After watching his Wales team kick off their Six Nations campaign in stunning style against Scotland , Warren Gatland gave his thoughts to the media.
It’s safe to say he wasn’t surprised by the scoreline!
Q: Was that the afternoon you would have written for yourself if you had the chance?
A: It was an afternoon I was expecting the way we have gone in the last couple of weeks. There was definitely a quiet confidence in the squad.
The guys have been outstanding in their preparation and we did go into the game expecting to win and reasonably comfortably.
I said that to the chief executive at training yesterday. He asked me how I thought we would go and I said I thought we would win by 20. He was a little bit shocked but I said that’s how well we have trained.
In fairness to the guys they have been excellent in the last couple of weeks.
Q: What aspects of the performance pleased you particularly?
A: I thought we defended superbly. There were obviously a lot of attacking threats from Scotland and we had to cope with that. Apart from the soft try at the end, the defence was outstanding.
Getting the bonus point was pretty pleasing as well. We probably left two or three tries out on the pitch as well, so there’s improvement for us to do. Hopefully as a squad we will get better for next week.
Q: What are your thoughts on that trip to Twickenham next week?
A: I have said a few weeks ago that the Six Nations draw was great for us. We have got England and Ireland away. Often in my time here, we have had pretty tough opening weekends in the Championship. Getting Scotland first up at home was great for us to get an opportunity to get off to a winning start.
Obviously there were a lot of players who were involved at Murrayfield last year who wanted to make up for that disappointment, with it being the first time Wales had lost to Scotland for a long while.
We are pleased to start off with a bonus point win. We go next week to a venue where we have had a lot of success in the last ten years and played well there, so we are looking forward to it.
Q: Leigh Halfpenny came into the game with his position under scrutiny. Was that as good a performance as you have seen from him in recent times?
A: We have been working with Leigh in terms of staying square and he has been working hard on his footwork and staying a little bit more upright. He tended to get a little bit low in his carries, so there has been a lot of work on that. It was definitely a confidence-building performance from him.
To me, he is the best defensive full-back in the world, with his positional play. His work-rate is absolutely phenomenal when you see the numbers after a game and look at how hard he has worked compared to anybody else and the amount of metres he has covered.
So it’s pleasing to see him get some confidence from an attacking perspective and then to also finish it with a fantastic goal-kicking display.
Q: Was that win all the more satisfying given the players you are missing in terms of what it says about the strength in depth?
A: That’s what we have been talking about.
We haven’t spoken at all about the injuries and players being unavailable.
I said to the players there are no excuses this week. The players that are coming in, they all believe in their own ability and a lot of them think they are better than the players that are not involved.
If you go through it, we lost Jake Ball and Cory Hill has been one of the most improved players with Wales in the last few years, we have got Moriarty coming in for Faletau, we have got Navidi who was outstanding in the autumn and there’s a lot of competition in that position. You’ve got Gareth Davies for Rhys Webb, you’ve got Jonathan Davies out, but Scott Williams in the midfield and the two wingers have been playing with a lot of confidence as well.
The guys that have come, the way they have prepared has been brilliant. Our focus has definitely been on developing that depth for 2019.
Q: All the points came from Scarlets players. Have you seen their regional form transferred out onto the pitch?
A: What’s been hard coming into these campaigns is in the last six years we haven’t had a team involved in the quarter-finals of Europe, so you’ve had players coming in with a lack of confidence and self-belief in their own ability. That makes a huge difference to us as a squad. Players are in a good frame of mind coming in this year. It’s been hard at times in the past when we’ve had to put regional form to one side and just concentrate on the national set-up. So having that group of players coming in having performed well in the last 18 months or so has definitely been a positive for the squad.
Source
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/warren-gatland-wales-v-scotland-14242880