Warren Gatland believes doubters of his Wales team will renew their faith before they face England at Twickenham this weekend.
Much like his team, the Wales coach has rediscovered his abrasive edge and forthright approach just in time for a clash with the oldest enemy.
Gatland’s mood often tends to reflect the health of his side. When they are unconvincing and look a little battle-weary, so can he. But he had a steely directness and eager sharpness on Saturday night that echoed the decisiveness of Wales’ opening Six Nations 34-7 demolition of Scotland.
Now, Gatland is encouraging those who had strayed from the path to fall back in line before they go to the home of the tournament champions.
“It is a mouth-watering fixture now because I don’t think people were expecting us to win as comfortably as we did [against Scotland],” said Gatland.
“I hope a few people sit up and take a bit of notice. It will make next week even more exciting.
“We have not been afraid of going there since I have been involved. We have had some good performances and results and victories against England.
“It is a great ground, and if you go there with confidence and self-belief, you hope to get something from it.
“I knew we were in a good place and knew we had been training well. People had written us off.
“This group of guys always work hard when they come in, and we were quietly confident we could put on a performance, given the way we had been training.”
A decade as head coach has prepared Gatland for the consequences of a single emphatic victory at the start of the tournament.
England will be favourites with the bookies after also starting with a bonus point victory over Italy in Rome, but Gatland expects great expectations from the same supporters who had written off his team a week ago.
“We will go from one extreme to the other, won’t we?
“There was no expectation beforehand. We were crap and a lot of ex-Welsh media people and stuff were saying we were going to lose and writing us off.
“We will go from that to next week with expectations through the roof. You have to deal with that when you live in Wales.
“People had written us off, but I knew we were in a good place and knew we had been training well.
“This group of guys always work hard when they come in and we were quietly confident we could put on a performance given the way we had been training.
“I went back to New Zealand over Christmas and spoke to Grant Fox.
“He said that when the All Blacks were here in the autumn, the hardest game they had on the tour was against Wales and it was the best they played.
“I came away from that conversation feeling we were not as far away as people thought we were.”
England are unbeaten at Twickenham since Eddie Jones took the coaching reins two years ago and Wales lost there in 2016 and 2014.
But in between times Wales won the 2015 World Cup pool clash and the manner of their victory over the Scots makes them credible contenders again for a title they have not won since 2013.
Gatland was content with the four-try tally against Scotland and added: “There have been times in the past when we have put good patches together, but the pleasing thing is this time we put it together for longer phases and we defended exceptionally well.”
With England playing their opener on a Sunday, Wales have an extra day’s preparation and Gatland will not waste it.
“Potentially it makes a big difference. We have got a short turnaround later in the competition between Italy and France.
“The travel day makes it tough and England will have to monitor what they do in the week.
“For us it is about recovery and then focusing on work from Monday.”
