Francis gets nod for French showdown

By Mark Stevens
18/10/19

Warren Gatland insists no stone has been left unturned ahead of Wales’ Rugby World Cup quarter-final with France in Oita on Sunday.

Head coach Gatland and his team have been given a major boost with outside-half Dan Biggar and centres Hadleigh Parkes and Jonathan Davies passed fit to play.

The duo will line-up in a powerful Welsh starting XV, which also includes Exeter Chiefs prop Tomas Francis and skipper Alun Wyn Jones, who will become the third most capped international rugby player of all time – joint with Ireland legend Brian O’Driscoll on 141 Tests for his country and the British and Irish Lions.

Looking ahead to the last eight meeting, Gatland said: “France have only played three games in this tournament. We’ve had a great record against them. We’ve won seven of the last eight games and the one we lost was the 100-minute game in Paris where they scored in the last minute.

“In saying that they’ve always been close games and this time we are going in with a lot of belief and a lot of self-confidence.

“We feel like we are playing at home a little bit and obviously the roof is closed on Sunday so the weather conditions shouldn’t deter from the rugby that’s played.

“We are feeling really positive about the way we’ve prepared. We had a great training session on Friday morning. There has been an edge to this week, the players have been incredibly professional in the way they’ve prepared, and the staff have done extra work to nail off every situation because we know it’s the knock-out stages now.

“The message we’ve been driving home to the players is you’ve got two choices here: we are either on the plane on Monday going home or we are here until the end of the tournament.”

Wales were knocked out of the 2011 World Cup in the semi-final stage by France before going out to South Africa four years later in the last eight.

And Gatland insists those experiences have helped make this current Wales side get better prepared for this Sunday’s clash.

“You have to come with a game plan that the players are very aware of and we have done that in the past,” he said. “If you look back to 2011, Ireland went into that quarter-final as big favourites but we prepared for that with a game plan to shut down Ronan O’Gara’s kicking.

“You have to bring things that are a little bit different and that teams are not expecting.

“For this game we have prepared well. It is about going in and making sure you are trying to systematically break down an opposition with the way you have planned the game.

“Those are the sorts of things you refer back to and experience from the past and other games. Often it is games that you have lost that are more significant in helping you prepare as coaches.”

WALES TEAM TO PLAY FRANCE

1. Wyn Jones (Scarlets, 19 Caps)
2. Ken Owens (Scarlets, 70 Caps)
3. Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs, 46 Caps)
4. Jake Ball (Scarlets, 39 Caps)
5. Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys, capt, 131 Caps)
6. Aaron Wainwright (Dragons, 16 Caps)
7. Justin Tipuric (Ospreys, 69 Caps)
8. Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues, 22 Caps)
9. Gareth Davies (Scarlets, 48 Caps)
10. Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints, 76 Caps)
11. Josh Adams (Cardiff Blues, 18 Caps)
12. Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets, 22 Caps)
13. Jonathan Davies (Scarlets, 79 Caps)
14. George North (Ospreys, 89 Caps)
15. Liam Williams (Saracens, 61 Caps)

16. Elliot Dee (Dragons, 26 Caps)
17. Rhys Carre (Saracens, 3 Caps)
18. Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Blues, 19 Caps)
19. Adam Beard (Ospreys, 17 Caps)
20. Ross Moriarty (Dragons, 38 Caps)
21. Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues, 13 Caps)
22. Rhys Patchell (Scarlets, 17 Caps)
23. Owen Watkin (Ospreys, 19 Caps)