England number eight Ben Morgan has warned Wales they target him at their peril in Sunday’s potentially-epic Six Nations title showdown at Twickenham.
Dylan Hartley stated this week that the Red Rose single out opposition “talismen” for special attention, name-checking back row ball-carriers such as Louis Picamoles, Jamie Heaslip and Toby Faletau.
Two years ago it was revealed that Wales had targeted Morgan just three caps into his Test career and the bulldozing Gloucester forward is happy should that policy continue.
“It’s a compliment if people start targeting you because it means you are doing something right, so I’m pleased if I was targeted,” he said.
“I don’t feel that sort of pressure - when you break rugby down it’s a simple game, particularly in my sort of role.
“I try to get the team over the gain line and if I can do that then great.
“If people are trying to make it harder for me by putting two or three people to tackle me, the spaces are going to open up for the rest of my team to attack elsewhere.
“It’s nothing that worries me. If anybody focuses on one or two players they miss the rest of the team.
“It’s not something to worry about - you have to stick to your team structures.”
Morgan has braced England for the usual power-based game from Wales - more commonly known as ‘Warrenball’ after their head coach Warren Gatland - and insists their route one approach must be met head on.
“Wales have a handful of players they use to get over the gain line,” he said.
“They use the likes of Jamie Roberts, Richard Hibbard and Toby Faletau. They are all big men and that is the way they like play.
“If you look at their team from one to 15 they are all big men and all about getting over the gain line.
“We can’t let them do that because that is when they start to hurt you.”
England must defeat Wales if they are to remain in title contention heading into the final Saturday, when they face Italy in Rome.
Five weeks ago their hopes of winning a first Six Nations championship under head coach Stuart Lancaster were battered by a 26-24 loss in Paris.
Since then they have pieced together impressive wins against Scotland and Ireland to rekindle hopes of seizing Wales’ crown.
“The way things have been going, this team has shown a lot of character and we have shown that we can play and score tries,” Morgan said.
“We have just got to keep progressing and take our form straight into this Welsh game.”
Morgan is looking forward to the back row battle against Wales’ all-British and Irish Lions trio of Faletau, Dan Lydiate and Sam Warburton.
“Toby has a big physical presence, likes to get his hands on the ball, and it is one of those head to heads that you want to win,” Morgan said.
“Lydiate and Warburton complement each other pretty well.
“Lydiate likes to chop people pretty low and Warburton is very quick and very strong over the ball. That works pretty well. Toby is the ball carrier out of the bunch.”
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
Company Profile
Company name: OneOrder
Started: October 2021
Founders: Tamer Amer and Karim Maurice
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Industry: technology, logistics
Investors: A15 and self-funded
Bio
Born in Dubai in 1994
Her father is a retired Emirati police officer and her mother is originally from Kuwait
She Graduated from the American University of Sharjah in 2015 and is currently working on her Masters in Communication from the University of Sharjah.
Her favourite film is Pacific Rim, directed by Guillermo del Toro
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EPowertrain%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle%20electric%20motor%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E201hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E310Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESingle-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBattery%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E53kWh%20lithium-ion%20battery%20pack%20(GS%20base%20model)%3B%2070kWh%20battery%20pack%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETouring%20range%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E350km%20(GS)%3B%20480km%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh129%2C900%20(GS)%3B%20Dh149%2C000%20(GF)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The biog
Name: Fareed Lafta
Age: 40
From: Baghdad, Iraq
Mission: Promote world peace
Favourite poet: Al Mutanabbi
Role models: His parents
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
