Ruthless Gatland backs Hill for Japan
Warren Gatland combined ruthlessness with risk-taking yesterday as he unveiled a squad he believes can win the World Cup.
The coach has gambled on the fitness of Cory Hill after receiving assurances the second-row will be available for the second group match against australia despite a stress fracture of his leg.
Gatland has also axed veteran props rob evans and Samson Lee, opting for the seriously raw rhys Carre and Dillon Lewis.
Decisions were made in a marathon three-hour selection meeting with lieutenants rob Howley, Shaun edwards, neil Jenkins and robin McBryde.
Debate surrounded Hill, the selection of five props, not six, the back-up fly-half and the final slot in a five-strong back-three.
‘It’s good enough to win the World Cup,’ Gatland said.
‘In the past when you’ve picked a World Cup squad, you may have been happy with 24 or 25 players and the others are making up the numbers. You’re not sure about their quality. But this time we’ve left out some class players.’
Gatland is often a gambler, and he has rolled the dice by selecting the injured Hill. That decision took most deliberation; the 27year-old has a high-ankle stressfracture that originally did not show up when scanned earlier this summer.
So keen was Gatland to pick Hill, who he has always backed since taking him to new Zealand as one of the infamous ‘Geography Six’ Lions in 2017, that he asked national medical manager Prav Mathema to consult the Welsh Fa — who have experience of rushing footballers back from leg breaks.
The verdict was that Hill should be fit for australia. If it were Fiji, the third pool game, the player would have stayed at home. He travels to Swansea this week to use an oxygen chamber to aid recovery, and still has a few targets to hit before Wales fly on September 11, but for Gatland it is worth the risk.
‘Cory is important to the group with his experience and his lineout calling, and he did a great job as co-captain in argentina last year,’ he said. ‘He is a good athlete, so we are not worried from a conditioning point of view.
‘With a different type of player, it definitely would have been a concern, but he has been doing a lot of off-feet conditioning and will continue to do that.’
Two who are fit but discarded are 36-cap evans and 41-cap Lee. Gatland plumped for Carre and Lewis, with Wyn Jones the loosehead prop preparing to cover the tight side. Scott Williams, Owen Lane — who scored on debut against Ireland on Saturday — and Jarrod evans were left out, too, with Owen Watkin, Hallam amos and rhys Patchell doing enough to make it instead.
The 31 selected have 1,067 capsworth of experience between them, and more than that Gatland believes they are a fearless, resilient bunch to match the best in the world.
‘We’re not hiding away from the expectation,’ Gatland said of Wales’s chances at the World Cup.
‘We’re not afraid of playing anyone. The way the draw is, you wouldn’t meet the all Blacks until the final if you get that far. You need a bit of luck but you need a bit of that confidence and selfbelief and we’ve got that.
‘We’ve put in good performances and had some positive results in the last 18 months. We’re a team who can bounce back and who don’t give up.’