Wales aiming for top-four ranking ahead of France clash, Rob Howley says
Thursday 16 March 2017 16:48, UK
Wales interim head coach Rob Howley says the possibility of a top-four world ranking gives his side "a large incentive" to beat France in the Six Nations on Saturday.
Victory for Wales and an England win in Ireland on the same day would lift Wales into fourth spot ahead of May's 2019 World Cup pool draw.
Such a scenario means they would be likely to avoid a 'pool of death' as they encountered in 2015, when they were grouped alongside England and Australia.
Wales bounced back from a pair of defeats to beat Ireland 22-9 last Friday and Howley is hoping for a similar display.
"We feel in good shape like we did for the Ireland game, and we are looking for a similar result," said Howley.
"We have talked about the opportunity to go fourth in the world, and we are relying on other results to go second in the championship. We are aware of that.
"We have the opportunity to go into the next World Cup ranked fourth in the world. That is a large incentive for players and the coaches."
Wales have won their last five encounters against France, but Guy Noves' side have beaten Scotland and Italy in this tournament, and also pushed England and Ireland hard.
"I think that we will go in against a very good France side," said Howley.
"Having watched the England and Ireland games, they were potentially unlucky not to come away with more wins, and likewise with ourselves.
"One game can be far different to the next, so we need to go out to Paris and perform to the level we have in training.
"I was really pleased with the impact off the bench [against Ireland]. In the course of the championship, it hasn't been good enough, but against Ireland the bench came on and did their job.
"I keep mentioning about the 23 players - not about the 15 - and just consistently saying the same message to the players.
"The bench made the difference, and ultimately in international games that is the difference between winning and losing.
"Thankfully last weekend we were on the right side of that."
