Shaun Edwards – Lydiate is a real leader

Lydiate leads Wales out knowing a win will secure second place in the RBS 6 Nations for the first time since 1980, and Edwards believes his character makes him suitable for the role.
 
“I think Dan’s developing into a real leader himself,” said Edwards.
 
“He is quite a vocal guy and he will be relishing Saturday, particularly in the changing rooms.
 
“He will be pumping the guys up, making sure we don’t get off to a sluggish start which has been a little bit of an Achilles heel in this campaign so far.”
 
In addressing concerns over the defence Shaun Edwards admits there are things to improve on from the 25-21 defeat to England at Twickenham last week.
 
However, Edwards also points out that the Welsh defence has largely been impressive across the tournament.
 
“Technically, there were certain aspects of our defence that I was disappointed with but conceding one try away to England is not a bad effort,” Edwards added.
 
“We are still in with a chance of conceding the least tries in the competition. We have conceded five, England have conceded four.
 
“If we can manage to pull off a tryless game on Saturday, the pressure will be on England to keep France out.”
 
“Finishing second would be the 5^th most successful performance in 36 years – we have won it four times and never come second in that time.”
 
The defeat also saw Rhys Webb return from an injury that kept him out of the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
 
Edwards praised the contribution of the Ospreys scrum-half, and the work in his rehabilitation to ensure such a swift and impressive return from injury.
 
“Rhys was great when he came on, wasn’t he. He is a class operator.”
 
“It just shows you have to give credit to his rehab team, both at the Ospreys and the Welsh lads who have managed him fantastically well.
 
“For him to come back after a long-term injury like that in such good shape and looking so sharp was due to credit to them as well as obviously to Rhys.”