By Paul Jones
Wayne Pivac is to urge Louis Rees-Zammit to join a Welsh region in order to make the most of his Wales career.
Wales coach Pivac has left his Lions wing out of the team to face England at Twickenham on Saturday, having cited a combination of form, injury and analysis of the opposition.
But Pivac expects Rees-Zammit to feature for his club, Gloucester, away at Leicester just a couple of hours before the Six Nations clash he has been jettisoned from.
If the Penarth-born player was not based in England then we would be rested this weekend in preparation for a possible recall against France in a fortnight.
But the 21-year-old – who was the brightest attacking threat Wales possessed last year – has a contract with Gloucester that is understood to run until 2024.
Asked if he was keen on Rees-Zammit playing for a Welsh region, Pivac said: : “Definitely. It’s certainly the ideal situation to have your whole squad for the whole tournament.
Wayne Pivac is set to make a huge selection call by leaving Louis Rees-Zammit out of Wales’ team to face England.
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) February 23, 2022
“We know that’s not going to be the case when we select the squad initially and we work with the players we’ve got.
“Training alters a little bit because you don’t have the same personnel, but certainly selection is going on form. Louis is fit to play. Is he at 100 per cent with his ankle?
“Many, many rugby players play at not quite 100. I expect him to be playing at the weekend.”
As if to underline the benefits of playing for a Welsh region – and therefore be available purely to Wales for the whole of the tournament – Pivac has also dropped Bristol Bears’ Callum Sheedy and gone, instead, for Gareth Anscombe of the Ospreys on the Wales bench.
That leaves just three players in Pivac’s squad who play their rugby in England – captain Dan Biggar, centre Nick Tompkins and returning No.8 Taulupe Faletau, who has signed to join Cardiff next season.
Pivac added: “It’s a tough call on Louis, but one we think is the right call. He’s obviously disappointed.
“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.
“He knows what they are and he’ll work very hard.”
Taulupe Faletau and Josh Adams are both recalled to the Wales starting XV as Wayne Pivac names his side to face England in the #GuinnessSixNations #ENGvWAL
— Guinness Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 24, 2022
Pivac expects continued improvement in his team’s performance level when the reigning champions tackle England.
A fifth successive Six Nations defeat at Twickenham would effectively end Wales’ hopes of a successful title defence after losing their opening game against Ireland.
“The longer you have with the players, things should improve,” Pivac said.
“We are not bringing in new things each week, it’s little tweaks here and there and we expect improvement.
“The big challenge for us is to have that same attitude and the same willingness to throw ourselves around the park like we did against Scotland (Wales won 20-17) in front of 70,000-odd mainly Wales fans, to do that on the road in a hostile environment with mainly English supporters.
“One of the big challenges we’ve talked about during the week is being able to compete with the English pack.
“It is a big pack, and it’s making sure we are disciplined and don’t give them too many inroads with their line-out, and obviously they’ve got a pretty good scrum.
Tuilagi gets back to fitness and plays for club then joins England and always get injured…… Hmmmm I wonder why #ENGvWAL https://t.co/GbXzxKueqH
— (@sam1hufton) February 25, 2022
“It’s a big challenge for us up-front, and we need to back that up across the whole XV.
“In the Ireland game we didn’t have a lot of possession, and when we did, we were under pressure because we weren’t winning collisions and our discipline didn’t back it up.
“That was always going to be a tough day at the office, but I thought there were improvements against Scotland.”
Although Wales beat England at Twickenham in the 2015 World Cup, they have not claimed a Six Nations win there since 2012.
But any hope of a successful title defence hinges on them ending that sequence this weekend after victory over Scotland last time out put them back in the mix for silverware.