RBS SIX NATIONS: Wales v France
Venue: Millennium Stadium Date: Friday, 26 February Kick-off: 2000 GMT
Coverage: Live on BBC One, BBC HD, Red Button and BBC Sport website; Radio 5 live, Radio Wales and Radio Cymru; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles

Wales coach Warren Gatland says the inclusion of Jonathan Thomas at blind-side flanker should give his back-row colleagues more freedom against France.

Thomas started the win over Scotland at lock, where he has mostly played for the Ospreys this season.

But he switched to the back-row soon after half-time, replacing Andy Powell.

"I'm excited about the balance because Jonathan, having played in the second row, I think he'll give us a tight performance at six," Gatland said.

"He's very good in the line-out, he'll hit a lot of rucks, make tackles and I think he'll give Martyn and Ryan a little bit more freedom to... play a bit looser at times."

Powell has been dropped from the Wales squad for disciplinary reasons, after the Blues player was charged with drink-driving following an incident with a golf buggy on the morning after the win against Scotland.

Thomas' move into the back-row and Alun Wyn Jones' absence following elbow surgery gives Deiniol Jones and Bradley Williams the chance to impress in the second-row at the Millennium Stadium on Friday night.

Powell's absence simplified the back-row selection decision that Gatland and his assistants had to make to face France.

But the Wales boss admits he may have made the wrong choice from the start against Scotland, whose back-row of Kelly Brown, John Barclay and John Beattie outshone the Wales breakaway.

"It's a massive step up from regional rugby to international rugby and Jonathan Thomas has been playing second row the whole time for the Ospreys," Gatland said.

"We felt it was a big ask for him to come straight from second row into the back row, having had injury problems.

"Those are the decisions we made, at the time we felt Andy Powell had been playing well for the Blues and he had been playing well at six.

"We've got to make sure in our job that we sit down and as a management team, as a coaching team, we go through the videos and loot at training and then discuss on what we think are the best combinations.

"The easiest time sometimes is to go with public opinion or go with the media opinion because it's likely you're going to get less criticism for doing that.

606: DEBATE What do you make of Warren Gatland's selection for Wales v France? Sean Davies

"But we're not doing our job unless we make the hard calls sometimes and go with what we believe in.

"If we get it wrong then we hopefully try and create that honest environment - very much like we're trying to do with the players about being honest - as coaches.

"We can put up our hands and say maybe we got it wrong and made a mistake, and I've done that in the past.

"Look back over the last couple of weeks with the scrum-half selection and I'm more than happy to say fair enough criticism, maybe we got that selection wrong at the time on reflection."

Thomas himself is looking forward to packing down on the blind-side on Friday night, as Wales seek to derail France's Grand Slam quest.

"I'm playing six this week so I'm really looking forward to it," Thomas said.

"There's a lot of competition at the moment in the back-row and the second-row so I'm really looking forward to the game on Friday night.

"Obviously I've played most of my rugby this season at five, but most of my rugby I've played for Wales at six, so it's not too difficult to switch back and forth.

"Your mindset is slightly different when you play at five, you've probably got to hit a few more rucks, do a bit more of the unseen graft... obviously your priority is the set piece.

"Whereas at six you're probably in the game a little bit more as a ball-carrier, the contact area is a bit more important at six as well."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version