Wales manager Warren Gatland predicted ‘something special’ for his side ahead of their World Cup warm-up game against England, and the Welsh put in an impressive second-half performance to win 20-9 in Cardiff. Gatland, who has had a difficult comeback since last December, had selected an inexperienced group of 23 and he admitted he was a little nervous. “I was a little worried this morning because I wasn’t sure how things were going to go. I know the players worked hard and I was expecting a big performance, and it was a good start today,” he told Amazon Prime.
“The win wasn’t important at all, it was the performance that I was most interested in and I thought the guys on the pitch put in a good performance, with some really good individualities, and I thought that the last 20 minutes, we were well in place. England were leading 9-6 at half-time but were unable to score more points despite numerous forays into Wales’ 22m, partly because of their own waste but also excellent defending Welsh. After the break, the home side scored 14 points thanks to tries from Gareth Davies and George North.
“I think number 8 Aaron Wainwright has been excellent, as has captain Jac Morgan, and our two second lines have been outstanding,” Gatland said. “The scrums were a bit messy, we need a bit more clarity in that area, and I think youngster (flying half) Sam Costelow has flourished in the game and will learn from that. experience.”
Gatland, on the other hand, are concerned about injuries to hooker Ryan Elias, second row Dafydd Jenkins and substitute center Taine Plumtree. “They will have a scan on Monday. Ryan appears to be suffering from a slight hamstring tear, but hopefully it’s not too serious,” said the Welsh manager. “We hope Daf is not too badly injured in the knee. Taine twisted his ankle and we wanted to get him out.”