Confident Gatland is expecting new boys to stand up and be counted

WARREN Gatland exuded confidence in the depth of his squad as he explained the wholesale changes he has made for the clash against Georgia.

There are 15 changes, one positional, to the group that faced Australia, and while there is plenty of inexperience, Gatland believes there are enough older heads to provide some ballast for what could be a tricky afternoon against a side with aspirations to join the Six Nations.

Here is how Gatland’s press conference unfolded... Q: You’ve made 15 changes in all, you’ve really gone for it, haven’t you? A: I think it’s a nice balance. There are a couple of injuries, we didn’t consider some players because of knocks last week like Leigh Halfpenny and Steff Evans. We had a chat about continuity from last week, but we would have had to make half-a-dozen changes anyway so we just feel this is an opportunity for some of the youngsters to be exposed at this level and to build for the next two years. Q: Rhys Priestland is back, what sort of opportunity is this for him? A: It’s a great opportunity. We’ve watched him closely and we feel the move to Bath from Wales has seen him able to get rid of some of the external pressures that come.

He’s thrived, played good rugby and deserves this call-up. We were very impressed with the way he played for Bath against the Scarlets the other week.

He played with a lot of confidence and it will be good to see how he performs and to have some competition at 10. Q: Is Rhys one of a crop of senior players, like Scott Williams, Alex Cuthbert and Dan Lydiate, with a point to prove this weekend? A: Dan has been out injured and hasn’t had a lot of games and sees this as an opportunity. There’s Scott Williams and Alex Cuthbert whose form we’ve been pretty pleased with, but this is an opportunity for him to go out and make a statement.

Liam Williams is at full-back and hasn’t played there since the Lions and there’s someone like Hallam Amos whose try against the Australians was world class.

Then there are the players at nine and 10 and someone like Seb Davies (at No.8). This is a big opportuity for him. He’s big and athletic and he’s played there before.

We need to make sure in the next couple of years that we find cover for Taulupe Faletau if he picks up an injury.

Whether that is Ross Moriarty when he comes back.... we know Josh Navidi has played there at regional level. But this is a great chance for Seb to play international rugby there. Q: How did he react when you asked him to play there? A: He thought it was a great opportunity. I asked him if he had much experience at No.8 and he said he’d played there a lot while growing up. So we are not throwing him in at the deep end as someone who has never played there. We think this is a great chance for him to go out and impress and a good chance for us to have a look at him. Q: How do you compare Georgia to nations you have played in this fixture in previous years like Samoa, Japan, etc? A: It’s going to be tough. They have improved in recent years and Milton Haig has done a great job coaching them and they had a good win against Canada last week.

In the last three games, they have won something like 15 scrum penalties so we know we’ll have to scrum well and we’re confident about doing that. Q: Do you think Georgia joining the Six Nations would be a good idea? A: It’s something that can be looked at. Rather than an automatic relegation maybe the team that finishes bottom of the Six Nations could play the team that finishes top of the next tier.

If the second tier team is good enough to beat them then maybe they deserve to be involved in the top tournament.

Or do you expand the Six Nations? The calendar is pretty full at the moment but if a team keeps improving and has ambition, I don’t think we should stifle that ambition. Q: You have gone with Owen Watkin at inside-centre. Is he a more traditional centre than Owen Williams? A: We thought Owen Watkin was good when he came on against Australia. He has been managed back from injury by the Ospreys and hasn’t trained fully this week. So we have to see how he gets through training.

It’s a little bit of a concern in terms of him being a youngster coming back from injury and how we look after him. But there’s no doubt he is player people have spoken highly of, it’s just he hasn’t had a run of games.

He has to show his attacking capabilities. Owen Williams defended well against a huge Australian midfield now we have to build on our attacking structure and be more clinical. Q: What are your feelings about who plays at No.13 given that Jonathan Davies is likely to be out long term? A: Jonathan will probably be out for the rest of the season but we have Scott Williams there and Hadleigh Parkes will come into contention for the last game.

Options going forward are George North who has played there for us in the past and been successful, and someone like Owen (Watkin) could play there as well as he has good speed and good footwork.

Jonathan is world class and the referees mentioned on Saturday just how good they felt he was, but this also gives someone an opportunity in the next couple of campaigns.