Wales captain Jac Morgan is ‘the best seven in Britain’ – Dafydd Jenkins

Dafydd Jenkins has labelled his Wales team-mate Jac Morgan “the best seven in Britain” ahead of Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations clash with England.

Despite Wales losing all four games in this season’s tournament and hovering dangerously close to a second successive wooden spoon, Morgan has produced blistering, dynamic form.

Wales captain Morgan heads the Six Nations tackle chart with 73 and lies second for defensive ruck arrivals, leading from the front in often testing circumstances.

He has smashed down the door in terms of announcing British and Irish Lions selection credentials, and Wales know they are guaranteed another super-human effort from him when England arrive at the Principality Stadium.

Class

“He is an incredible player. He is a class bloke, very humble, and someone I love playing with and playing for,” Wales and Exeter lock Jenkins said.

“You always know he is going to give everything, and you always know he is going to be one of the best players on the pitch, whoever we are playing against.

“Having people like that – Jac, Taulupe (Faletau), Tomos (Williams) – it does help the team forward. They are special players.

“For me, Jac is the best seven in Britain at the moment. If you are talking about a Lions tour, in my opinion he’s on there for sure.

“Seeing Jac doing special things really inspires you to think we do have the sort of team to start winning games and hopefully win championships in the future.”

Italy

While England remain in Six Nations title contention, Wales face a straight fight with Italy to avoid finishing bottom of the table.

Wales have lost their last 16 Tests, and it is 10 Six Nations defeats on the bounce since beating Italy in March 2023.

But their home record against England during the Six Nations era, including World Cup warm-up games, shows nine wins and seven defeats.

Jenkins added: “It’s huge. I think if I go back to Exeter with a win I would be a lot happier in terms of you can start ripping into a few of the other boys!

“I have taken my fair share off them now, so it would be nice to hand out a bit.

“This is the game you dream of playing in as a kid. Pretty sure they (England) can win the championship, so we can’t be having that in Cardiff.

“I probably started watching rugby properly during the 2011 World Cup, so seeing Wales have success there really inspired me to go on and play and want to be in the Welsh jersey in these big games against England.”

Wales have looked a creative and dangerous force across interim head coach Matt Sherratt’s two games at the helm against Ireland and Scotland.

Ireland were pushed to the limit in Cardiff, then Wales gained two losing bonus points at Murrayfield after trailing 35-8 with 20 minutes left.

“We are close (to winning games), but at the end of the day the only statistic that matters is the final score,” Jenkins said.

“I think England were getting a bit of stick about the way they played, but they are winning games, so it’s a huge credit to them and something we would rather be on the right side of.”