'We will surprise some teams in the World Cup by how good we will be'
Head coach Warren Gatland and captain Ken Owens are confident that Wales will make a World Cup impact despite an underwhelming Guinness Six Nations campaign.
Wales suffered a fourth defeat in five games when they were beaten 41-28 by France in Paris.
It meant they finished fifth in the tournament, with only Italy below them, although a gutsy second-half display that produced tries for Bradley Roberts, Tomos Williams and Rio Dyer delivered a losing bonus-point.
It was Wales’ 13th loss from the last 17 Tests, while Australia and Fiji loom large in their World Cup pool later this year, with only two teams going through to the quarter-finals.
Wales have just three games left before the World Cup opener against Fiji on September 10 – warm-up fixtures against England (twice) and South Africa in August.
“We will surprise some teams in the World Cup by how good we will be and how much we will improve having that time together to prepare,” Gatland said.
“We have taken steps in the right direction during this campaign but we have a lot of work to do.
“We have developed some youngsters who will learn from these experiences, and we will review stuff and what are the things we need to keep working on to not allow some of those soft tries we did concede.
“Today against a team like that when they get on top of you (Wales trailed 34-7 early in the second half), they can really punish you. A bit like the All Blacks.
“But the boys didn’t capitulate. They showed some heart and character. That is what we are looking for as a starting point.
“Some of the variation in the second half in terns of our game-management was much better. We put a few little kicks in behind and varied it nicely. I was pleased with the ambition of what the players were trying to achieve.”
Owens added: “From the outset, we knew we wouldn’t be in a 12-9 arm-wrestle. We knew we had to score tries and we showed that.
“I am confident we will get better the more time we have together with that conditioning work and putting ourselves under pressure in training.
“That will solve those inaccuracies in our game that we’ve seen throughout the tournament.
“Personally, for me and a lot of the boys, it probably will be our last Six Nations game. It’s got to come at some point.
“I have seen enough over the last eight weeks of the work that the players, management and coaches are putting in. One thing with Welsh people, we work very hard.
“The more time as a Welsh team we spend together, the better we get. We will raise some eyebrows at the World Cup.”
Wales led through an early George North try that Dan Biggar converted, yet France proved unstoppable on the occasions they reached for the turbo button.
Wing Damian Penaud (2) and centres Jonathan Danty and Gael Fickou scored tries, together with prop Uini Atonio, with full-back Thomas Ramos kicking five conversions and two penalties.
Wales, to their credit, kept going in the second half, with Biggar (twice) and Leigh Halfpenny adding conversions to tries that ensured France did not win by a landslide margin.
Owens, meanwhile, became a father again on Thursday, leaving Wales’ training camp in Nice two days earlier to be with his wife Carys, and then flew from Wales to Paris on Friday morning.
“Obviously, I haven’t trained much this week. That is probably why I was hooked (taken off) on 45 minutes,” Owens said.
“I was proud of Carys and becoming a father again. Everything went OK and it will be back to the family. Hopefully, Dwayne Peel (Scarlets head coach) will give me a nice little week off to enjoy with the family.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I 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.
19 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.
7 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.
19 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?
9 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.
9 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 commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments