Pivac Tests Players For ‘23 World Cup

The 2023 Rugby World Cup is the target of Wales head coach Wayne Pivac.

He told the Tivyside Advertiser that he is using the November Test matches against South Africa, Fiji and Australia to test the potential of his squad.

On October 30 they played the All Blacks and got a 56-14 thrashing. But last Sunday, they bounced back to lose narrowly 23-18 to South Africa.

Next Monday morning (Fiji time) the Welsh face the Flying Fijians in Cardiff.

Pivac, who was a former Flying Fijians head coach said he was excited by the challenge, and believes it will be a good yardstick to measure his team looking ahead to the RWC in France.

“The original thoughts on this November series was that we wanted to tighten down on the players and really drill down to 40-45 players from here on to the World Cup,” he said.

“But as we’ve seen with the injuries we have had, and players who are unavailable, we’re going to look at more players than we anticipated.

“Also it’s a great opportunity for those players and that’s the way we’re looking at it. The trick now is getting everyone fit and healthy at the same time, as long as that happens at the World Cup I’ll be really happy.”

Pivac is left with a hard decision on whether to play the new players against the Flying Fijians and rest his best players for the Australia match.

According to Wales Online, the Flying Fijians are dangerous and should not be taken lightly.

Wales’ possible line-up against Fiji:

1.Wyn Jones, 2. Bradley Roberts, 3. WillGriff John, 4. Will Rowlands, 5. Ben Carter, 6. Shane Lewis-Hughes, 7. Thomas Young, 8. Seb Davies, 9. Gareth Davies, 10. Rhys Priestland, 11. Owen Lane, 12. Johnny Williams, 13. Willis Halaholo, 14. Louis Rees- Zammit, 15. Liam Williams

Feedback:  leonec@fijisun.com.fj