A week ago, Welsh rugby fans were dreaming they could make their first World Cup final this year. But after two key injuries, the mood has suddenly shifted.
Wales and Harlequins centre Jamie Roberts talks to JOE about how Wales will deal with the potential losses of Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb as well as surviving the group of death.
It’s going to be a big loss to lose Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb so soon before the tournament. How do you bounce from that?
First and foremost, it was a tough day – not just for us, but for all the Welsh rugby fans watching. It was difficult to watch. Certainly the performance wasn’t up to the standard that we would have wanted and the injuries were difficult to watch as well.
They’re having scans so we’ll wait on the medical report from those boys before saying too much. I think everyone in Wales has got their fingers crossed.
You’ve already lost your centre partner in Jonathan Davies back in May and with George North’s concussion worries, there’s potential for more than half the starting backline to be missing in the World Cup. How does that affect the cohesion of the team?
It’ll be a big blow if they are ruled out. They’re two players who have been instrumental to our success over recent years, and two very good players. But what Warren Gatland has done over the last few years is develop strength in depth.
He’s always trying to get two or three quality, quality players in every position. And that does two things. One, it encourages competition and drives us to bigger and better things. And two, it matters most at moments like this when you do have injuries. He would have planned for this, no doubt.
The pool that you are in is probably the most difficult in World Cup history with four teams ranked in the top ten in the world. How important is that depth going to be then?
It’s going to be huge. It’s a difficult group to pick two teams to get out of. I’ve said many times that we know we’re going to have to be at our best to progress out of it. Anything short of that, we won’t go through. It’s a hell of a challenge.
It’s amazing to think how much work will go into four rounds of 80 minutes. It’s quite a strange concept in that respect. Look, all the guys are ready. We’ve prepared. We’ve worked very hard over the last few months and we’re ready to go.
Obviously Wales have had trouble with Fiji before at the World Cup. Is that going to play on your mind at all?
Four years ago, we put 60 points on Fiji in the group. Obviously what happened in 2007 is well documented. They’re a team that have been playing great rugby the past few months and they have the potential to cause big upsets. We’ll afford Fiji the respect they deserve and it’s going to be a bloody difficult game against them.
How different it is playing England in Twickenham versus playing them in the Millennium Stadium?
You play any team at home, they’re a bigger animal. And certainly in a home World Cup, the support they’ll have will be phenomenal. It’s a huge challenge to go into Twickenham as a Welshman with the rivalry that does exist between Wales and England.
Representing our country at a World Cup in Twickenham is huge. It’s a moment that is going to be watched by millions around the world no doubt. It’s going to be a huge, huge occasion.
You have a few games in the Millennium Stadium. How much of a boost do you think that will give you?
I’d like to think quite a bit. Welsh fans in Wales are magnificent and the Millennium Stadium is one of the great stadiums in the world. We have to feed off that. We play two home games there, and then obviously England and Australia at Twickenham. We have to feed off that buzz in Wales and work that in our favour.
Despite the injuries in the last game, how important are the warm up games for you guys to get up to standard?
The World Cup year is different in many respects to any other season because instead of going into club warm up games where you can ease yourself in, you’re straight into test match warfare. That’s different, it’s another step up from club rugby and the test is huge. That’s a challenge in itself but you prepare for that with months of really, really tough training.
I certainly enjoyed the match out in Dublin a few weeks ago. They’re important for the squad to gel and actually play rugby against competitive opposition because in training that’s hard to replicate whilst minimising the risk of injury. So they’re very important. Hindsight’s a wonderful thing, and you just talked about the injuries – but they can happen in training any time you take to the field. We’ve just been desperately unlucky.
Under Armour athlete and Welsh international rugby player Jamie Roberts was speaking at the launch of the brand’s new Armour campaign. For more information on Earn Your Armour, please visit earnyourarmour.co.uk
