#Wales Rugby World Cup preview: Warren Gatland’s side could not be in better shape"

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Wales Rugby World Cup preview: Warren Gatland's side could not be in better shape https://ift.tt/34zZoru

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Wales Rugby World Cup preview: Warren Gatland’s side could not be in better shape

So & # 39; The Best Team in the World & # 39; go to the World Cup as 11-1 outsiders with many bookmakers.

It is not often a number 1 team – the Wales were short last month – they are so unknown by those who hoard the dosh.

But that is where we are with Wales in a strange position; well prepared, full of energy, momentum, talent, a consistent run of form, perhaps the best team they've ever had, with the best coach they've ever had … but are in the uncomfortable position of blinking on the radar she so desperate to fly under.

So will they shine or fade brightly in Japan ? Are they worth five? And how are you going to spend the £ 60 if Alun Wyn Jones cancels the Webb Ellis Cup on November 2?

All that food and more, Sportsmail judge Wales chances for the Rugby World Cup.

Warren Gatland wants to mark in style by leading Wales to their first World Cup triumph

How do they look at it? am

Australia, September 29 8.45 am

Fiji, October 9 10.45 am

Uruguay, October 13 9.15 am [1945903]

Really very well.

OK, they have just lost two major players to injuries – and they cannot afford to be without much more talisman – after No. 8 Taulupe Faletau (broken collarbone in training)) and Fly-half Gareth Anscombe (cruciate ligament knee injuries v England last month) were cruelly excluded.

But other than that, things are definitely rosy in the garden of Warren Gatland.

Essentially he is a big-game coach. He loves world cups and has planned this for years (yes, others do too, but nobody likes Gatland).

It was in 2016 when he decided that the old ways – don't mention the style of rugby named after him for God's sake – were not good enough, and expansion of thought and deed was needed.

Wales may have lost a series against the All Blacks 3-0 that year, and were also humiliated by the Chiefs, but it was the first step to expand their playing style.

The next phase was to add depth to play equipment. In 2015, a large number of terrible injuries – for Leigh Halfpenny, Rhys Webb, Jonathan Davies, Liam Williams, Cory Allen, Hallam Amos and Scott Williams – left Wales desperately short (despite defeating England with a scrum half on the wing) ).

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KEY PLAYERS

[1945902] Alun Wyn Jones

The captain is amazed and will soon be the national cap winner with 130 hidden in his closet. Recently chosen as the & # 39; best player in the world & # 39 ;, he may not be, but he is a giant, evergreen legend that defies all logic with its amazing performances.

Jonathan Davies

Defensive captain, double lion and vice-skipper – the center has no equal in Welsh red. He goes, and the back line is everywhere. Pioneering ability coupled with the tendency to almost never make mistakes, it is vital.

Gatland would never allow that – the deepening of the players' pool was considered a goal. Flanker Aaron Wainwright, Adam Beard and Cory Hill, whore Elliot Dee, center Owen Watkin and wing Josh Adams are the ones who have made a significant impact in recent years.

A lot of blood, while the lions were in 2017, got through very well.

Wales is also a seriously tight unit. Many teams talk about the bond between them, and part of it is incorrect, but you believe with the guys from Gatland.

In the camp they play Gin Rummy in hotel lobbies, with Liam Williams and Gareth Davies often involved. They also have a team choir – run by Rhys Patchell and Leigh Halfpenny who also gather for a song and a laugh.

And during the Six Nations they came through real adversity as a group. Before Scotland was played at Murrayfield, the news emerged that the Ospreys and Scarlets would merge. Half of the team was worried about their future, Ken Owens – not only the skipper Scarlets but also the top player representative of the Welsh Rugby Players & Association – and student Wyn Jones went into diplomacy and leadership mode, with the latter having to go home travel for crisis talks about his region days for a test competition.

Controversial and angry, they won in Scotland and sealed the Slam the following week. There is no doubt that large bands were formed at the time.

An undefeated series of 14 tests – a national record – was terminated by England in Twickenham in the first warm-up match, but beating them in Cardiff brought Wales to No. 1 in the world ranking.

