By Rob Cole
Wales may be 15-1 with the bookies to win the Six Nations, but head coach Warren Gatland believes that is “a great bet”.
Gatland’s side kick-off their campaign in Cardiff against Scotland and the British & Irish Lions coach believes it is an ideal way for his side to start – even though the Scots turned over Wales at Murrayfield last season to end a run of nine successive defeats.
Most bookmakers have Wales as fourth favourites – behind England, Ireland and Scotland – to lift a title they last won five years ago, although Gatland appears happy to be underdogs behind the Scots.
“They are going to be a massive challenge for us. It is a good game for us to have first up, to get us really focussed for at the start of the Six Nations,” said Gatland.
“They are a team that has obviously improved in form, although they’ve got some injuries in their front row. But there is no doubt there has been a significant improvement in them in the last couple of years and they are going to be a huge challenge for us.
“Their performance against the All Blacks in the autumn was very, very good and their victory over Australia was pretty special too. The autumn gave us the chance to blood some new players and experiment a little bit.
“The Six Nations is our bread and butter, where everything is at stake and it is important for us to start well. We may be 15-1 at the bookies, but that’s a great bet”.
Scotland hustled Wales out of the game in Edinburgh last year with a brilliant breakdown performance and Gatland will have to go into the championship without back row talisman Sam Warburton and Taulupe Faletau. He hopes to have Ross Moriarty fully fit to start and is banking on getting Faletau back up to speed for the final few rounds.
Quite what combination he will pick to face the marauding Scots is anyone’s guess at this stage, but the introduction of Scarlets ‘fetcher’ James Davies gives them an in-form openside to consider along with Justin Tipuric.
“We have spoken a number of times about No 8 being a problem for us in terms of strength in depth. Taulupe will be available at the back end of the Six Nations, which is a positive,” added Gatland.
“It was pleasing to see Ross Moriarty get a run out with Gloucester at the weekend. He unfortunately picked up that back injury in the first game on the Lions tour and then had a relapse, so he is going to need a bit of time and some hard work over the next few weeks.
“It is just a matter of seeing where he is. He is a potential option for us at No 8 in the first game and we also think Ellis Jenkins can provide cover there and Josh Navidi has played there as well.”
Wales also have injury concerns over Rhys Priestland, who had a scan on the hamstring he injured in last weekend’s Champions Cup defeat for Bath against the Scarlets, while George North hasn’t played this year because of a knee problem.
“George is hoping to be available for this weekend, although whether he gets any rugby or not at Northampton we will have to wait and see. It is 50-50 about how serious Rhys’ injury is – he has had a scan on his hamstring and we are awaiting further updates,” added Gatland.
There was a conversation in selection about whether or not to pick Ospreys and Lions scrum half Rhys Webb, who is heading to Toulon in the summer and will be ineligible to play for Wales under the new 60 cap ruling, but Gatland had no hesitation is picking him in what could be his final Six Nations campaign for a while.
“We had a discussion about Rhys Webb, but this is an important competition and when he is playing at his best he is one of the best scrum halves in the world. We want to do well in this tournament and, from that point of view, he is available and we felt it important that we pick him,” he added.