{"id":291485,"date":"2023-10-06T23:56:22","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T23:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=291485"},"modified":"2023-10-06T23:56:22","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T23:56:22","slug":"wales-coach-warren-gatland-praises-his-side-as-by-tough-to-beat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-union\/wales-coach-warren-gatland-praises-his-side-as-by-tough-to-beat\/","title":{"rendered":"Wales coach Warren Gatland praises his side as &apos;b****y tough to beat&apos;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Wales coach Warren Gatland praises his side as &#8216;b****y tough to beat&#8217; as the team prepare for Georgia clash having already topped Pool C and qualified for quarter-finals<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Wales take on Georgia in their final game of the pool stages, but are already top<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>1st place is guaranteed for Wales, they will play Argentina or Japan next round<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Warren Gatland has praised his side&#8217;s positive turnaround after a difficult run\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When Warren Gatland said in the build-up to this World Cup his Wales side would \u2018do something pretty special\u2019 and \u2018surprise some people\u2019 in France, it was difficult to see that happening.<\/p>\n<p>After returning for a second spell as Wales head coach, Gatland oversaw an awful Six Nations at the start of the year as his team was dogged by problems both on and off the field.<\/p>\n<p>But, with such issues now put to one side, the New Zealander\u2019s August comments have come to look almost prophetic. On Saturday, Wales are likely to seal top spot in Pool C with a win over Georgia.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The whole focus for this group has been about the rugby and building confidence,\u2019 said Gatland, whose team is already in the quarter-finals after wins over Fiji, Portugal and Australia.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/06\/18\/76257973-0-image-a-1_1696613496413.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Warren Gatland has transformed Wales into a tough team to beat after difficult pre-World Cup<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/06\/18\/76257961-0-image-a-2_1696613526845.jpg\" height=\"422\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Wales are unbeaten so far in the tournament, registering wins over Australia, Fiji and Portugal\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018They\u2019ve worked their butts off. I couldn\u2019t have asked more in terms of what this group of players has put into it.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Making a comment or statement like that is not just about what I say, it\u2019s for the other coaches and players.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If they go out there and implement the game plan and create that self-belief, then we know we\u2019re a tough team to beat. That was very much the focus early on for us.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We didn\u2019t talk early on about winning as a group.\u00a0We talked about becoming a b****y tough team to beat and if you\u2019re a tough team to beat, then often the performances and results take care of themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018That\u2019s where we are at the moment. If we give a good performance on Saturday then we can look forward to a quarter-final.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Wales don\u2019t even need to win against Georgia to finish top of Pool C, but they should still do so regardless given the strong side named by Gatland and the injuries in the Lelos camp.<\/p>\n<p>Wales\u2019 quarter-final opponent will be one of Argentina or Japan who are vying to finish as runners-up to England in Pool D.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Like Wales and Georgia, the Pumas and the Brave Blossoms also meet in Nantes this weekend with that game taking place tomorrow (SUN).<\/p>\n<p>Gatland has indeed made Wales tough to beat once again. His team has confidence and momentum behind them.\u00a0Gatland said this week Wales are in an \u2018outstanding place.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It might be enough to take them to what would be a third World Cup semi-final under Gatland.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wales should beat Georgia and either Argentina or Japan is an eminently winnable first knock-out game.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/06\/18\/76257965-0-image-a-3_1696613593184.jpg\" height=\"453\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Gatland was brought in to replace Wayne Pivac and is enjoying his second stint as head coach\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/06\/18\/76258181-12603221-image-a-5_1696613836481.jpg\" height=\"415\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Captain and flanker Jac Morgan has been a stand-out player for Wales in this Rugby World Cup<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/06\/18\/76258295-12603221-image-a-6_1696614025585.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The team has showed strong unity, and will play Argentina or Japan in the quarter-final<\/p>\n<p>Like England, Gatland\u2019s men are benefiting from being in the easier half of the draw.<\/p>\n<p>Wales lost to Georgia in November last year in a result which hastened the Welsh Rugby Union\u2019s decision to replace former head coach Wayne Pivac with a returning Gatland.<\/p>\n<p>A repeat shock is unlikely. Gatland has rested captain Jac Morgan and key figures Dan Biggar and Adam Beard but Wales should still have more than enough.<\/p>\n<p>Only four players who lost 13-12 to Georgia at Principality Stadium in 2022 start in Nantes.<\/p>\n<h3>Wales v Georgia: Pre-match facts<\/h3>\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, Saturday October 7<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12603221\/Wales-coach-Warren-Gatland-praises-b-y-tough-beat-team-prepare-Georgia-clash-having-topped-Pool-C-qualified-quarter-finals.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Wales coach Warren Gatland praises his side as &#8216;b****y tough to beat&#8217; as the team prepare for Georgia clash having already topped Pool C and <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-union\/wales-coach-warren-gatland-praises-his-side-as-by-tough-to-beat\/\" title=\"Wales coach Warren Gatland praises his side as &amp;apos;b****y tough to beat&amp;apos;\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291484,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291485","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>Wales coach Warren Gatland praises his side as &amp;apos;b****y tough to beat&amp;apos; - 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\/wales-coach-warren-gatland-praises-his-side-as-by-tough-to-beat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wales coach Warren Gatland praises his side as &amp;apos;b****y tough to beat&amp;apos; 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