Wales prop Adam Jones admits he will have to be at the top of his game against Andrea Lo Cicero in Rome on Saturday.
Jones took the blame for Wales' scrummaging difficulties against France a fortnight ago, a game the Welsh won despite the hosts dominating up front.
The tighthead, can expect a stern examination opposite Italian warrior Lo Cicero, who won his 100th cap against Scotland two weeks ago.
"You can blame many things, but at the end of the day it comes down to the tighthead," he said.
"It was my fault, really. As much as people say the scrum is an eight-man thing, it does need the tighthead to be straight and square.
"At times I felt I was under pressure. I will take it on the chin, I will take the blame - and then I will say the pitch was shocking!
"For us, there are a lot of things we can put right easily. There were a lot of things we didn't do correctly.
"There were a couple of times when certain things happened and we know we should do better than that. If I can't keep the scrum up, then the scrum isn't going to stay up.
"It's the be-all and end-all of my game and if I don't do that well then obviously I have had a bad game.
"Sometimes, I don't know who takes the scrum down," Jones added. "But at the end of the day it is up to the props to keep it up. If we scrummage squarely, that will be half the battle.
"We know it's going to be hard against Italy. We know how good they are. They are very similar to the French. They pretty much mirror each other how they scrummage and are as close to a French scrum as you can get.
"I think I first played against Lo Cicero at the World Cup in 2003. He looks a bit different now. He had a short haircut then, but he's gone to Paris (Racing Metro) and all of a sudden he's grown this gorgeous mane, like my good self.
"He is a good player. He has got 100 caps and I take my hat off to anyone who has played international rugby for that long, especially in the front-row."
Source: http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12040_8516345,00.html
Star Wars citizens bank Hansel and Gretel LGBT Giovanna Plowman martin luther king jr quotes Inauguration 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.