By Paul Jones
The Wales coaches and players arrived in camp ahead of the three-match Autumn Nations Series this week, all with the same blunt message in mind – “we’ve got to start winning matches”.
Warren Gatland’s men may have wound-up their summer tour to Australia with a 36-35 win over Queensland, but the hard facts show they have lost their last nine internationals and haven’t tasted victory in a meaningful match since beating Georgia 43-19 at last year’s World Cup on 7 October.
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Gatland’s 35-strong squad assembled at their training base at the Vale of Glamorgan Resort on Monday to prepare for the three matches at the Principality Stadium against Fiji (Sunday, 10 November), Australia (Sunday, 17 November) and the world champion Springboks (Saturday, 23 November) and are ranked below all three opponents on the World Rugby rankings.
“The senior players spoke about it, we’ve got to be winning rugby matches. There’s a bit of pressure on us to win and the players have got to feel that as well,” said Wales defence coach Mike Forshaw.
“It wasn’t just us as coaches saying that – the players were quite adamant that’s got to be the case. We’ve got to start winning matches.
“We’ve got to execute in Cardiff next week. I always say when you’re playing at home you’ve got to be the aggressors, that’s non-negotiable.
“We need to win rugby matches and we want to start with Fiji. I’m not looking any further ahead than Fiji, but I agree we need to win that game.
“They’re a dangerous team and we’ll play that game and we’ll move on from there. We know what is coming, the task is stopping it.
“They get an off-load, then they get into a frenzy of off-loads, and that’s when it becomes tricky. They play big through the middle, and then they have strike around the edges.
“We’ve just got to make sure we’ve got all bases covered. They play Scotland this week, and then they bring in a hell a lot of players from France who are very dangerous athletes.
“I understand that’s going to be a massive day for us from a defensive point of view. After that it’s about when we execute when we get out chances with the ball.”
The players came into camp off the back of three home wins by the Scarlets, Ospreys and Cardiff in the BKT United Rugby Championship at the weekend and the news that Gloucester scrum half Tomos Williams is in the running for the title of Premiership player of the month for October in England.
There was also a win for Will Rowlands in the Top 14 with Racing 92.
“Tomos and Gareth Anscombe have both revelled in playing in the Premiership over the last month. The reports say that Tomos, particularly, has been outstanding, so that’s great for us,” added Forshaw.
“I think the mix of that, Will Rowlands coming in from Racing where he is playing with the likes of Owen Farrell, and Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith doing well at Leicester, is good.
“Jac Morgan missed quite a lot of international rugby after bursting on the scene last year and he’s a quality player.
“So, we’ve got to take confidence from that as a group with our regional and Premiership lads, I think there’s a good blend there.”
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