Wales left for London on Thursday afternoon with a dig at the three-figure price of tickets at Twickenham, promising fans that they would entertain and not let a match that has become verbally acrimonious in the buildup become bogged down by reset scrums.
Little more than an hour after the England head coach, Eddie Jones had predicted that the Wales forwards’ coach would discuss the scrum, Robin McBryde said: “I think we have a duty to the paying public – the price of tickets at Twickenham is quite high so the last thing [fans] want to see is a scrum-fest. We are comfortable with our attacking threats.”
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Wales’s attack will be spearheaded by the 24-year-old Rhys Patchell, who will be making his second Test start at outside-half after impressing against Scotland. Jones had promised his side would put pressure on the inexperienced player. “I am not aware of what Eddie has said,” McBryde said. “But any player wearing the 10 jersey is going to come under pressure, so nothing is different there.
“I am not going to try and take on Eddie; I know better than that and I will stay out of it. He’s always got a few things to get off his chest and I hope he’ll feel the better for it.”
When asked if he felt the England tighthead Dan Cole cheated in the scrum, an accusation levelled at the Leicester forward by the Australia head coach, Michael Cheika, in November 2016, McBryde replied: “Certain props have certain ways of scrummaging. Without compromising ourselves, we have to make sure we deal with that threat and do it in a way that is legal as well, with England wanting to exert dominance up front.
“We did not put our eggs in one basket against Scotland last Saturday. Those days are gone and we were quite intelligent in the way we dealt with the scrum.”
Patchell is his side’s third-choice No 10 but Wales are confident he will not prove third-rate in the biggest match of his career, any more than England’s third pick at No 8, Sam Simmonds, was overawed in Rome on Sunday.
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“He is surrounded by a number of players from his region and that brings cohesion and familiarity which we hope stands up to the pressure of international rugby,” McBryde said. “As we saw last weekend, it is good to watch.”
The second-row Cory Hill travelled with the team after taking a full part in training having followed the return-to-play concussion protocol. He left the field against Scotland 15 minutes into the second half for a head injury assessment and did not return.
“We will play with our heads up and assess options,” McBryde said. “International rugby comes down to a few decisions or the bounce of a ball. Eddie has said he is going to put us under pressure, but the same goes for us. Shaun Edwards [the defence coach] has been banging that drum. When the stakes are high there is no quarter asked and none given. That’s what it will be on Saturday.”