Gatland named his 39-man squad for the Championship on Tuesday ahead of the Paris clash on Friday, February 1.
Gatland’s men are on a roll having won nine matches in a row heading into the tournament.
And the New Zealand coach, who is preparing for his final Guinness Six Nations campaign, wants his side to storm the Stade de France to build momentum for a tilt at the title.
“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’re in as good a position as anybody to do well.
“The whole thing about 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.
“That first game is important for us. If we can get a win then I think we’ll have a good tournament.”
Gatland had initially planned to name a squad of 40, but saw Bath No 8 Taulupe Faletau forced to withdraw with a broken arm.
Leigh Halfpenny, Ross Moriarty, Adam Bead, Nicky Smith and Leon Brown were all named in the squad, but are fighting to be fit for Paris.
Thomas Young, Josh Navidi and Josh Turnbull could all get opportunities to impress.
“Seven or eight players are carrying knocks at the moment and may be available for the second match,” said Gatland.
“When we sat down we picked a squad of 40 and then unfortunately Taulupe was ruled out so we reduced it. We feel like we’re in a good place and looking forward to the Six Nations.
“The plan for this Six Nations is to use it as a template for the World Cup. We’ll have 31 players and we’ll keep 31 players with us.
“We go to Paris for the first game and down to Nice for a camp, we’ll take 31 players with us before the second game against Italy.
“We’re hoping it’ll make things familiar with what we’re trying to do over the next eight or nine months.”
The Guinness Six Nations is the final serious audition for the Rugby World Cup places in Japan. And Gatland cannot wait to see his charges fight it out for their spot on the plane.
“This is competition time,” he added. “The autumn was great but it wasn’t about points. This is what we’re going to experience in Japan so it’s about fronting up and winning games.
“We want to play some good rugby but also think about tournament rugby. It’s important we’re aware of that.”
