The days between the end of the World Cup pool games and the start of the knockout phase are some of the hardest to navigate. Most players are either relieved, tired, bruised or undercooked, and refocusing their minds is not easy.
An ability to grab teams by the lapels and jolt them into sudden-death mode is what separates the best coaches from the rest and Warren Gatland is consistently brilliant at it – hence the reason why Wales, who might have expected a few days’ mental respite following their brutal contest with Australia, have been on the receiving end of a few home truths this week. Gatland has been telling it like it is, particularly highlighting his team’s failure to score when their opponents were reduced to 13 men last Saturday. The message has been blunt: fail to execute cleanly and think clearly against South Africa and inevitable disappointment awaits.
Wales will also require all the resolve they can muster but experience has taught Gatland his forwards will not fall short in that regard. What he is now seeking is the kind of rarified performance level that cannot be generated by patting everyone on the back and congratulating them on reaching the last eight. “I think you’ve got to be hard on the players as there’s a huge amount at stake,” Gatland said. “At this level it’s about taking some risks. The best players in the world look at the percentages and the degree of risk and often make the right decision.
“That’s what we’ve talked about this week, about players hopefully making the right decisions under pressure. We didn’t do that last Saturday. We keep saying to them that being critical is about making them better players. We don’t want to make excuses.”
The memory of the 2011 World Cup semi-final, when the red card shown to his captain, Sam Warburton, helped to scupper Wales’s chances of reaching the final, is also clearly motivating Wales. Several of the team’s senior players were involved that day and scarcely need telling such opportunities come around infrequently. For Warburton, Alun Wyn Jones, Gethin Jenkins and co, all hugely respected Lions, missing the final fortnight entirely would be hugely painful, as England can testify.
Gatland’s men, accordingly, have been challenged to think their way past South Africa as much as bludgeoning straight at the Boks defensive line. Their head coach pointed to his side’s quarter-final victory over Ireland four years ago, when the Irish were tactically neutered, and has been working on something similar this time.
“You have to be prepared to do something different. One or two subtle changes can catch a team. We’ve done a couple of things this week that hopefully South Africa haven’t seen yet.”
The team sheet, at least, will be largely familiar, with Dan Lydiate and Gethin Jenkins back in the starting lineup and the 20-year-old Tyler Morgan at outside centre, with George North reverting to the wing in place of the injured Liam Williams. If Wales’s pack had been as reduced as their back division they would stand almost no chance but Warburton, for one, believes that defeating a southern hemisphere side “when it matters” is still a realistic goal. “I’m always the optimist. If it’s Tottenham against Manchester United I always think Tottenham will win. We’ve had some good, tough games to prepare us well and have an excellent chance of winning.”
As the jumbo jets on the Heathrow flight path roared over the team’s Weybridge base – the ghost supposedly haunting their hotel must be a plane-spotter – Gatland also emphasised that Wales’s struggle to emerge from the ultra-competitive Pool A might also count in their battle-hardened favour if they survive their Springboks examination.
“There are a few teams that will be undercooked. Whether our pool’s been too hard or not we’ll see on Saturday.” He also took the opportunity to share a conversation he had with the Australian captain, Stephen Moore, at a Buckingham Palace reception for the teams this week. Moore, according to Gatland, suggested the Wallabies had found the Wales encounter “a lot tougher than the week before”, when they beat England 33-13.
By the time he reached the subject of the referee Wayne Barnes – “ I think Wayne is refereeing the best he has for a long time … I didn’t feel that 12 months ago but he has his mojo back … in the past, he was refereeing to the assessors” – it had long since turned into a vintage Gatland session. More than ever he gives a straight answer to a straight question and lets others interpret his words as they wish, trusting in his own team’s ability to be competitive regardless of the opposition.
“We know how tough it’s going to be but the last couple of times we’ve played them we’ve come away feeling pretty positive. We had nearly 60% of possession and territory over Australia. We’ve come on as a team. We used to hang on by our fingernails in a match but we don’t feel like that now.”
He knows he can always rely on the redoubtable Jones, who is about to win his 100th Test cap. The Ospreys lock says it will mean rather more if and when he reaches a century of caps and is refusing to look beyond this weekend. If Wales fail to reach the last four it will not be for lack of character.
