Helm and happy Wales heading into World Cup
good. There is some real competition in that position, particularly at the Blues.
“We have been really pleased with Gareth over the last 12 months in terms of his leadership, his maturity, the way he has been in the squad and hopefully he goes out there and makes the most of it and Jarrod gets an opportunity as well.”
Is the best still to come from Anscombe?
“YOU have to remember he came over here as a very young 10. He was still finding his feet in that position. Often you don’t expect your 10s to be any good until they are 26 or 27 and that is where he is at the moment.
“I think we will see some really good rugby from him, hopefully this season and hopefully in a few years to come.
“He made a big decision to leave New Zealand rugby to commit himself to Wales. He has admitted himself, he found that challenging at the start, which is a brave thing for him to admit how difficult it was.
“I think he has really matured in the last 12 months, he was outstanding on the Argentinean tour in a leadership role. I am looking forward to him having that 10 jersey on his back on Saturday.
“We know he is equally good at 15, he has played a lot of Super Rugby in New Zealand there. Sometimes, having that opportunity in open spaces at 15 and understanding that position does help when you then go back to the 10 position. He realises it is a big chance for him on Saturday, as with everyone.
“Just at training this morning, we looked back to when we had a possibles versus probables trial four years ago and it was like men against boys from the top team to the players playing in the possibles.
“I looked at the two forward packs against each other, there wasn’t one player in that forward pack who wasn’t starting who I didn’t think was good enough to be starting on Saturday.
“We are in a pretty good place at the moment.
“It is the start of what we know is a very important year.
Does Gareth give you different attributes to Dan Biggar?
“WE have spoken about that on a number of occasions and we have been having conversations within the coaching set-up for quite a long time in terms of the strengths and the differences the different players give us.
“Dan has an excellent kicking game, is fantastic in the air and defensively is very strong. The others probably, from an attacking perspective, offer some variances there in what they can bring to the game too.
“We have got players we believe we can fit the bill in terms of how we potentially want to play, depending on who the opposition is as well.
“It is good and challenging for those players in that position because they have all got things to work on. Dan knows himself, there are attacking things we are looking from his game and the others, some kicking out of hand stuff, some aerial work and defensively some things to work on too.
Dan Lydiate is back in the starting XV, why is he so important to you?
“HE has been unfortunate with injuries over the last season or two. He was in the squad last autumn and he gets a chance. He knows how important it is to go out there and give a good performance.
“I thought he was very good for the Ospreys (against Connacht) on the weekend and that was pleasing. It think it has been challenging for him because there has been a certain amount of criticism about his selection and people talking up other players.
“When we have looked at our backrow we have just tried to find some balance.
“We know how lucky we are with the sevens we have got with James Davies being injured and Thomas Young not being selected.
“They are two quality players, but we just felt if we had picked those two we would have left out Ellis Jenkins and Justin Tipuric which might have caused quite a bit of a stir as well. “We are just looking for the balance. “We know that Ross Moriarty can play at six as well with Taulupe (Faletau) not being in the squad, Dan comes in and gives us a bit of solidity, experience and size.
“He knows how important a good performance is for him on Saturday.”