Wales have attempted to allay fears Dan Biggar will not be fit to face England at Twickenham on Saturday. Alun Wyn Jones was unable to guarantee Biggar would line up in the No 10 jersey because “I’m not a doctor”, but the Wales captain said on Friday that he fully expects the fly-half to play.
Biggar sustained a knee injury when playing for Northampton last weekend and though Wales have repeatedly expressed confidence he would be fit to face England, the management staff were giving him as much time as possible to prove his fitness. Wayne Pivac named Biggar in his starting XV on Thursday but there have been suggestions the 30-year-old was struggling with Jarrod Evans ready to deputise and Sam Davies remaining with the squad as cover. Wales have recent form for making 11th-hour changes to their starting lineups with Jonathan Davies a late withdrawal from their World Cup quarter-final against France. In this fixture two years ago Leigh Halfpenny pulled out on the day of the match.
The assistant coach Sam Warburton said on Tuesday that Biggar would be given until Friday’s captain’s run to prove his fitness, only for Pivac on Thursday to insist he had already done so. Biggar was seen with heavy strapping to his right leg during that decisive training session but Jones expressed confidence that Wales would not be forced into a late change.
“I can’t guarantee you anything as I’m not a doctor,” said Jones. “I am not a medical professional. All I know is the teamsheet and he’s going to play. I’ve seen Dan move and shake and do all those things today. I have seen him kicking and passing but I am not a medical professional but I can tell you he’s going to play.”
Wales have lost their last two Six Nations matches, against Ireland and France, but got the better of England in this fixture 12 months ago. Before that match Warren Gatland targeted Kyle Sinckler by describing him as an “emotional timebomb” and while the England prop starred for the first hour of the match he seemed to lose his composure thereafter amid repeated efforts from Jones to get under his skin. Afterwards Gatland could not help but gloat while Billy Vunipola conceded Wales’s wind-up tactics had worked as England let a 10-3 half-time lead slip.
“I don’t think there’s any unnecessary effort that goes into it,” said Jones. “It’s England v Wales so there is always hype around the fixture. Sometimes it’s hard to get away from the echo of what’s said and what should be done. Don’t forget we know quite a lot about each other. There are quite a few guys playing in England and guys who have played with each other on Lions tours.”
England, however, have been bracing themselves for Wales’ attempts to get under their skin. “We have definitely had a few discussions,” the fly-half George Ford said. “It is a balance. You don’t want to make too much of a big deal about it because you end up speaking about the opposition too much – but you have to anticipate it and be aware of it so it doesn’t come as a shock at the weekend. We have discussed what potentially could happen and the plan of what we would do to look after individuals and look after the team. You don’t want to get to a game without thinking about it, talking about it as a team and then you think: ‘Jesus, what is going on here’ and then before you know it five or 10 minutes of the game has gone, momentum has shifted and you are in that sort of a game again.”
After last year’s defeat, Eddie Jones leapt to Sinckler’s defence and has since highlighted his development, going on to become one of England’s key performers at the World Cup. Indeed, the final might have panned out differently had Sinckler not been forced off in the opening minutes with a head injury. “He’s come a long way,” added Ford. “He’s always been a pretty feisty character and still is. He needs to be. That’s part of him and what makes him such a great player. But he’s able to control it now. He knows where the line is and where he needs to be in terms of that line. Teams haven’t even tried it in this Six Nations or in the World Cup, that’s testament to how he’s matured as a player.”
