{"id":291364,"date":"2023-10-06T00:23:59","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T00:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=291364"},"modified":"2023-10-06T00:23:59","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T00:23:59","slug":"gatland-hails-his-incredible-welsh-players-ahead-of-georgia-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-union\/gatland-hails-his-incredible-welsh-players-ahead-of-georgia-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Gatland hails his &apos;incredible&apos; Welsh players ahead of Georgia clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Warren Gatland hails his &#8216;incredible&#8217; Welsh players and insists they are in an &#8216;outstanding place&#8217; as they look to maintain their 100 per cent record at the World Cup against Georgia<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Wales have enjoyed a storming start to the World Cup, winning three from three<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>They take on Georgia this Saturday in their final Pool game, hoping to finish top\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Warren Gatland heaped praise on his players after their performances so far\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li><strong>Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Warren Gatland described his players as \u2018incredible\u2019 and said Wales are in an \u2018outstanding place\u2019 as they look to finish top of Pool C by beating Georgia in Nantes on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Wales became the first team to qualify for the quarter-finals of this World Cup when they hammered Eddie Jones\u2019 Australia 40-6.<\/p>\n<p>Head coach Gatland wants to ensure his players keep up the confidence and momentum currently in the side against the Georgians who have been hit hard by injury and are yet to win in France.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018As a squad I think we\u2019re in an outstanding place at the moment,\u2019 said Gatland.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I think there\u2019s a really nice balance between hard work and having fun. We\u2019ve been away for four months now \u2013 hopefully we\u2019ve got another three or four weeks to go.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/06\/00\/76229597-0-image-a-98_1696548430166.jpg\" height=\"433\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Warren Gatland has hailed his Welsh players ahead of their final Pool match against Georgia<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/06\/00\/76229601-0-image-a-99_1696548433240.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Wales have won three from three so far in France and are hoping to finish top of their Pool<\/p>\n<p>Wales\u2019 players were given three days off after Australia and won\u2019t have played in 13 days by the time they meet Georgia, but Gatland has insisted his players are still firing on all cylinders.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It\u2019s been easy. I haven\u2019t had to do anything. They\u2019ve been incredible in the way they\u2019ve prepared themselves,\u2019 Gatland said of his Wales team who have beaten Fiji, Portugal and Australia to date.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018From a coaching perspective, that\u2019s what you want. They\u2019ve been outstanding. I couldn\u2019t be more pleased with the way they\u2019ve prepared so far this week and at the end of last week.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Gatland has picked a strong side for Georgia, making six changes from the Australia success but keeping a core of his first-choice XV in place ahead of the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n<p>Wales should, in all reality, have too much for Georgia. Their likely last-eight opponents are Argentina, so long as they beat Japan on Sunday. That game is also in Nantes.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We\u2019ve spoken as a team about trending upwards in terms of performance,\u2019 said Wales hooker Dewi Lake, who captains Gatland\u2019s side this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I hope we haven\u2019t peaked yet. We\u2019ve still got a long way to go but I think we\u2019re definitely trending in the right direction.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Gatland added: \u2018We are excited about where we are and we are looking forward to going deep into this tournament.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The Wales boss is right to have that aim. Georgia beat Wales in Cardiff in the autumn of 2022 and while they remain a strong and dangerous team, Gatland\u2019s players are now in a totally different place.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Cheika\u2019s Argentina \u2013 or Japan \u2013 are both beatable quarter-final opposition.<\/p>\n<p>Georgia head coach Levan Maisashvili has made five changes to his starting side to face Wales from the one which narrowly lost 17-12 to Fiji.<\/p>\n<p>Guram Gogichashvili and Shalva Mamukashvili return to the front row, Nodar Cheishvili comes into the second row, and captain Merab Sharikadze returns at centre to win his 99th cap.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/06\/00\/76229623-0-image-a-100_1696548437515.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Hooker Dewi Lake, who captains the side on Saturday, said they are going in the right direction<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/06\/00\/76229629-0-image-a-101_1696548447610.jpg\" height=\"449\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Georgia have been hit hard by injuries in the tournament and are yet to win a game in France<\/p>\n<p>There are 15 survivors in the match-day 23 from their 13-12 victory in Cardiff last year, including 11 in the starting XV.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, former Wales captain and assistant coach Stephen Jones is set to head to New Zealand to link up with Super Rugby side Moana Pasifika<\/p>\n<p>Jones left his role as Wales attack coach in December 2022 after Wayne Pivac was replaced by Warren Gatland.<\/p>\n<p>Moana Pasifika are coached by former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga.<\/p>\n<p><span>Wales<\/span>: L Williams; Rees-Zammit, North, Tompkins, Dyer; Anscombe, T Williams; G Thomas, Lake (capt), Francis, Rowlands, Jenkins, Wainwright, Reffell, Faletau<\/p>\n<p><span>Replacements<\/span>: Dee, Smith, H Thomas, Tshiunza, Basham, Davies, Costelow, Grady<\/p>\n<p><span>Georgia<\/span>: Khmaladze; Tabutsadze, Kveseladze, Sharikadze (capt), Niniashvili; Matkava; Lobzhanidze; Gogichashvili, Mamukashvili, Gigashvili, Cheishvili, Mikautadze, Gachechiladze, Saginadze, Jalagonia<\/p>\n<p><span>Replacements<\/span>: Karkadze, Abuladze, Aptsiauri, Chachanidze, Tsutskiridze, Aprasidze, Abzhandadze, Tapladze<\/p>\n<p><span>Referee<\/span>: Mathieu Raynal (France)<\/p>\n<p><span>Kick-off<\/span>: 2pm<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12600339\/Warren-Gatland-Welsh-World-Cup-Georgia.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Warren Gatland hails his &#8216;incredible&#8217; Welsh players and insists they are in an &#8216;outstanding place&#8217; as they look to maintain their 100 per cent record <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-union\/gatland-hails-his-incredible-welsh-players-ahead-of-georgia-clash\/\" title=\"Gatland hails his &amp;apos;incredible&amp;apos; Welsh players ahead of Georgia clash\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rugby-union"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gatland hails his &amp;apos;incredible&amp;apos; Welsh players ahead of Georgia clash - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-union\/gatland-hails-his-incredible-welsh-players-ahead-of-georgia-clash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gatland hails his &amp;apos;incredible&amp;apos; 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