Warren Gatland Q&A: My new pick has impressed me and the million dollar question
Warren Gatland has named his Wales team for the must-win Six Nations with Italy in Rome on Saturday.
Eddie James is handed a first start in midfield, while Taulupe Faletau is in line for his first Welsh appearance in 16 months.
Here is everything Gatland had to say afterwards...
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How important is it to have Faletau back?
“He wasn’t quite ready for last week but now he’s ready to go. It's a real confidence booster for us."
What does he bring?
"Just experience and probably a little bit of x-factor. We know what an outstanding player he’s been in the past for Wales. He hasn't had a lot of games in the last few years. But just having him back gives everyone a lot of confidence."
What will Eddie James bring to the midfield?
“With Eddie, it's about giving him that opportunity and confidence. I've been impressed. He’s not just a big guy in terms of being able to carry the ball forward but he’s got some lovely skills and hands. We’ve been encouraging him to do that with some of his passing and offloading game. Obviously he gives us an opportunity to get over the gain line with his size and stuff. As all Scarlets players tend to be, he's pretty horizontal in terms of being calm and relaxed so hopefully he goes out there and makes the most of it."
How has Aaron Wainwright been this week, with his injury?
“With the cut on his face, I spoke to him early in the week and he said he was 100% keen to be available. He wasn't looking at any opportunity to not put himself in contention to be selected. He didn’t get much time last week so it’s good to see him back and hopefully having an impact off the bench."
That's yet another new centre partnership you've turned to - how important is stability in midfield?
“What you're trying to do is have combinations that are settled and build experience and partnerships over a period. Unfortunately, with Owen being injured, its been a forced change on us. For a number of years now, there’s been lots of different combinations. it's trying to settle on a midfield. It's important for the team going forward, with the nine and 10 inside and the back-three as well, having that solidity in midfield."
What have you worked on in attack, after being kept scoreless last week?
"The message to the players was that there were times and opportunities to put the ball through our hands and pass. It's to make sure we take those opportunities. I thought there was some good stuff on counter-attack. It's probably just about holding our feet and keeping depth. At time we were guilty of being lateral as well. It’s making sure we are square, take those opportunities and look to put ball through our hands."
Has it been good to be in Nice this week, away from the pressure back home?
“I don't think there's been any pressure here. It's been good, the weather's been fantastic. Having that opportunity to have a camp together, because you don't get a huge amount of preparation. We had four or five training sessions before that first game, which was tough, with players having to go back to their clubs. Just being able to have the guys here, have some time together and bond as a squad is a real positive."
What do you make of the challenge posed by Italy?
“What impressed me about them was their fight. They were down, but they took their threes. Got back to 19-12, then the intercept made it 19-19 and they're in the game. They are a team who wont go away. They’ll compete hard at the breakdown - we know that - and are a tough team to go away."
For such an important game, how do you approach it internally?
"We’ve spoken about that as a group, just about how important this game is for us. The players have responded well, in terms of taking some leadership and ownership this week. They're aware of how important this game is."
Morale in camp still seems upbeat - how is that?
"You try and be positive as much as you possibly can. You try not to look at the white noise from the outside. That’s hugely important. Being down here and away from things is definitely a positive for us as a group. We are focusing on ourselves and preparing for this week."
How important is it to win this weekend?
"Every game is important. People throw out comments like it's a must-win game but you never talk about that as a group. You never say it's a must-win game, you just make sure you do the right things as a group and the preparation. Those things tend to take of themselves. We possibly didn’t express ourselves as much as we could have last week. There were some opportunities. We've spoken about being calm and relaxed, particularly on attack. Holding our feet. When there are the chances, making sure we execute them."
You've made only a few changes to last weekend - is that a sign of faith in the team to make things right?
"There's two ways to look at that. We looked at the game and some of our contact area was really good. There’s a few things we needed to fix up. We probably got a bit narrow on a couple of cross-kicks so just keeping the width on those. We conceded a couple of maul tries, which we've focused on this week. Even the break Dupont has made, Daf Jenkins has said he’s just been caught a little bit there and the pass has probably gone two or three metres forward!
"Some of those are easy fixes for us. When you're looking at picking a squad, if you make three or four changes, do those players feel like they've been made the scapegoat? There's a couple of forced changes, but there's an opportunity for those guys to go out and do what we did well last week, but also an opportunity to fix some things to change the performance."
Last weekend, you made the most passes and least kicks of any side in the Six Nations. Would you be disappointed if that was still the case this weekend?
