Wales vs Uruguay: Gatland's underdogs are ready to bite despite losing their two best players

Underdogs: Gatland knows just how potent Wales can be when they’ve been talked down
(Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
18 September 2015

Wales’ greatest strength is arguably their weakness, an aspect that Warren Gatland has spent the past two weeks not so much alluding to as shouting from the Cardiff rooftops.

Gatland is a pre-match master of the mind games and his perpetual message leading into the opening weekend of the World Cup is that Wales are the underdogs in the so-called ‘Pool of Death’.

Wales have been marked out by most as the team likely to finish third behind Australia and England after injuries sidelined Jonathan Davies, Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb, leaving them short of key players. But Gatland has been here before and knows how potent a written-off Welsh side can be.

Going into to the last World Cup in New Zealand, England were being talked up having won the Six Nations while Wales were a mere footnote after finishing the tournament in fourth place.

England’s disastrous World Cup was pored over ad nauseam in the aftermath while Wales, somewhat surprisingly, transformed into one of the teams of the tournament. They showed greater backs-against-the-wall tenacity when nearly reaching the final despite playing for more than an hour of their semi-final against France with 14 men after Sam Warburton was red carded.

On the eve of Wales’ opening game against Uruguay in Cardiff on Sunday, Gatland said: “There are a number of teams who need a bit of luck to get through the pool stages. We did that in 2011 and we know how close we came to reaching the final.”

Luck, though, will play no part against the Uruguayans, who could yet play a pivotal role in how the machinations of Pool A pan out should the two qualifying spots come down to points difference — and the Wales head coach knows a large points total is a must.

Gatland and Co are adamant this has not been discussed for their first game but their preparations have been so meticulous — from cryotherapy chambers to making their wingers emulate England’s in training — that such an argument feels hard to believe.

Even the November internationals in terms of fitness and training were all geared towards the World Cup, the result occasionally an afterthought.

For Wales, the weekend is as much about their own match against Uruguay as it is about England’s opener against Fiji, the hope being that Stuart Lancaster’s players feel the force of the Pacific Islanders ahead of Wales’ visit to Twickenham a week later.

“Fiji are a little bit of an unknown quantity,” said Gatland. “Their performances in the last few months have dictated that it will be a tough fixture. They haven’t come here to make up the numbers. They’re going to be a handful for any team.”

Inside Pennyhill Park - England's Rugby World Cup base

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From the initial heartache of the Halfpenny-Webb blow, morale has been steadily boosted in the Wales camp, thanks in part to the return of Mike Phillips, who tweeted to Lloyd Williams when he was initially picked before him, “You’ve retired a legend.”

That Wales are able to call on a two-time Lion with nearly 100 caps shows why there is reason for optimism despite hosts England and Rugby Championship winners Australia lying in wait.

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