Warren Gatland is one of the most successful coaches in rugby history for a reason. Having masterminded what he described as the best victory in his long career against England at Twickenham last weekend, his thoughts on the ride home turned to how to prepare for the game against Fiji five days later, knowing that defeat would undo all the gains garnered at the home of the hosts.
It meant ensuring that his players did not dwell on the immediate past and focused solely on what lay ahead. On Tuesday morning he announced his team to face Fiji to his squad, who had no idea whether he would make any changes that were not enforced by injuries, especially at forward where Wales struggled in the set pieces against England.
He confined himself to doing no more than he had to and replacing three injured backs but at the moment – before a light training session in the morning and a short, intense one in the afternoon – some players might have relaxed, thinking that all was well in the world, he had them back on full alert.
“I gave them a bit of a rocket after naming the team,” he said. “I said to them that while the morning training session would be lighter, I would be looking at their intensity in the afternoon. I told them that if I saw that anyone’s body language was not right, I would change them [in the side]. The challenge we face now is not physical but mental and our job as coaches is to make sure that they are mentally right.
“We have a very simple mantra about working and training hard and it has been successful for us. We talk about what it means to pull on the jersey and what respect involves and training with an intensity we can replicate on match day, simple philosophies. I am very lucky to have a team of analysts, medics and coaches who are world class. It makes a difference when you have quality people.”
The Wales flanker Dan Lydiate, along with his fellow back-rower Taulupe Faletau, will be winning his 50th cap on Thursday, all of them earned under Gatland. He puts down the New Zealander’s success, with teams that cannot be described as fashionable, Wasps, Waikato and Wales, to his ability to maintain the interest of those in his charge and never allow them to become complacent, not even after a historic victory over England.
“He still surprises us,” said Lydiate. “When we came into the selection announcement this morning, everyone was wondering what he would do. Would he keep it the same? Would he mix it up? He keeps everyone on their toes and that is how it should be. No one has ever taken their place in the side for granted and it seems to be working so far.
“He said after announcing the team to play Fiji that the session in the morning would be low-key, going through our moves and everything, but in the afternoon he wanted intensity. He said he would be looking at the GPS numbers to see how hard we were running and watching the boys’ body language. He said that if anyone walked round the pitch thinking they could take it easy, they would suffer the consequences. He said that if anyone was brave enough to test that theory, go ahead. I was like, all right, I will be flat out this afternoon.
“When we train he looks for intensity. If we have done a defensive drill and then switch over to attack, you sprint to the next drill, not walk over. If we are talking about a drill or what needs to happen here and there, we do so on the run, not have a cup of tea and a five-minute chat, which means the intensity goes straight away. It is that sort of mindset. We know we are in a good place after Twickenham but it is vital we get our training right in the next two days so that we go into the Fiji game at full tilt.”
There is a tradition in the Wales squad for a player who wins his 50th cap: they have to stand up and sing a song to the rest of the group after the end of the match. Lydiate has yet to decide which number he will murder. “I will be on my iPod tonight,” he said. “Not much planning has gone into this.” Not something that could ever be said about a team prepared by Gatland.
