England to finalise defensive plans once Wales decide on Dan Biggar or Sam Davies
Thursday 9 February 2017 09:50, UK
England may need to adjust their defensive plans according to which fly-half Wales select, defence coach Paul Gustard says.
Dan Biggar is a doubt Saturday's Six Nations clash at the Principality Stadium after taking a blow to the ribs during Wales' opening win in Italy last weekend.
Sam Davies played the second half in Rome and is in line to deputise in Cardiff if Biggar fails to recover, and England's players have been made aware of the differences in the two No 10s' styles.
"Sam is a bit flatter to the line and he takes on the line a bit more. Biggar is a bit deeper back, but he has other strengths," Gustard said.
"It is not so much that we have to change defensively depending on their selection, but we have to have a heightened awareness of somebody.
"The kick and regather is definitely a strength of Dan Biggar's game, he is aerially very strong. He's got a good cross-field kick as well and you saw a lot of that in the first half against Italy - and against South Africa as well.
"Davies comes to the line a bit flatter and tries to put balls across the face of defenders, so we just have to have an awareness about their individual skills.
"Whichever 10 they pick, Wales have a style of attack that they are developing. It is evolving and they are heading in a certain direction in terms of how they want to play.
"For us defensively, it may change a little bit with Sam, but fundamentally we need to get our things in order.
"We have discussed both 10s and how their likely traits might pan out, but we have also looked at some areas we want to work on from the France game and some key fundamentals that we need to get right."
All 10 games of the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand will be shown live on Sky Sports, starting June 3 2017.