"It's just the balance. We did a heat map on us and France. They made most of their tackles in the middle of the park and we tended to make a lot of our tackles around the 22. It’s just getting the balance right and not overplaying, when you get the opportunity to put the ball behind a team and put then under pressure. Some of our kick stuff was excellent, and then other times we've probably ended up playing through too many phases. We weren't on the front foot. That's something that's addressed this week in trying to get that balance right."
How close has Joe Roberts been to selection as the only natural 13 in the squad?
“For Joe, he hasn’t been involved with us a huge amount. He’s come back from that knee injury and hasn’t had a lot of rugby. We probably went with some more experience last week. I didn’t feel like for this game it was fair to isolate one or two players and not give them that opportunity. Joe is someone we’ve got a lot of time for and hopefully he does end up with an opportunity. He’s got a left foot which gives us some variation and he's definitely one for the future.”
Is this the biggest game of your time in charge in Wales?
"I haven’t seen any of the external pressure. I try stay away from that stuff. It’s just making sure we focus on ourselves. If you absorb yourself in that, I don't see it as being positive in trying to portray to the players what we're asking them to do. We're asking them to be positive and have confidence and self belief. I look at every game as being very important."
How important is the first 20 minutes in Rome?
"I was happy with the start of last week. Nil-all after 17 minutes. Looking back on that, I'm thinking that probably another 10 minutes of that and the pressure starts to go on them a little bit, with the expectation of the crowd. We potentially let them off the hook a little bit with a loose ball that's been kicked through which they capitalised on. It's important to start well though. The thing with the Italian team is when they're in the fight and in the game, that's when they are hard to put away so we’ve got to make sure we start well, look at taking points and put scoreboard pressure on them."
Scotland exposed Italy's midfield at times - is that a place to target?
"I spoke about the way that Finn Russell controlled the game last week and how flat he played, the pressure he put them under. Scotland attacked on occasion really well. We've spoken about where we can expose them a little bit. They do come really hard off the line, but that gives you some opportunities to look at exploiting that and getting behind."
Have you been impressed by the morale in camp despite results?
"That's something we've all conscious as a staff. How do we be positive and take the pressure off the players in terms of young men? They're well aware of the situation they're in and they're desperate to go out there and perform well. I looked at some of the individuals last week and they gave us everything. They really tried hard. If they continue to do that, we need the bounce of the ball and a bit of luck as well which would help, but you've just got to keep being as positive as you possibly can. For us as coaches we need to stay calm and allow them the confidence to go out there and express themselves."
Where is Faletau at in terms of Test performance given his age and injuries?
"That's the million dollar question. The way he's trained has been good. We had him in the autumn when he was still recovering from his shoulder, but he was running around and taking a significant part in training. He looked really sharp in the autumn. He wasn’t quite right last week with his knee. It’s been tough on him and it's been hard with the injuries he's had over the last number of years. Hopefully for him, we're looking for some of those special traits he has to get us on the front-foot and hopefully inspire those around him."
How do you inspire confidence given the position you're in?
“It’s making sure that we are clear in terms of the messaging we are giving the players. Training well as a group and then coming away from training, feeling good about the way you've prepared. That's the way we can do that. Everyone is aware of the situation but it’s not something that is a part of everyday conversation. You're talking to individuals about their own performance, giving them confidence and making sure there's some self-belief in them going out there and delivering for us."
It's unusual for Italy to be favourites. Can you use that to your advantage?
“Not at the moment. It's definitely something we haven’t spoken about it so far. Possibly in the past, if that was the case with Italy, they’ve liked the underdogs tag and it's been easy for them to motivate themselves with it. I didn’t even know they were favourites. It’s just a game of rugby. Both teams have to prepare. I don't think we look at who are favourites and who are not favourites."
Does this game feel bigger than Grand slam deciders?
“No it doesn’t. To be honest, we've been saying for a while, we knew the situation we're in with the amount of players and experience we’ve lost. We’ve been in some close games but unfortunately we haven't been able to get over the line. We're know we're in a bit of a rebuilding phase. It's definitely not the biggest game in Wales in the last 20 years It's an important game for us. We're well aware we've got some other tough games in this competition. We're desperate to get a win. That's the most important thing. It's definitely not the biggest game Wales have had in 20 years."
What could a win do for you?
"Just getting the monkey of your back, growing some confidence and players can put their shoulders back and stand a bit taller. That's the important thing. I know how hard they're working and trying. They're desperate to get that W."
