Tom Shanklin Wales centre

Tom Shanklin will start at centre for Wales for their opening World Cup match against Canada on Sunday. He took time out from his preparations to answer some of your questions.

Q. Do you feel that playing World Cup games on home turf will help Wales's cause?
Angus Munroe, 36, Cardiff

Yes. Or at least I hope it'll help. Playing a couple of games at the Millennium Stadium with our home support will be massive for us. It'll just be interesting to see who gets the home dressing room. I don't have a clue how they're going to decide that.

The away dressing room's a little bit smaller and they don't let groups on tours of the stadium into the home one. There are life-size cardboard cut-outs of the players in the away one so I supposed they'll have to get rid of those, but there's not really that much of a difference.

Q. How highly do you rate your coach, Gareth Jenkins, compared to the others you have played under?
Fred Rees, 37, London

He's very good at motivating the players. I don't really want to compare him with others though because I might tread on one or two toes. But Gareth's very good at motivating the individual and the team. He makes sure we play as a team rather than individuals.

Q. Do people ever confuse you for Gareth Thomas in the street as you look virtually identical?
Huw Petersen, 26, Gloucester

Loads. All the time. He gets a lot of it as well. I'll sometimes be out at night in Cardiff and across the road there'll be a group of lads patting their heads and shouting at me. I get "Gareth, Gareth" all the time. Even Martyn Williams has had it, but I'm not so sure he looks like either of us.

Q. Is Wales's expansive style of play now outdated against more aggressive, modern defences? And who would you rather play inside, Jones or Hook?
Seth Kitson, 17, Newcastle Upon Tyne

No, I don't think so, but sometimes we've got to know when we should play that wider more expansive game and when we've got to hold it up the middle. We play best with a bit of a mixture. We're a very good attacking side but sometimes you can rush it. Against France we tried to transfer it wide but there was no space there because we'd not tied-up their tacklers in the middle. And it doesn't matter whether Stephen or James play at 10. They're both on the same wavelength and they both understand what we're trying to do.

Q. Who is the fastest player in the Welsh squad over 100 metres?
Huw Franklin, 45, Abbotsford, British Columbia

Apart from myself, you mean? We don't actually get timed over 100m, it's more like 40m. So it'll probably be Shane Williams, closely followed by Mark Jones. I'm not quite sure of their times. The props are the slowest.

Q. Who would be your dream centre partner?
Gareth Thomas, 35, Boston, USA

Can I say my Dad? That'd be a good one. Years ago we used to go and throw the ball to each other and do some kicking in the fields near to where we lived in Tenby. I enjoyed playing with Tim Horan when we were at Saracens together. He was one of my idols really. Scott Gibbs would be on the list as well. I never got the chance to play with him or against him. I'm also hoping I get the chance to play with Brian O'Driscoll in a Barbarians game one day.

Q. If you could play in any other World Cup team which one would you choose and why?
Kirsten Jones, 33, London

Blimey, I need to think about that one. I could say New Zealand, but that'd be a bit obvious wouldn't it? So I'll go for France. They've got lots of style, like me.

Q. Tom, as the main joker of the squad, what antics have you been up to, to lighten the mood?
Steffan Thomas, 23, Ammanford

Me and Shane share the job really. There's the usual stuff - hiding boots and taking out people's laces. But we haven't really done too much yet. I'm one of the entertainment officers here so it's up to me to make sure we have fun off the pitch. We've already been go-karting when Alix Popham was lethal and the French people at the circuit shouted at us. There's been a race night, plenty of films and a group of us got out and about on some bikes we'd hired a couple of days ago.

Q. Who has been your toughest opponent?
Craig James, 36, Guildford, Surrey

I'd have to say New Zealand as a team and Joe Rokocoko in particular. I've come up against him two or three times now when I've played out on the wing and you have to be so careful. You've got to be right in his face because you can't give him even a little bit of space.

Q. Do you or any of your team mates like disco dancing? Who is the best?
George Blackwell, 28, Maidenhead

I'll take that. Dwayne's pretty good as well. I'm a bit of an all-rounder, but 80s would be my favourite. A bit of cheese.

Q. Would you have taken Gavin Henson to France, at least as a squad member?
Lee Bodenham, 27, Pontypool

I'm glad I didn't have to make that call. That's a tough one. Would I have taken Gavin? If he was a little bit fitter, yes.

Q. Not really a question. Just to let you and the team know that you have the nation's support in the World Cup. The reason we are so critical is that we know how capable a team we have. All the best.
Richard Prosser, 33, Cardiff

We know we didn't really perform in the warm-up games but I think we've got a better and more talented squad than we did when we won the Grand Slam. It's very close, but I think we've got a bit more strength in depth and competition for every position. When we play as a unit, backs and forward together, that's when we're at our best. If we can do that then we've got a chance and I can't wait now for Sunday.