Wales coach Warren Gatland wants to fight fire with fire when they clash with South Africa in Cardiff on Saturday.
Expecting a bruising battle against the Springboks, Gatland believes his team doesn’t have to staan terug for the world champions.
Ahead of their final warm-up match before announcing his squad for next month’s Rugby World Cup in France, Gatland says: “We’re expecting confidence and physicality from South Africa. They don’t make a lot of mistakes. We just need to make sure we play for 80 minutes and are accurate for 80 minutes.”
🏴![CDATA[]]>![CDATA[]]>![CDATA[]]>![CDATA[]]>![CDATA[]]>![CDATA[]]> 𝐗![CDATA[]]>𝐕 𝐂![CDATA[]]>𝐘![CDATA[]]>𝐌![CDATA[]]>𝐑![CDATA[]]>𝐔 🏴![CDATA[]]>![CDATA[]]>![CDATA[]]>![CDATA[]]>![CDATA[]]>![CDATA[]]>
— Welsh Rugby Union 🏴![CDATA[]]>![CDATA[]]>![CDATA[]]>![CDATA[]]>![CDATA[]]>![CDATA[]]> (@WelshRugbyUnion) August 16, 2023
👊 Your Welsh team to welcome South Africa to Cardiff
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Gatland’s span played two matches against England before this one, winning one and losing the other.
And it’s exactly their physicality that he was impressed with in those clashes, saying: “In the first couple of games what was really pleasing for me was the physicality we brought and the way we defended. There are still things for us to work on in terms of being much more accurate.”
Wales: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Mason Grady, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Jac Morgan (captain), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Will Rowlands, 4 Ben Carter, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Corey Domachowski. Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Teddy Williams, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Max Llewellyn, 23 Cai Evans