Talismanic captain Alun Wyn Jones to break the record of Wales during the World Cup

Jonathan Davies is a key figure for Wales outside center in both defense and attack

LIKELY STARTING XV

L Williams; North, J Davies, Parkes, Adams; Biggar, G Davies; N. Smith, Owens, Francis, Beard, AW Jones, Navidi, Tipuric, Moriarty.

They have played that title immensely and will secretly hate the hype. It almost feels against the national psyche to be a favorite for everything – and Gatland has been playing the underdog tag professionally for years.

But in his last World Cup with Wales there is no doubt that the Welsh must deliver.

They have a first XV with more than 700 caps of experience, a totemic leader in Alun Wyn Jones, fighting, dog, spirit and a special coach. Semi-finals are a must, and who knows?

WHAT WILL STOP THEM?

Warren Gatland

took over No. 11 Wales in World # 1 – albeit briefly – over a 12-year period, with four Six Nations victories , including two Grand Slams, the semi-final of the World Cup and the quarter-final of the World Cup. Oh, and a won and drawn series as a British and Irish lion head coach.

What do you like to sign off with World Cup glory before you go back to New Zealand.

If it's not New Zealand, who they can't beat (NB Three victories ever – in 1903, 1935 and 1953), then perhaps a dawn would realize that they were actually the World Cup could win by the end of October.

A lack of real attacking flair – despite the most powerful defense – may hinder them, especially now that Anscombe and Faletau are out, but if they reach the semi-finals or the final, it will be fascinating to see how Wales deals with the psychology of it all.

Cardiff is the most emotionally exciting rugby on the planet. Wales cannot bring the part of the Principality Stadium to Japan. It will be business crowds far away from the field in Tokyo and Yokohama – there will be in the Hymns and Arias, in the raw red-haired mobs that they roar home.

And if you look at the professional era (since 1995) how many enormously important distances, or neutral ground victories of Wales have against top sides?

In the 142 tests they have played from Cardiff since 1995, they have won 61. fewer than 10 are really remarkable – with six of the best listed below:

W 1945 England (a) 32-31 1999 (albeit nominally a & # 39; home game & # 39;)

W v France 24-18 2005 (on the way to the Grand Slam against the champions)

W v England (a) 26-19 2008 (the first match of Gatland, where they won 10 half played – time)

W v Ireland (n) 22-10 2011 (quarterfinals world cup in Wellington)

W v Ireland 23-21 2012 (with a late Leigh Halfpe nny penalty on the way to a Slam)

W v England (a) 28-25 2015 (to effectively knock England out of their world cup)

The most memorable triumphs of Wales have come to the cauldron of the Principality Stadium

Of those victories, there is a southern hemisphere team among them, only two outside the Six Nations, and three England victories (which have their own motivations).

So that's the history they have to break through in Japan. Do it during the World Cup, in the knockout stages, on neutral ground, against the top team in shape.

If they do, would I suggest using the £ 60 you won with the bet to buy a single train ticket to Cardiff for the homecoming party and a few pints? It could be the most monumental tear in history.

Any fried potato in Christianity served by Chippy Lane eateries will not be enough to include the drink that is consumed when Wales wins the world cup.

WALES AT WORLD CUPS

Depending on who you ask, they have either jumped enormously above their weight, fought in the face of adversity those bloody noses had handed out the way, or have never made the impact of their tradition, history and rugby tribes on the biggest stage.

Here is a short potted history of their World Cups past.

1987 – Undefeated Pole, Shocked England, Destroyed by New Zealand, Third to Defeat Australia

1991 – Ashamed by Western Samoa, Beaten by Wallabies and Out in the Groups .

1995 – All Black destruction and Ireland defeat make it back-to-back failures.

1999 – Samoa beats AGAIN, but reaches the last eight. Aussie loss with miles in new house.

2003 – Canada, Tonga, Italy reports. Mad ongoing loss for Kiwi & hope extinguished by England

2007 – Oh so bad. Rampant Fiji sent them out again at the polar stage with 38-34 epic

2011 – Oh so close. Fledglings fly to the semi-final before Sam Warburton brutally shoots them.

2015 – Oh the pain. Literally. Catastrophic injuries Curtail progress beyond Boks – but England defeated.

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