Wales more than happy to be flying under the radar

On the eve of Wales’ final Pool D clash with Uruguay – a game for which head coach Warren Gatland rested his first choice stars – Alun Wyn Jones was still determined not to let his standards drop.

Jones was furious to be dropped from the squad to take on the South Americans despite his team having already qualified for the World Cup quarter-finals.

In the captain’s run ahead of Uruguay, skipper Jones was seen to sprint from one drill on the try line and then pick up the cones on halfway before the session continued. Despite not being involved in the 23 the next day, Jones still did the full warm-up and wore a face like thunder as he donned full kit including the taping he normally uses to aid line-out lifting. The man, frankly, is world class.

With Jones and Gatland driving them forward as a captain and coach combination, Wales couldn’t wish for better leadership ahead of their last-eight meeting with France tomorrow.

Gatland, too, will love the fact that his team are still managing to slip slightly below the radar. On what is set to be a weekend of brilliant rugby, Wales’ clash with Les Bleus — while still a mouth-watering prospect— is arguably fourth in the pecking order. Ireland’s attempt to relive their famous wins over defending champions New Zealand and England’s meeting with bitter rivals Australia are two clashes with more focus.

So too is hosts Japan’s first World Cup quarter-final with South Africa given the superb Brave Blossoms have been the tournament’s main narrative to date. That will suit Gatland, Jones and their team down to the ground. It is where they like to be.

All that said, there is pressure on Wales. Before the tournament the talk was of this being the best-equipped side in Welsh rugby history to achieve global glory. That was backed up by a new-found strength in depth, a 14-match unbeaten run, and a Six Nations Grand Slam.

Still, no one knew how a World Cup would pan out. So far it has all gone to plan — save for the early departure of Rob Howley due to an alleged betting scandal – and it has left Wales in a slightly unusual position as World Cup quarter-final favourites.

Others might still be looking elsewhere, but Wales should and must beat France. They have won seven of the two side’s last eight meetings and are the better team.

It all paints a very different picture from the last two World Cups. In 2011 a young Wales outfit containing international new boys Sam Warburton, Jonathan Davies, George North and Taulupe Faletau went all the way to the semi-finals against all the odds. They would surely have made the final too had then captain Warburton not up-ended Vincent Clerc and seen red.

Four years ago Wales escaped a pool containing England and Australia, but were so battered and bruised and lacking depth by the time of their quarter-finals that they could not get past a giant South African outfit. This time around Wales are in the box seat to make the last four.

It will be fascinating to see how they respond to that positional shift. The signs point to it not being a problem – but time will tell.

At their luxurious but isolated Beppu hotel base there has been a noticeable throng in the number of journalists keen to hear from the Welsh camp this week. Still, the influx has been mainly boosted by the French media as the British press spread their resources across Japan.

There has been no change in the mood of Wales’ players and coaches or the spirit among the squad even with the pressure ratcheted up with knock-out rugby on the horizon. That is the environment Gatland has created – calm and collected, but with a quiet confidence.

As they have been all tournament, Wales’ players have been keen to engage with the media in hotel lobbies and coffee shops or wherever journalists following the team have seen them. Centre Hadleigh Parkes summed that up this week by sitting down to talk about his wife Suzy’s pregnancy which meant she was unable to travel the long distance to Japan.

Parkes and fellow key backs Dan Biggar, Davies, North and Josh Adams all start against France after brushing off knocks and their presence is crucial. Gatland has opted for Aaron Wainwright over Ross Moriarty in the back-row in what was his only real selection dilemma.

“Michael Cheika said we were favourites against Australia and we handled that. It comes with the territory of building and being confident,” said Gatland. “If you take out the World Cup warm-ups, we have won 18 competitive games in a row, we are Grand Slam champions, and we know as we go on in tournaments we get stronger, more confident, and more cohesive as a unit.

We are building nicely and we still feel as if we are going under the radar. There is still a lot more emphasis and talk about other teams and games and that suits us. There is a lot of belief and a lot of self confidence in this group.

Wales will be at full strength for France and Gatland has selected the same side which delivered a crucial pool stage win over Australia. Les Bleus, like Wales, have had an injury boost. Scrum-half Antoine Dupont and wing Damian Penaud will start the game at Oita Stadium after making recoveries of their own.

A tight encounter is expected even with Wales favourites and driven on by Gatland, Jones, and the leadership of senior players such as Davies, Biggar, Ken Owens and Justin Tipuric. The Welsh camp is in fine fettle and it would be a huge anticlimax for the country’s fans— not to mention a mammoth disappointment for the players — if they were to lose and fly home on Monday.

That could well happen given France’s penchant for an upset, but everything points to Gatland’s long and what could yet be a glorious farewell continuing into the semi-finals. From there, anything could happen and Wales fans will start to get really excited.

“As a squad we are pretty healthy. There are still a couple of sore bodies, but we are feeling really positive about the way we’ve prepared,” Gatland said. “There has been an edge to this week and the players have been incredibly professional in the way they’ve prepared because we know it’s the knock-out stages.

"The message we’ve been driving to the players is you’ve got two choices here — we are either going home on the plane on Monday or we are here until the end of the tournament.”