Howley believes Wales are on a roll

WALES are daring to dream after arriving in Auckland yesterday with 80 minutes against France lying between them and the Rugby World Cup final.

A 22-10 quarter-final victory over Ireland in Wellington set up a last-four bout with Les Bleus, 19-12 conquerors of England on Saturday.

Wales were last night slated to share their central Auckland hotel with Marc Lievremont’s France side but they were simply delighted to reach the last four 24 years on from their previous World Cup semi-final appearance, also in New Zealand.

Speaking on the team’s arrival, Wales assistant coach Rob Howley said: “It’s a pretty special place to be. Auckland’s a pretty famous place in rugby terms and who would’ve thought five months ago this Welsh side would be in Auckland?

“We’re savouring the moment about last night but we’re preparing meticulously for the event which occurs on Saturday. We’re on a journey or a dream and we want that journey and dream to continue.

“The journey and the dream is based on hard work, some youth talent thrown in, and the players are very much looking forward to an opportunity in the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup on Saturday.”

Howley maintains the come-from-behind success over Samoa was key to Wales’ self-belief, but that much work is still to be done.

He added: “A huge psychological hurdle for us was half time against Samoa, being 10-6 down. As we said at the time, many a Welsh side would have lost that game. We had the resilience and the fortitude to come out.

“[Ireland] was another hurdle and we’ve got another big hurdle on the weekend.

“It’s the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup. The Welsh players have achieved getting to a semi-final of the Rugby World Cup — we don’t think we’re finished yet, we haven’t won anything.”

Wales have mixed youth — epitomised by captain Sam Warburton, 23, and his back-row colleague Toby Faletau, 20 — with the experience of the likes of prolific try-scorer Shane Williams to great effect in the tournament.

And Howley believes the more experienced members of the squad have been reinvigorated by the emergence of such talented players.

“This Welsh side wants to express themselves,” Howley added. “The experienced old heads — the Shane Williams’, Mike Phillips’, Gethin Jenkins’ — have played in a lot of places in world rugby. Even those players, with the youngsters alongside them, they go on to another level in their game as well. It’s great.”