Wales head coach Warren Gatland and captain Sam Warburton, during a press conference at the team hotel, Cardiff, in preparation for the Pool A match against Fiji. Photo / Brett Phibbs.
Wales head coach Warren Gatland and captain Sam Warburton, during a press conference at the team hotel, Cardiff, in preparation for the Pool A match against Fiji. Photo / Brett Phibbs.
Wales coach Warren Gatland has joked about how he is dreading having to respond to all the well-wishing texts and calls from New Zealand following his team's epic World Cup victory over England at Twickenham.
And he also revealed that the comments by the All Blacks in the aftermath ofWales' 28-25 victory, which puts the Red Dragons on course for a top-two spot in the "Pool of Death", had been "uplifting".
Gatland, a former All Blacks hooker, hasn't always had the closest of relationships with his former team since his move abroad but he clearly appreciated the respect shown by his countrymen, who play Georgia in Cardiff on Saturday NZT, a day after Wales play Fiji in the city.
Asked in a packed press conference about the supportive messages he had received from home, Gatland said: "I've got so many I'm sort of dreading the thought of answering them. It's going to take me hours.
Wales player and former Auckland, Blues and Chiefs utility Gareth Anscombe, has been brought into the Welsh Rugby World Cup squad, during the Wales team training session at their base The Vale of Glenmorgan, near Cardiff. Photo / Brett Phibbs.
Wales player and former Auckland, Blues and Chiefs utility Gareth Anscombe, left, has been brought into the Welsh Rugby World Cup squad, with captain Sam Warburton, during the Wales team training session at their base The Vale of Glenmorgan. Photo / Brett Phibbs.
"The support has been fantastic, particularly from friends and family particularly back in New Zealand and I saw the All Blacks press conference as well and I think the comments some of those players - I think it was Wyatt Crockett - made ... He said it was pretty inspiring watching that so that's huge for us and it's pretty uplifting as well."
Crockett, speaking from the team's central Cardiff hotel a day after Wales' victory, said: "I love watching a team play under that sort of pressure and dealing with all the injuries.
"Watching them fight it out, really scrap that game out was inspiring. Hopefully we can have that sort of result if anything like that happens to us.
"I'm sure the Welsh boys will look back on that match with pride and they will certainly be a tough team to beat."
Gatland added of the support from within Wales: "I had a look online at a couple of things and to just see the celebrations in Wales and people in rugby clubs and pubs and streets, it was phenomenal, and just show what rugby means to the nation of Wales.
"We got a massive lift seeing those reactions. It was one of the things we said when we left the hotel - 'let's make a nation proud' - and I think the boys did that."
The task for Gatland and Wales is to maintain focus as they prepare for Fiji at the Millennium Stadium. A victory would almost guarantee them a quarter-final spot and there is a belief from within that they can go further than at the last World Cup in New Zealand when they lost skipper Sam Warburton to a red card for a tip-tackle in the first half of their semifinal against France but lost only 9-8.
Gatland conceded bringing his players back down to earth had been tough but had left them in no doubt as to his intentions if they failed to show the required effort in their remaining training sessions this week.
He said Kiwi first-five or fullback Gareth Anscombe, brought into the squad this week, wasn't considered for the Fiji match due to his ongoing recovery from an ankle injury, but should be available for the team's final pool match against Australia at Twickenham.
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