Gatland: We won’t be distracted

Gatland and Wales captain Sam Warburton faced a five hour media marathon on Wednesday as the tournament was launched in central London.
 
Key on the agenda for the world’s media was the opening clash against Stuart Lancaster’s side and despite repeated questioning Gatland remained adamant that England’s recent injuries will not impact the visitors’ chances.
 
“It does not matter what team England put out, they are going to be strong,” he said.
 
“The challenge for us is to make sure we don’t allow the injuries to become a distraction with people talking us up too much.
 
“England have a huge amount of strength in depth in a lot of positions. We saw that last summer when they were able to put out a different team against the All Blacks and did exceptionally well.
 
“We had a lot of injuries last year and if you look at the Six Nations in 2014, England only made three changes, Ireland made four and we made 18.
 
“We are lucky this time around that we have not got too many and unfortunately England have picked up a few.
 
“The challenge for us is to make sure we don’t allow the injuries to become a distraction and people talk us up too much.
 
“Often in the media you try and put the coaches under a lot of pressure but Stuart had done a fantastic job.
 
“Journalists sometimes give me more credit than I deserve. When I get asked questions I try and be honest and when I was asked about which way they were going to play I said it depended on their 10 or midfield.
 
“I wasn’t trying to be clever, I was just giving an honest answer.
 
“England have options. They can go and play certain types of games. They have a strong forward pack, They can put you in the corners and the ball in the air and try and pressure you up front and they can move the ball as well.”