Players ‘on edge’ as they are so keen to impress Gats, says Beard

ADAM Beard says players in the Wales camp are currently ‘on edge’ around boss Warren Gatland because they are so eager to impress him ahead of today’s Six Nations opener.

Wales kick off their campaign at home to Ireland in what will be the first match of Gatland’s second stint in charge, and Beard says there’s a crackling atmosphere in the camp this week as the players look to meet their coach’s expectations.

“He [Gatland] does a lot on emotions and he’s great at getting the guys up for a Test week,” he said.

“He’s not focusing too much on the game, but driving standards. There are a lot of boys on edge around him because they just want to raise the bar and impress him. That’s great for the squad because it brings competition for places. It has been a great week of preparation.

“Obviously he has different methods to Wayne in terms of how he presents his stuff and how he speaks in the week. But a lot of the stuff is still the same. They like to bring a lot of stuff we’ve done through the regions. It isn’t too much of a change. That’s the challenge with these Six Nations blocks.

“You don’t get a lot of time together. You perhaps get one week of learning and then you’re into a Test week.

“You don’t want to put too much on the players too early or you can be undercooked. You want to do stuff you’ve done with a region and then you’re flying within that first week.

“Maybe that’s the benefit of having six of the Ospreys pack, we’ve got that cohesion. We’ve got a lot of stuff we’ve worked on previously so we can just get on with it.”