England star names Wales' four best players and the 'freak' who can change everything
England international Anthony Watson has backed Wales to turn around their miserable run of form at the Six Nations after being boosted by having their "four best players" in the squad together.
Warren Gatland's side head into the tournament on a record losing run of 12 Test matches, which included a first whitewash for over 20 years in last year's competition. While they are desperate to avoid another humilating wooden spoon, they face a tough start as they open the tournament with a trip to Paris to face title favourites France.
But Watson - who last week announced his retirement from rugby on medical grounds - believes Wales will be a different animal to last year having welcomed back the trio of Josh Adams, Liam Williams and Taulupe Faletau from injury, with the talismanic Jac Morgan also fighting fit. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
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Appearing on the For the Love of Rugby podcast with hosts Ben Youngs and Dan Cole, the 30-year-old said the return of Faletau will be particularly transformative, as he described his former Bath teammate as a "freak" who will make Wales "infinitely better on his own".
"I think Wales have got their four best players, in my opinion, coming back," he said. "Josh Adams, Liam Williams, Toby Faletau and Jac Morgan all fit and firing make that a significantly better Welsh team, no debates.
"If you add those four or five players if you include Jac Morgan and Tommy Reffell - who is another huge player for them - I think Wales will be a much better outfit than they were in the autumn. They've got elite players across the board, I think.
"If we look at an individual, someone I played with a lot, Faletau, he's won games for Bath on his own when he was there and I think he can do that for Wales again," Watson added. "He picks people up and just takes the team forward."
"I know he's been out for a long time, but I saw some of the highlights of him playing for Cardiff the other day, and the guy is just an absolute freak. He definitely makes them infinitely better, just on his own."
Agreeing with the former England wing, Youngs added: "No.8s influence the game and he's one that does that. It doesn't matter whether he's been out for a long time which he has, he slots in and there's something to be said for when you are in a changing room and you look around and there's the likes of Faletau, Liam Williams, Josh Adams, the guys who have just been there and done it.
"That reassures all those young lads who have had a torrid time of it, it's bloody hard on them. They suddenly look around the changing room and there’s actually a belief there, because they give off this presence, they give off this belief. When those guys come back in, it's like, ‘well, yeah, we lost all our fixtures in a year, but we weren’t there’. It's a fresh start almost. I feel like that's what they need.
"Sadly, it can't get any worse [for Wales]," the scrum-half continued. "In a way, that actually kind of frees them up, because the expectation of Wales, there isn't one. No one really knows. If they pull out a win, it's going to be like, ‘oh, I didn't even expect that’, so in a way that kind of frees them up. Not that they won’t be feeling pressure.
"But if you look at some of the names returning, they're going to start driving training and driving standards and going into games expecting to win. For the last year, they’ve spent it not having those figures in there to go ‘this is how it’s done, this is how you win internationals and this is what training looks like’
Cole also weighed in, saying the return of key players for Wales was "massive". He added: "There’s a lot of leadership in that group. That has a role to play, even if it's around the squad, showing how you approach training, how you bring it day in and day out, how you analyse stuff, how you teach people what to do.
"You look at Wales over the past years, they’ve lost so many hundred-cappers almost in the lead up to the World Cup, with Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and then Dan Biggar. They lost a huge amount of experience there and it was almost like cold turkey, starting afresh after the World Cup.
"Now you start dripping fellas back into that with experience after these young guys have had a couple of years of tough games but playing international rugby, you bring experience in to help guide that, they’ll be better than they were."
Youngs went on to warn that Wales' opening night clash with France will not "be as bad as people fear" and that they will "come out swinging" and could cause England to "slip up" when they meet in Cardiff on Super Saturday. But despite all that, the Leicester Tigers man later admitted he couldn't see past another Welsh wooden spoon, leaving Watson baffled.
"I know I’ve talked them up, but I think that they will come sixth," said Youngs. "I’m going to go Italy fifth, Scotland fourth, Ireland third, England second and I'm going France first, but not a Grand Slam.
Reacting to Wales' placement in that predicted table, Watson replied: "That is just ridic-... I can’t believe it," before adding that he thinks Gatland's men will avoid the wooden spoon, but also won't trouble the top of the table.
"Interesting," he added. "I disagree with it all entirely. I think England [to win], then Scotland, Ireland, France. Wales, Italy.
"England are tough to beat, so I think that even when they lose, it will be tight and I think England's attack has come on a fair amount to the point where they can go and get bonus points, so that's what I'm going with."
