Warburton's bold prediction for Wales' tour of South Africa
Sam Warburton insists Wales can prove their doubters wrong and spring a summer series shock when they travel to world champions South Africa next month.
Wayne Pivac’s side slipped to a fifth-place finish in this year’s Guinness Six Nations and will now do battle with the Springboks on a tough-looking three-Test tour.
Former Wales skipper Warburton, who racked up 74 caps between 2009 and 2017, knows the men in red have a habit of delivering when the chips are down and says winning one Test match can lay down a statement ahead of next year’s World Cup.
The 33-year-old said: “They’ve got a three-Test series in South Africa and I think one away win is achievable.
“There’s a lot of negative press going around saying about how many injuries they’re going to have, but when the squad was actually announced, I looked at it and I thought that the field’s going to be really strong and really good.
“There’s something about Wales that when the chips are down, everyone writes them off, but we are better than what people think.
“Of course South Africa are going to be red-hot favourites to win the Test series, but I do fancy Wales for one victory.
“It’s going to be arguably the hardest summer tour we’ve had for a long time, but if Wales can get one victory out of three, that will be successful.”
Boss Pivac announced a 33-man squad for the South African tour last month before this week adding 21-year-old prop Harri O’Connor to his ranks.
Wales suffered a shock 22-21 defeat against minnows Italy in the final round of this year’s Guinness Six Nations but former flanker Warburton, a two-time Championship winner in 2012 and 2013, believes they can bounce back in style this summer.
“It’s a strange one – I haven’t seen Wales lose to Italy since I was a young boy, so you have very proud records against certain teams,” he added.
“I was so disappointed as a Welshman and as a fan, just gutted for the players and coaches because I know them and I work with them as a player and as a coach, so you know how much effort you put into those.
“But, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I made plenty of mistakes in my career, much worse than what they did in the Six Nations.
“So, I think if Wales can bounce back and have a really good, respectable campaign in South Africa and then slowly start building towards the World Cup.
“I’m always glass half-full and think things happen for a reason – I think it will sharpen the mind of the Welsh team and they will come back better.”
Land Rover ambassador Warburton was speaking at this season’s Gallagher Premiership Rugby Final, where he met hundreds of youngsters from the national grassroots initiative, the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup.
Warburton’s positive mentality spanned over all aspects of the Welsh team as the rugby icon reflected on the difficulties Pivac continues to face as an international coach.
He said: “Wales have adopted a slightly different style. I worked with [Pivac] for a year as a coach and I really liked him, which is why Wales have kept faith in him and it’s a learning experience for everybody involved in that Welsh team.
“Even someone like Warren Gatland, who’s been an enormous success in Wales, there were some quiet years in those 10 years as well and then people would be calling for his head.
“I know it’s tough for the Welsh public but I just say: be a bit patient and we are going to be in a period of transition.
“We might not have immediate success but if you’re putting the right building blocks in place then in a few years’ time we should be back to where we were.”
Sam Warburton is a Land Rover ambassador. For more information on the new Range Rover visit landrover.co.uk
By Megan Armitage, Sportsbeat
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments