Peel ready to rekindle partnership with Jones
Peel and Stephen Jones will be reunited in a Wales starting line-up for the first time since February 2008 when Australia arrive at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
It is a combination launched almost 10 years ago as they embarked on richly-promising club careers with Llanelli. Between them, they have now amassed 153 Welsh caps and toured three times with the British and Irish Lions, but the sense of excitement is undiminished.
“We haven’t played together for a while, so it will be good to get back to old ways,” said Peel, who currently plies his trade in England with Sale Sharks, while Jones is a Scarlets player once more following a stint at French club Clermont Auvergne.
“Obviously, I’ve known Stephen for a fair time. It would probably be about 1999 when we played together for the Scarlets for the first time. I was lucky enough to play with Stephen for about seven or eight years, so it’s good to get back and pass him a few balls again.
“As the years go by, the partnership gets stronger the more games you play. It has definitely grown over the years.
“We know what each other wants, and that becomes a habit. You know how each other likes certain passes, or whatever, and that’s important. It has become an instinctive understanding.
“It helps if you are used to playing with someone because you can talk about things a bit more and take the pressure off each other, and that is what we will aim to do.”
Peel will end Wales’ autumn series where he hopes to start their RBS Six Nations campaign in just over two months’ time – wearing the number nine shirt. But he knows nothing can be guaranteed, especially with Mike Phillips likely to be fit again following an ankle injury that sidelined him for the November internationals.
With their opening November fixture falling outside the International Rugby Board’s autumn Test window, Peel did not have to be released by his club while his countrymen tackled the All Blacks, Peel spending the previous evening on replacement duty for Sale = against Newport Gwent Dragons at rainswept Rodney Parade.
“I was bitterly disapp- ointed that week, and it was a frustrating time,” he added.
“But that’s gone now, and I am looking forward. Things like that are out of your control, so it’s just a case of waiting to see when the team is announced and then you go on and take it from there. It has been a waiting game for me, and it is about taking the chance when you get it.”
Peel certainly impressed the Wales management with his recent displays in victories over Samoa and Argentina, and the 28-year-old’s recipe for success is a simple one – enjoyment.
“I have just tried to focus on my own goals, enjoy it and not get too caught up in the emotion of things. Enjoying it is the biggest thing,” he said.
“Over the last couple of years we’ve grown a good squad of players – it is definitely one of the best I’ve been involved in – with players in every position who can step in and do a great job. We’ve also developed a pattern of play, so we would probably expect to win every time we play at home – and rightly so.
“In the past, perhaps when we’ve played the likes of New Zealand or Australia, we were happy to compete.
“But we need to step up and win games like this one if we are realistic of going on and being successful in the (2011) World Cup.
“These days, the internationals against the southern hemisphere sides seem to be coming around every year, and it’s a massive opportunity for everyone to play and pit their wits against these players.
“I think it is a game that will suit my style because it tends to be quite fast and open when we play against the Wallabies.
“I am sure, given the opportunity, we will spread the ball around.”
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