Gatland happy with a tough week... now
HERE’S everything Wales boss Warren Gatland had to say after the 43-14 win over Georgia in their opening Rugby World Cup game.
Question: After a tricky week off the field, did you need that? Warren Gatland: Absolutely. We’ve been watching the games in the last few days and the guys were itching to get out there and I am pleased with the first-half performance.
I thought we were pretty clinical and probably let things slip a bit in the second-half.
That probably did not help because we were losing some continuity and making some changes with the subs and bringing people off, trying to think about keeping players as fresh as we possibly can with the six-day turnaround.
Q: Having to change attack coaches is not ideal, with that in mind how pleased were you to score a number of first phase tries?
WG: Stephen [Jones] has come in and those were plays we have in our play book so whether we had a plan in place it was pleasing we executed a number of set piece opportunities. No disrespect to Georgia but we would like to think we were good enough to score on a number of occasions.
We were pretty clinical in that first-half, we probably missed a few opportunities in the second half but it was a good start.
Stephen has fitted in well and is up Q: What’s the latest on the injuries? WG: We’ve got a few guys a bit sore and battered as you’d expect after an international but nothing of a major concern.
Hadleigh Parkes has got a little bit of a bone fracture in his hand. They think he’ll be okay to pad that up and it shouldn’t be an issue for next week. Guys are a bit battered and sore as you’d expect after playing a tough, physical team like Georgia.
Q: What did you make of Australia and particularly the Reece Hodge incident? WG: I thought Australia soaked up a lot of pressure. Fiji came flying out of the blocks and were very impressive in that first-half.
Australia managed the game exceptionally well, especially in the tight with the scrum and the driven lineout.
Fiji looked like they were starting to tire and Australia soaked up a lot of initial pressure and came away in the second-half.
With the Reece Hodge tackle, it looks like he has made contact there to me but that is not my decision and the judiciary needs to make a call.
Q: Your handling looked particularly slick tonight...
WG: It is something that we work on in training. There is something about World Cups that preparation and time with two or three months leading into the tournament.
We have been doing a lot of handling drills not just with the backs but with the forwards as well.
We are very lucky we have a number of skilful players but it’s definitely something we have worked on with training.
Q: Your players have done extraordinary things in the past but how difficult was it to get that performance out of them, given how strange it has been?
WG: It’s like when you lose a key player.
We’ve lost a couple of them before we came on tour with Anscombe and Faletau.
You just have to draw a line in the sand and move on. You can’t change the past and what’s happened. You have to look forward.
I said to the players before hand, I thought they’ve been outstanding this week.
The way they’ve prepared for this