Gatland confident Wales can win Six Nations

Wales head coach Warren Gatland is confident his side can win his final Six Nations in the job after naming his squad on Tuesday.

Gatland announced a 39-man selection for the championship, which kicks off for Wales against France on February 1.

The New Zealander, who will be replaced by Wayne Pivac after the Rugby World Cup, has had to negotiate a number of injury concerns in shaping his squad – not least a broken arm sustained by Taulupe Faletau at the weekend.

But Gatland remains positive about his team’s chances and says the opening fixture in Paris will be key to the success of their campaign.

“I think we’ve got a great chance of winning the Six Nations, if we win that opening game,” Gatland said.

“That first game is going to be our toughest. We feel like we are in as good a position as anybody to do well.

“The whole thing about the Six Nations is momentum. If you can win your first couple of games, then you have a great chance of being in contention on the last weekend.

“This is competition time. The autumn was great, but it wasn’t about points.

“This is what we are going to experience in Japan [at the World Cup], so it’s about fronting up and winning games, playing some good rugby, but also thinking about tournament rugby.”

The wait is over. Here is your Wales squad for the 2019 #GuinnessSixNations.

Dyma eich carfan genedlaethol am y Chwe Gwlad 2019. #HWFN pic.twitter.com/dykQFC9TWV

— Welsh Rugby Union (@WelshRugbyUnion) January 15, 2019

Leigh Halfpenny and Ross Moriarty have been included despite being sidelined with concussion – the Scarlets full-back since November and the Dragons back-row forward since mid-December.

“It’s important that we don’t rush him [Moriarty] back and hopefully he starts training and potentially he will have a game before the Six Nations,” he said.

“We’ll see where he [Halfpenny] is at. He’s been advised to continue training and … if he’s right, he’ll be in contention but if not we’ll have to make some other plans.”

Gatland added of fly-half Dan Biggar (knee): “Dan has a medial injury but he’s a fast healer and hopefully he might be in contention for this game.”

KEO.co.za News wire is powered by opta