In a week when there have been, in the words of Warren Gatland, niggles and fights in training before Saturday’s World Cup warm-up against Ireland in Cardiff, the Wales head coach is giving a first cap to an England junior world championship winner who brings with him a “nasty edge.”
The 21-year old Gloucester flanker Ross Moriarty, who played in two junior world championship finals, was born in St Helens but brought up in Swansea, where he watched his father, the former Wales back-row Paul Moriarty, play. Capable at No8 or on the blind-side, he is a player Gatland will be paying close attention to as he ponders his 31 for the World Cup.
“He has an edge about him, a bit of the nasty side that kind of fits into the rugby mould,” said Gatland. “He is still young and he had a bit of a surprise when he came into the squad and saw how hard the players work but he is very explosive, and forced his way into the Gloucester side. He has fitted in well and he is one of a number of younger players who have the chance on Saturday to go out and perform.”
Moriarty is one of four uncapped players in the side to face Ireland, which contains only one survivor from the team that started their final match of this year’s Six Nations campaign in Rome, the prop Aaron Jarvis. It does, though, show how Wales have developed strength in depth since the last World Cup, with five Lions: Mike Phillips, Alex Cuthbert, Richard Hibbard, Justin Tipuric and James Hook, and a sixth, Taulupe Faletau, on the bench.
“We will reduce the squad from 45 to a more manageable number next week after training in north Wales,” said Gatland. “We have pushed the players to the limit and they have responded magnificently. We had a hard preparation for the 2011 World Cup but this has been a step up. We haven’t done a huge amount of contact stuff but the forwards had a tasty session this morning.
“They really ramped it up. They are aware this is a Test week and what that means. There were a couple of little niggles and fights at training. When the forwards are holding and grabbing each other you can tell there is a bit of tension in the air.”
Gatland said the Ireland head coach, Joe Schmidt, rang him last week to ask how Wales were treating the match, in terms of selection. “I said we were going to have a mixed squad of youth and experience. He indicated that they were going to do the same thing. He proceeded to ask me what’s happening with the roof. I remarked it is a bit ironic that you wanted it open during the Six Nations and now you want it closed. I think he wants it shut because it will be [shut] during the World Cup. A cynical side of me felt like saying we were going to leave it open.”
If Saturday marks a first opportunity for Moriarty, it may be a final one for Gloucester’s fly-half, Hook, who was left out of the squad for the Six Nations and starts because Gareth Anscombe, who is on the bench, has a slight thigh strain. Hook will partner Mike Phillips, Wales’s half-back combination in 2011.
“James did not play particularly well for Gloucester in the first half of the season but he did in the second,” said Gatland. “It is a great chance for him, given his maturity and experience. He knows what we are looking for.”
Hook, who will be making his second start at fly-half for Wales since the World Cup, is relishing an opportunity that a few months ago he was not sure he would get. “It was disappointing to miss the Six Nations but that is sport and it drives you on. It is up to me to make the coaches think and if I did make the World Cup squad it would mean more to me than 2011 and 2007.”
Wales H Amos Newport Gwent; A Cuthbert Cardiff Blues, T Morgan Newport Gwent, S Williams Scarlets capt, E Walker Ospreys; J Hook Gloucester, M Phillips Raçing Metro; N Smith Ospreys, R Hibbard Gloucester, A Jarvis Ospreys, J Ball Scarlets, D Day Bath, R Moriarty Gloucester, J Tipuric Ospreys, D Baker Ospreys. Replacements R Evans Scarlets, K Dacey Cardiff Blues, S Andrews Cardiff Blues, J King Ospreys, T Faletau Newport Gwent, L Williams Cardiff Blues, G Anscombe Cardiff Blues, M Morgan Bristol