Gatland - 'South Africa another step up for us'

Mar 17 2008 South Wales Echo

WALES’ Grand Slam-winning coach Warren Gatland has set his sights on world champions the Springboks after conquering the northern hemisphere in his first season in charge.

Following the Six Nations success on Saturday against France, Gatland will return to his native New Zealand for a couple of weeks before turning his attention to the two-Test summer tour of South Africa.

“It’s another step for us. We are playing two big games at altitude.

“That’s really tough and as well as that you are testing yourselves against the world champions.

“We are not going to rest on our laurels and say it’s been a great start for Wales.

“Let’s go there and see how we can improve.

“It’s a challenge and I know how tough it is trying to win at altitude.

“Some of the principals we’ve had in terms of putting our bodies on the line, being honest, trying really hard and putting a bit of pride back into the jersey, and these guys have delivered on all of those fronts so far.

“As a tournament we got better and stronger and built some confidence and momentum and the end result against France was a fair reflection of how much the team has improved.

“So you have to look forward to a trip to South Africa without any trepidation and saying let’s have a go.”

Gatland admitted he was at the moment unsure of the make-up of his squad and was considering resting some players, like Martyn Williams.

“I think we have to see how some of the regional teams do over the next few weeks like The Ospreys and the Blues in Europe,” said the Kiwi.

“And then it’s looking at some of the players and what physical shape they are in.

‘’We want to take the strongest squad to South Africa as we can because we want to keep building and keep this momentum going.

“It’s about sitting down with the Martyn Williamses and saying: ‘do you want to go or do you want a break.”

But Gatland has attempted to play down talk of him returning to South Africa with the British Lions.

“My first priority is with Wales,” he insisted.

“The Lions is a long way away. It’s nice to be associated with that and it’s something you might want to be involved in.

“I want to stress my first priority is Wales.”

And the Waikato man is delighted to have taken over the job from Gareth Jenkins, who was sacked after a disastrous World Cup.

“Being really selfish one of the reasons I took the job was that Wales were 10th in the world and had a pretty average World Cup.

“There wasn’t too far to go below 10th in the world.

“I saw the potential and the ability in the squad, and you have to be confident in your own ability that you can change things and put some structures into place and make a bit of a difference.

“But it’s not just about me it’s about the people around me.

“I’m very lucky that I have kept on a very strong Welsh influence within the coaching staff which has been very important.

“But I’ve got a few people around me that I know their work ethic and their desire to win.

“That’s as important as my influence.”

Gatland is now determined Wales don’t suffer the same fate as 2005 when they failed to build on their Grand Slam success.

“You are never going to stay at the top,” he added.

“Our challenge now as a group of coaches and players is to build some consistency on this season so we don’t have these highs and lows that Wales experienced since 2005.

“It starts here. I believe this team is 12 months or two years away from where it could be.

“We are as good size-wise as anything in the world, it’s just that we need to be a bit leaner – leaner, bigger, stronger.

“The big thing going forward is to be the best physical athletes we can.

“We are a group of white boys who don’t have some of the same physical attributes as some of the other nations have.

“So we probably need to work harder physically than other countries.”

And Gatland is looking for the four Welsh regions and the Welsh Rugby Union to help the national team continue to improve.

“It will be very interesting to see the approach of some of the regions.

“One of the regional coaches texted his players saying ‘fantastic campaign, you’ve got next week off’ but one or two of the other coaches want them in at 8.30am on Monday

“We have got to work on developing players.

“I’ve made a bit of an issue going forward of the number of foreign players playing in our regions.

“Six per region I think is too many.

“I think we have to look at the number and quality of foreign players.

“I think we need to look at that going forward and develop Welsh players for the regions.”

gareth.griffiths@mediawales.co.uk