\n<\/p>\n
Mann started the United Rugby Championship (URC) impressively for Cardiff after starting both summer Tests in Japan at blind-side.<\/p>\n
Now he moves across for a first international start at open-side after playing there just twice in the URC last season.<\/p>\n
There are question marks over Mann’s suitability to play at blind-side against the heavy-hitters but the 6ft 3ins, 16st 2lb forward undoubtedly has attractive attributes.<\/p>\n
“He’s got flexibility in how he plays,” said Tandy, a combative flanker in his playing days.<\/p>\n
“He has athletic ability, ball-playing skills but also his energy levels with how he gets off the line in defence.<\/p>\n
“He gets people to the floor, he’s a jackal threat and has line-out ability. He is an all-round player who can play across the back row.”<\/p>\n
Mann has worn six on his back six times in international rugby to go along with a pair of appearances off the bench.<\/p>\n
“It’s just a number, whatever the coaches ask of me I make sure I give 100% so it doesn’t matter to me,” said the 23-year-old from Aberdare.<\/p>\n
Wales might not replace Morgan but the starting trio – plus replacements Freddie Thomas and Taine Plumtree – aim to soften the blow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mann started the United Rugby Championship (URC) impressively for Cardiff after starting both summer Tests in Japan at blind-side. Now he moves across for a first international start at open-side after playing there just twice in the URC last season. There are question marks over Mann’s suitability to play at blind-side against the heavy-hitters but<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rugby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}