HIS SIGHTS SET ON WALES WIN IN NZ
is that they might lose experience but they will never lose talent. I have been watching the guys in the Super 15 and their teams have been doing extremely well, playing some great rugby. They will have a successful plan in place and guys coming in, for example Sam Cane is doing a great job. He is captain of the Chiefs and has won 30 caps and is filling Richie McCaw’s boots, one of the best opensides in the world already. They will be extremely strong, as ever. Don’t get me wrong, the experienced players will be missed but the ones they have coming through is scary. Their strength in depth is outstanding. Q: BUT HAVE THEY LOST LEADERS AS WELL AS EXPERIENCE? SW: The only way you will find out is if you come to a game with 10 minutes to go and they are in a sticky spot. Then you will see how they react. Until you are in that situation, you do not know how anyone will react. They still have the talent to pull them out of any sticky spot, I would imagine. Q: HOW DID YOU FIND WAS PLAYING AGAINST RICHIE MCCAW AND WHAT DIFFERENT CHALLENGES WILL SAM CANE POSE? SW: I’ve played against Richie a few times now and he always make it extremely difficult. It was great to play I imagine Sam Cane probably has that number seven jersey now and he is a very able replacement for Richie. So whoever plays seven, it will be a massive battle. Q: DOES NEW ZEALAND HAVE A SPECIAL FEELING COMPARED TO ANYWHERE ELSE? SW: It’s an amazing rugby country. When I went there with the World Cup in 2011, it was the best rugby experience I’ve had. The people over there are fantastic and they are all pretty fond of Welsh rugby which is really nice to hear. They all seemed to enjoy the brand of rugby that we try and play. So probably anywhere other than Wales I play rugby, New Zealand has been my favourite place. Q: DOES IT FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE UNFINISHED BUSINESS IN ANY WAY FROM 2011? SW: It seems like a new challenge First Test New Zealand SATURDAY, JUNE 11, EDEN PARK AUCKLAND: v Wales (0835BST) TUESDAY, JUNE 14, FMG STADIUM WAIKATO, HAMILTON: Wales (0830BST) SATURDAY, JUNE 18, WESTPAC STADIUM WELLINGTON: New Zealand v Wales (0835BST) SATURDAY, JUNE 25TH, FORSYTH BARR STADIUM DUNEDIN: Test Wales v New Zealand (0835BST) compared to 2011, because when we went over there five years ago in the World Cup, we didn’t play New Zealand. So it’s the first time I’m playing New Zealand in New Zealand, so it’s a whole different challenge. I missed the 2010 tour because I broke my jaw two weeks before against South Africa in a home game so I’ve been waiting years now to be able to get a chance to get on a touring team back out to New Zealand. So I’m delighted I’m able to make it this time around. Q: HAS WELSH SUCCESS NOW PLATEAUED? SW: It has been hit and miss. In the Six Nations we were waiting for that good performance. Most campaigns that we are involved in, we will deliver one really good performance, but if we are honest, we didn’t quite get to that level in the most recent tournament. We all know there’s definite room for improvement, and we probably haven’t hit the heights that we hit even back in 2015 when we didn’t finish well in the Six Nations but we had some really good games in that competition, like against Ireland. Obviously 2013 and 2012 were great years for us, but we probably haven’t hit those heights since the Ireland game in the 2015 Six Nations. That was a really big game we played in after we had played South Africa in the autumn before when we defeated the Springboks. Chiefs v Second Test Third Q: IS THERE A REASON FOR THIS? SW: It’s just the way it goes. Teams like England, they have improved massively over a couple of years. Even against us last weekend when they’ve got some guys missing, the replacements bench came on and still had a great impact and they have good depth now. Other teams than England have improved. If England stayed at the same level they were maybe three or four years ago, we might have stolen the Six Nations, maybe not. So I don’t think we haven’t gone backwards, we just need to find another gear which we all admit we need to do when we go to New Zealand but it’s well within our capability. Q: WHAT CHANCE DOES SOMEONE LIKE ROSS MORIARTY NOW HAVE FOLLOWING THE INJURY TO DAN LYDIATE? SW: Ross was one of our best players against England last weekend and not just in spells. I thought the commitment he showed from the start was fantastic. He was outstanding when he played against Italy at the end of the Six Nations after being chucked in late in the day. He is only 22 and while the back-row has been a stable unit, he has come in and really shaken things up. He is a fantastic player with a massive future.