Gatland admits Wales as his first Six Nations Have a long way to go back comes to an end
WARREN Gatland says that his Wales team are a long way off where they need to be as his first Six Nations back in charge comes to a close.
It’s been a testing tournament for Wales, with three defeats from four matches overshadowed by the threat of strike action as the uncertainty over contracts for next season and beyond has come to a head.
Earlier in the tournament, Gatland had admitted that his side were not nailing the big moments that you tend to do when winning is little more than a habit.
Back in 2019, that was the case with a lengthy winning run taking them to a Grand Slam, number one in the world and another run to a World Cup semi-final.
That run was defined by smart, streetwise performances by Wales where they always did just enough to win.
However, in this year’s Six Nations, those same big moments haven’t fallen their way - be it a lost lineout in an attacking position or a fluffed 22 entry.
The win over Italy - and the way that they forced their opponents into so many mistakes early on - was more like the sort of performance you’d associate with a Gatland side, even if it wasn’t perfect.
However, doing it against the best sides in the world - like France this weekend - is another matter.
And when asked how far he felt his side were away from consistently being able to nail those big moments in games, Gatland was candid in his assessment.
“A long way, at the moment,” he said. “Yeah, we’ve got a lot of work to do in terms of that.
“There are a lot of areas. We need to be in better shape physically as a group. That often fixes up a couple of those issues. You get a bit more clarity, you get set and into position.
“We’ve been working hard but we’ve definitely seen in a few training sessions where we’ve pushed them very hard physically and the accuracy went towards the end because we were blowing and fatigued.
“We weren’t accurate from a skill perspective and weren’t making the right decisions.
“That’s definitely a huge focus for us. You build confidence from that which we’ve done in the past.
“Other teams used to talk about how tough we were mentally and physically.
“If you look at that documentary where Rassie Erasmus talks about that World Cup semi-final and how tough the Welsh boys are and won’t go away.
“That’ll be a huge focus for us building over the next couple of months.
“We’ve got some skill work to do in terms of our passing and staying squarer and nailing those moments under pressure.
“We’ve missed some key line-outs, a ball lost at the back of a scrum, some passes that should have been made in the 22, we’ve probably not been accurate at some of the breakdowns in terms of making sure there is no separation with acceleration into contact.
“We’ve got a long way to go but we’ve been working hard on these areas each week.
“You’ve got to prioritise and focus on specific things because you can’t cover off everything.
“We’ve been trying to fix certain things up and doing a reasonable job of focusing on two or three things each week.”
In trying to land upon the right combinations, Gatland has made 26 changes between matches across the tournament.
Those changes have seen young players like Joe Hawkins, Mason Grady and Christ Tshiunza given game-time, only to not feature in the final match in Paris.
With their Six Nations races run,
Gatland admitted that the likes of Hawkins, Grady and Tshiunza still have a fair way to go ahead of the World Cup in France later this year.
“Absolutely,” he said. “They would have learned a huge amount already. That’s why we gave those guys a chance and a second chance.
“Some of them do have stuff they need to do and there is quite a lot of work still to do.
“We’re confident we’ll get the in depth detail on that stuff during that
World Cup preparation.
“We said we were going to make those changes. Right from the very start we said we were going to give the younger members of the squad some experience at this level to try and develop them.
“Probably for this game we wouldn’t have made quite so many changes but we needed to freshen a few things up.
“This is a big game to see where some of those experienced players are at.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do with younger players in the squad in terms of in depth coaching over the next few months and tidying up areas where they have made mistakes.
“We need to get the opportunity to nail that off in the next few months so we’ve probably picked a bit more experience for this match.”
Gatland, going up against his former assistant Shaun Edwards for the first time, is more than aware of the threats of France - saying he can easily recognise the hallmarks of the man who ran his defence for over a decade.
But he’s also insistent that this current group of Welsh players has gone well against the French in recent years.
“We’ve also spoken in the group that there are a lot of our players who have had a lot of success against France,” he said.
“We’ve got a good record in the last number of years – you can go back to the 100-minute game, they probably should have won in 2021, and last year was extremely close as well.
“There is no lack of confidence and self-belief we’re capable of doing it, but it’s about being accurate.
“We know we’re up against the No. 2 team in the world who are going to be tough to beat at home.”