Wales coach Warren Gatland speaks ahead of Australia match
- 1030
In a press conference held earlier today, Wales coach Warren Gatland spoke to the media ahead of Wales' fixture against the Wallabies. Although both sides have faced struggles in most of their fixtures this year, the Dragons will undoubtedly be the favorites going into the fixture.
Speaking On whether his team selection was a case of restoring the team that played Fiji the Welsh coach had the following to say:
"It was an opportunity for players against Portugal [in there last game]. I don't think the players got enough credit for the way we played against Fiji. We got a yellow card and came back into the game. I was really pleased. That was the highest ball-in-play time of the tournament. It's just a case of building on that."
On how disappointed co-captain Dewi Lake is at missing the game against Australia:
"He's been carrying an injury. He's going to be an important player for us. He was disappointed but it doesn't mean he's not going to be featuring in future games in this tournament."
On how things are developing with Tommy Reffell's injured calf:
"He's been progressing well this week."
On coming up against Australia head coach Eddie Jones and any plans for a curry with him:
"I don't think so. He's been getting enough stick from everybody else so there's no need for me to put the boot into him. In a strange way we are probably going through the same things in terms of coming back and getting limited preparation time."
On his relationship with Eddie Jones:
"It’s always been good. At press conferences often you get asked questions that are slightly twisted by the media that are out of context. I find his company really good. He’s engaging. It’s obvious he drives a lot of people pretty hard and it's been part of his success in the past, and he’s going through that process at the moment."