Ramsey has to pinch himself as he finally gets to take on World
AARON Ramsey admits he is having to pinch himself ahead of Wales’ first World Cup campaign since 1958.
While it is five months since Wales secured qualification following an emotion-charged victory over Ukraine, departure day for Qatar topped up excitement levels and underlined that the dream is now reality.
More than a third of Ramsey’s 75 Wales caps have been won in World Cup qualifying games during a 14-year international career.
Now, though, he will finally perform on football’s biggest stage, emulating star performers of 64 years ago such as John Charles, Ivor Allchurch and Cliff Jones.
“It’s absolutely huge, and for us to achieve it is amazing,” midfielder Ramsey said.
“You can feel the buzz around the place, and hopefully we can go out there and give a good account of ourselves.
“All these great teams we’ve had in the past, all these great players, they’ve come so close, but to actually do it, this has been many years in the making.
“We have come such a long way.
“Now for it to be a reality, now it is starting to really strike home that we are less than a week away.
“You have to pinch yourself. It’s brilliant for us as a country.
“I am certainly looking forward to it.
“It might be similar to the Euros (2016) when we first walked out. It is going to be really special.
“The spirit and togetherness we have is part of the reason for our success. We are a very tightly-knit team, and I think that is evident in the way we play.”
Wales face the United States in their World Cup opener on Monday, and Ramsey arrives in the tournament fully fit and raring to go.
“For me, it has just been focusing on taking every game as it comes and making sure I am doing the right things and ticking things off as the weeks go by,” added Ramsey, who joined French club Nice from Juventus in August.
“I am feeling good. The staff in Nice have been brilliant, and I’ve got a couple of people I work with on the side as well.
“I have played quite a few minutes, and there were a lot of positives to going there.
“It is a great project to be a part of, playing at the highest level and playing in Europe.
“It felt like that was the best place for me to be at this time.”
Wales’ last two experiences of major championships saw them reach the knockout phase each time, including a semi-final appearance at Euro 2016.
The top two from a World Cup group that also includes England and Iran will qualify for the round of 16 in Qatar.
“We are just going to concentrate on the first game, but we want to get out of our group,” Ramsey said.
“In knockout football anything can happen, as we all know. The first game is massively important.”
WAYNE Pivac has explained why he’s preparing to hand Exeter second-row Dafydd Jenkins a Wales debut as Alun Wyn Jones missed out on selection for the second weekend in a row.
Jenkins was called up by Wales on Monday after injuries to Will Rowlands and Dan Lydiate, with the 19-year-old only in camp this week before returning to the English club ahead of the autumn finale against Australia.
And after being named on the bench for the clash with Georgia, the Wales U20s second-row is in line for a first Test appearance.
As for former captain Jones, occasions where he’s not been involved in back-to-back Wales Tests when fit are few and far between.
That’s the case this week though as he once again was not included in the matchday 23 after also missing out against Argentina.
After former Springbok prop Tendai Mtawarira called upon Jones to retire after the All Blacks match, the 37-yearold hasn’t featured since.
However, Pivac, while singing the praises of uncapped Jenkins, insisted that Jones would likely feature against the Wallabies.
“We’re looking at this week with also an eye on next week,” said Pivac. “Dafydd is available this week, but not next week.
“He’s back on the playing field and in a leadership role at Exeter, so we think it is a good time to get him in the environment.
“He’s been in camp before helping us prep for South Africa and did well in a live internal match.
“We want to have a look at him and think this is the obvious time do that, and Al will be fresh for next week.”
Jenkins had previously been tipped as a ‘bolter’ for next year’s World Cup, while he’s been involved in previous Wales camps without being called up. With Pivac needing more second-row talent to come through, Jenkins’ emergence could be perfectly timed.
“We’ll see won’t we,” added Pivac. “He’s certainly going well in training.
“The first session today, the classroom work yesterday. He’s a fast
learner, he’s picked everything up straight away and did well in training this morning in the unit work.
“It’s an opportunity for him to go well again this afternoon and he’s very much looking forward to hopefully getting on the park on Saturday and showing what he can do.
“He’s a big man, he’s only young as you say but he’s got quite a bit of experience for his age already as you alluded to with Exeter.
“With Rob Baxter having him in the leadership group there, and he’s captained the side last weekend, it speaks volumes of how he’s thought about there.”