WE’RE NOT SCARED OF ENGLAND
Gatland fired up for Twickenham
The message from Warren Gatland could not have been clearer: Wales are not scared of Twickenham. Within half an hour of blitzing Scotland with a Scarlet siege, the Kiwi had already turned his attention towards Saturday’s trip to england.
Confidence is high after Wales’ sharpest attacking display in recent seasons, with the return of George North and Liam Williams set to provide a further boost to morale.
‘It is a mouthwatering fixture now, because I don’t think people were expecting us to win as comfortably as we did,’ said Gatland. ‘People had written us off. There was no expectation: people were saying we were crap and we were going to lose.
‘We’ll go from that to expectations through the roof. I hope a few people sit up and take a bit of notice. It will make next week even more exciting.
‘We’ve had some good performances and victories against england. It’s a great ground and if you go there with confidence and self-belief, you hope to get something from it.’
Gatland has fond memories of the return coach journey from London to Cardiff. Wales have won two of their previous five Tests at Twickenham, although it will be uncharted territory for many of the fearless Scarlets who shone on Saturday.
All 34 of Wales’ points were scored by players from the West Walian region, with Leigh halfpenny ( right) accounting for 24 of them in a display of newfound ambition and daring offloads. There were lungburning periods of ball in play, but Gatland hopes his squad will have a physical edge at Twickenham because of their extra day’s recovery time. ‘Potentially the six-day turnaround makes a big difference,’ said Gatland. ‘The travel day makes it tough and england will have to monitor what they do next week. For us, it is about recovery and a rest day, then focusing on work on Monday. ‘The draw has been great for us. Getting Scotland first at home was great to get off to a winning start. We’re happy to get a bonus-point win ahead of next week, when we go to a venue where we’ve had a lot of success in the last 10 years. We’re looking forward to it.’ With Sam Warburton, Toby Faletau, Jonathan Davies, Rhys Webb, Dan Biggar, Williams and North all absent, the freshfaced Rhys Patchell, Aaron Shingler and Steff evans all seized their chance. Now Gatland must now decide whether to stick with the youngsters, or recall his experienced Lions stars. ‘Liam will take a full part in training on Monday and George will too,’ said Gatland. ‘Toby Faletau isn’t too far away but he needs a game. Those two will come into contention while we will continue to assess Dan Biggar, who is making good progress.
‘hallam Amos is also fit so there will be some tough decisions and it’s nice to have that competition with some quality players knowing they will have to fight for their position.’
For Scotland, meanwhile, the sense of pre-Six Nations optimism quickly descended into a familiar despair. They were widely tipped to win a Test in Cardiff for the first time since 2002, but Wales exposed a fragile core, forcing their loose attack into disarray with a defensive masterclass.
Livewire half-backs Ali Price and Finn Russell failed to find their rhythm, while Lions star Stuart hogg was man-marked and unable to make an impact.
Next up are France at Murrayfield in an exercise of damage control.
‘We were miles below what we’re capable of,’ said head coach Gregor Townsend.
‘We don’t have a great away record and there’s no getting away from that. We have to get better. We have to realise that teams will have moments when they’re doing well, when the crowd’s behind them and when they maybe score a try; we’ve got to be able to handle that.’ WALES: Halfpenny 9; Adams 7, S Williams 7 (Watkin 71min), Parkes 7, S Evans 9; Patchell 7 (Anscombe 63, 6), G Davies 7 (A Davies 66, 6); R Evans 7 (W Jones 51, 7), Owens 7 (Dee, 6), Lee 6 (Francis 51, 6); Hill 7 (B Davies 56, 6), A W Jones 7; Shingler 9, Moriarty 6 (Tipuric 65, 6), Navidi 7.
SCOTLAND: Hogg 6; Seymour 6, Harris 5 (Horne 55, 7), H Jones 5, McGuigan 6 (Maitland 55, 5); Russell 6, Price 4 (Laidlaw 48, 5); Reid 5 (Bhatti 49, 5; Reid 76), McInally 5 (Lawson 70), Welsh 5 (McCallum 65, 5); Toolis 6 (Gilchrist 55, 5), Gray 6; Barclay 6, Du Preez 4 (Wilson 49, 5), Watson 6. Referee: Pascal Gauzere (France) 6.
Attendance: 74,169.