France XV defense coach Shaun Edwards said he was happy to reunite on Sunday, in the Six Nations Tournament, with his former team Wales and the Millennium, “one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world” to his eyes.
“It’s obviously very nice to come back and see familiar faces again. I have had some great moments here, won the Tournament six times,” Edwards, who worked for more than ten years on the Welsh staff before being poached by the Blues in 2020, said on Saturday.
The Millennium Stadium is “certainly one of the most beautiful places to play rugby”, confirmed Grégory Alldritt at his side after the captain’s training. “It’s a legendary stadium, one of the temples of rugby.”
“The Welsh love to sing and make noise. There is a pretty special atmosphere and I have very good memories,” added the third row, who knows the pre-match ceremony well.
“We will come out (of the locker room) and wait at least a minute with the stadium singing, the flames around. It’s part of the Cardiff myth. We are ready, we must not destabilize us.”
Despite their three defeats against Scotland (27-26), England (16-14) and Ireland (31-7), Edwards is wary of the Welsh, whom he knows well. “They were competitive in every match,” he said. “They even played very well against Ireland, who are in very good form at the moment.”
Fabien Galthié’s assistant is satisfied with the defensive progress of the Blues during the victory in Scotland (20-16) and the draw conceded against Italy (13-13) after the heavy inaugural defeat against Ireland (38- 17). “I hope that we will continue to progress because France did not show its best defensive face in the first match,” he regretted.