Rugby World Cup: Wales in confident mood for France quarter-final, says Warren Gatland

by senadiptya Dasgupta on October 16, 2019

JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER!

Rugby World Cup: Wales in confident mood for France quarter-final, says Warren Gatland

Warren Gatland states Wales are in"confident" disposition before the quarter-final evaluation with France, having defeated Les Blues in seven out of the last eight meetings. The last time the two countries met in 2011 in a World Cup, Wales endured a narrow 9-8 defeat in the point in New Zealand against France. Gatland, who will abandon his role after this season's tournament in Japan, believes his squad are going into Sunday's clash in the Showa Denko Dome, after four wins out of four games which saw them finish high in Pool D. "We have trained well and prepared extremely well and go into this game with a lot of confidence," Gatland said. "As coaches and players this is what you do all the hard work and coaching for. It's all for moments and to try and get to finals. "As a coaching group we have had a lot of success in large matches when it has really relied and mattered, whether that has

been in Grand Slam matches, European Parliament or Premiership finals with Wasps, or even on Lions tours also. "I believe we've got a pretty good formula as a team about getting things correct. It is not about the physical prep, it's about being right and those top two inches everyone talks about. "If you get that right in large games it can often make a major difference. I keep saying we are in a place that is fantastic, we have prepared and also the groundwork is done. "In the next 24 hours, we'll start building well, but we can not play the match before we are prepared, and that's important. "It is all done from the training perspective now. It's down to the players in the next 24 to 48 hours to really take control and possession, and they've been doing that already this week" Wales have won 19 out of their 22 Tests, which included a list 14-game unbeaten run,and also their 100 per cent Pool D album was their best group stage performance in a World Cup since 1987. Gatland also thinks his side can use their recent successes from Jacques Brunel's group, including a 19-24 win away in the Stade de France during the 2019 Six Nations, as inspiration going into their battle in Oita. "We continue working hard, and roughly four of the last seven tries (Wales scored) from France are situations where we kept working hard to chase, and one of the players has made a mistake and we have capitalised," he added. "Defensively, (Wales defence trainer ) Shaun (Edwards) was a tiny bit longer on edge weekly. He is fairly pumped up from a defensive point of view. "we've been working hard . He was not too satisfied with conceding a try against Uruguay, and that also allowed the players understand clearly from the changing room after." Read more: betting odds us open tennis

Related articles

Copyright zurichexpats.com