Gatland has his hopeful, North’s
WALES coach Warren Gatland spoke to the media after unveiling his side to take on the All Blacks in Cardiff on tomorrow. Here’s what he had to say... Q: You must have back-row riches to be able to leave two Lions (Dan Lydiate and Justin Tipuric) on the sidelines? A: Dan has had a few injuries. We were happy with his performance last week, winning man of the match, he defended really well. He knows there are aspects of his game to work on.
We have been easing Justin back in. He hasn’t taken a huge part in training over the first three or four weeks in camp. He has started to train a lot more with the team now.
He will have time on Saturday to put him in contention for potentially a starting berth next week.
I thought Aaron (Shingler) and Josh (Navidi) did pretty well against Australia. Aaron was good defensively, the way he has matured from when he was first in the squad and the way he has played the last couple of years has been great, and Josh made a good impact and good impact off the bench last week (against Georgia). Q: What are you hoping for from your centre combination? A: Jamie Roberts comes onto the bench to add experience. It is a big game for Scott Williams on his 50th cap. Owen went pretty well against Australia, he defended well and his attacking options were pretty good. We thought 10-12 went pretty well against Australia and we are excited about those guys playing (in the centre) against a huge All Blacks back-line.
We have been criticised in the past for having the biggest backline in world rugby, now we have one of the smallest. We are not huge, but we were pleased with the way they defended against Australia and we will continue to build from an attacking point of view. Q: How daunting is the New Zealand challenge? A: People are saying things about the All Blacks at the moment – someone asked me the question the other day, looking for a headline, were they vulnerable – I don’t think the All Blacks are ever vulnerable.
Saturday is their last game of the tour, and they get a break after it. That makes them as dangerous as at any time. They are undefeated on this tour.
They know how to win, they know how to grind out performances and they know to come back.
The players realise what a big game it is, and they are really looking forward to it. Q: Does what happened with the Lions have any bearing? A: It has none. I spoke to Steve (Hansen) at a function this week and he told me the number of players they have used since the last World Cup, a huge number. The positive of that is it is developing depth and we are all working towards 2019.
As a group, we haven’t spoken about the summer and what happened in New Zealand. It is about Wales and us concentrating ourselves and preparing against a team, despite their number of injuries, is always going to produce and have quality players to play against. Q: A lot of teams have a high injury count, is there any reason for concern? A: I think so. Players are getting bigger, stronger and more powerful than they were in the past.
The collisions are absolutely huge, and the amount of pressure the body is coming under is something we need to be conscious of over coming years, the size of players and size of athletes and how powerful they are and obviously the number of injuries the top players are being exposed to and trying to protect them. Q: How much of a boost is George North coming back to Welsh rugby? A: It is massive, huge. We have seen the benefit of Jonathan Davies coming back from France with his form before his injury and George made a decision, which was not a financial one, he just thought this was the best time to come home at 25 and do the best for his rugby, which was to stay in Wales. Q: Do you have any influence on where George goes? A: It is up to him. With Ross Moriarty, I haven’t spoken to Ross Moriarty. I can guarantee you there has been no influence from the Union.
We made him an offer of a national dual contract that we felt was a reasonable figure, someone else has come in prepared to pay more money from their personal point of view.
All the regions are on a salary cap, they can’t go over that salary cap,