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Jones looks forward to ‘special’ quarter-final

Stephen Jones talks to media

Jones looks forward to ‘special’ quarter-final

Stephen Jones is looking forward to a “special” Rugby World Cup quarter-final when Warren Gatland’s Wales take on France in Oita on Sunday.

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Wales have been boosted ahead of the weekend’s last-eight clash by the news head coach Gatland is set to have all 31 men in his squad available for selection.

Backs Dan Biggar, Jonathan Davies and George North all trained on Tuesday in Beppu.

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“We’re in a great position. The boys integrated back into training today,” said attack coach and former 104-cap fly-half Jones.

“The medical team have done a fantastic job on our players. From a squad selection point of view it’s brilliant. You want a full complement.

“When you look at those players, they have huge experience and great skillsets. Jon has a physical threat and you saw what he did with that last line break just before he got injured against Fiji.

“It was a wonderful offload as well. It’s vital we have everyone fit and healthy.”

Wales won all four of their Pool D clashes against Georgia, Australia, Fiji and Uruguay to finish the group stages in fine and unbeaten fashion. Next up is a meeting with France.

Jones added: “It’s special, isn’t it? We’re very excited. It’s the business end and we’re all chomping at the bit for the game on Sunday.

“It’s a healthy rivalry. We’ve won seven of the last eight games which is great from our perspective, but we know the challenge on Sunday.

“France are opposition we respect and rightly so because of the talent of player they have. It’s about us getting our house in order and making sure we nail our roles and responsibilities.”

France saw their last Pool C clash with England cancelled due to the impact of Typhoon Hagibis in Tokyo and won’t have played for two weeks by the time they meet Wales.

But Les Bleus have some of world rugby’s most dangerous talents in their side – especially behind the scrum – and they always thrive on the big occasion.

The last time they met Wales – in the opening game to the 2019 Six Nations – France stormed into a 16-0 half-time lead before Gatland’s men hit back.

“It is important we learn the lessons from that match. The positives are we stayed in the fight and got back and won that game,” Jones added.

“We’ve definitely taken some lessons on board from that first half. France have a great pool of players to choose from, they are great athletes, and very unpredictable. They enjoy the broken field.

“If we are loose and turn ball over easily then they will be in their element and very, very dangerous.

“They are quality players, it’s as simple as that and they have got quality backing them up too.”

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