Gatland warns Jones' England of burnout

Sun, Oct 27, 2019, 9:49 PM
AAP
by AAP
Warren Gatland has a warning for England. Photo: Getty Images
Warren Gatland has a warning for England. Photo: Getty Images

Warren Gatland has questioned whether England might have played their World Cup final a game early after Welsh interest in the Webb Ellis Trophy ended in Yokohama.

Gatland declared Wales would depart Japan with their pride and reputation intact despite an ugly 19-16 last-four defeat by South Africa on Sunday that means they will contest the third place playoff against New Zealand on Friday.

But the New Zealand signed off his last meaningful match as head coach with a pointed remark about England's stunning 19-7 victory over the All Blacks 24 hours earlier that was masterminded by his old sparring partner Eddie Jones.

"We have seen in previous World Cups that teams sometimes play their final in semi-finals and don't always turn up for a final," Gatland said.

"So it will be interesting to see how England are next week and it could be a good game.

"We have another game to play against the All Blacks. The dream was that my first game was in charge of Wales was against England and so the last would be against them as well, but it was not to be."

South Africa prevailed through four penalties from Handre Pollard, who also converted Damian de Allende's powerful try that effectively broke Wales' resistance.

"South Africa have the physicality to match England. I thought England were outstanding, but South Africa have a very good chance," Gatland added.

"They might have to be a bit more expansive in the way they want to play. They had a pretty simple game plan against us in terms of the scrums and box kicking from Faf De Klerk and Pollard.

"It was very effective and for them it was about making the final and doing whatever it took to do that. It was a tough encounter. We knew it was going to be an arm wrestle and we stayed in that arm wrestle.

"I thought there was a momentum shift until the last four or five minutes and we started to get going, but unfortunately we were penalised and the game got away from us."

Wales take on New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup bronze medal match on Friday November 1 at Tokyo Stadium, kicking off at 6pm local, 8pm AEDT, LIVE on Foxtel and RUGBY.com.au RADIO, Rugby Xplorer and Amazon Alexa.

 

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