Sam’s playing it cool over return

SAM WARBURTON has cautioned Wales against pencilling him in for the Six Nations as the Lions captain plots a cautious path back from neck surgery.

The 29-year-old has not played since leading the side to a share of an epic series in New Zealand and, although he is on course to be back in action in the new year, he would prefer Wales to plan without him for the start of the championship.

With Jonathan Davies also a doubt for the Six Nations with the ankle injury he sustained against Australia on Saturday, it could leave Warren Gatland’s side short of two of their most decorated Lions.

“January is my predicted time to come back but I wouldn’t say I am targeting the Six Nations. I’ll need a month of rugby under my belt first after a significant time away,” said Warburton.

“It will be a six-month gap from playing competitive rugby. I won’t be ready to be thrown into the international cauldron straight away. I want to get back with my club first to get my game going again.”

The Cardiff Blues flanker watched from the sidelines on Saturday and was lifted by what he saw in defeat from a new-look Wales side against Australia. He rated it as an excellent launchpad for the rest of the Under Armour series against Georgia, New Zealand and South Africa.

“It has been the biggest change since I have been involved and it was a positive start. I was pleased,” he said.

“We had 12 line breaks, which is incredible. If we convert a few more of those we will be on the right track.

“I’m looking forward to these next three weeks. We need two wins. We won

three out of four in really really our last campaign and you don’t want to have a win ratio going below 50 per cent.”

Wales have one of the old guard, Jamie Roberts, back in the squad this week, which would appear to go against their new wider approach, but Warburton believes there is still room for ‘Warrenball’ when required.

“There’s no one way to play. It’s down to a team’s individual resources,” he said. “Wales are giving this expansive game plan a go at the moment but I still think there will be a place in the Welsh set-up to play a different style depending on tactics for a particular game.”

Either way, the blooding of players such as Owen Williams and Steff Evans can only be good for Wales’ depth.

“If there’s one thing I learned from the Lions tour it would be the massive impact a bench can have,” said Warburton. “I watched the DVD yesterday and we had Kyle Sinckler, Maro Itoje, Johnny Sexton and Leigh Halfpenny there. A bench of that quality helped us to do so well there. That can have a really big impact and is such an important part of the game nowadays.”

The fly-on-the-wall documentary, British & Irish Lions: Uncovered, which was released yesterday, chronicles the New Zealand tour and reveals a side of the clean-cut Warburton the public will not have seen before. Shock, horror, he swears during team talks.

“That’s what I have been like since I picked up a rugby ball,” he said. “I was always very competitive. They always had to try to calm me down when I was a teenager and the red mist came down.”

British & Irish Lions: Uncovered is out now on Blu-ray and DVD.

I have had a significant time away