the 29-year-old WBA

super-middleweight champion from

Liverpool, was also in the frame to

fight Álvarez but appears to have lost

out with an official announcement

believed to be imminent.