Rob Howley increasingly cuts the figure of a man damned if he does and in a similar predicament if he does not. His team selection – Wales are unchanged from their defeat in Scotland – has been widely criticised but he does not have a huge amount of options at his disposal. That, however, is the crux of the problem. Wales are fearful of finishing the tournament with two defeats that could well mean they slip out of the top eight in the world and face another treacherous World Cup pool. Hence Howley’s refusal to experiment against Ireland. That then raises the question of why Wales did not blood a few youngsters in the autumn. An ageing squad badly needs some fresh impetus and sooner or later Wales are going to have to throw players such as Keelan Giles, Steff Evans and Thomas Young in at the deep end.
Related: Eddie Jones’s prickliness highlights England’s edginess as Scotland loom | Robert Kitson
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