Gatland reveals how he plans to nullify Sexton and Murray
Warren Gatland wants his Wales side to "attack" Jonathan Sexton and Conor Murray when they attempt to derail Ireland's Six Nations title challenge in Dublin on Saturday.
Gatland knows all about the threat posed by the half-back pairing, who were in his starting line-up for two of the three British and Irish Lions Tests in New Zealand last year.
Wales need a victory at the Aviva Stadium after losing to England at Twickenham before the break and Gatland knows they can ill afford to let Sexton and Murray pull the strings.
"We’ve got to attack them. We've had some pretty good success not allowing Johnny too much time and space on the ball." said the Wales head coach.
"Our line-speed defensively has got to be good. We have got to put Conor and his kicking game under pressure - we have to be prepared to be pretty physical against them.
"I thought the way Wales played at home against them last year was outstanding, the kind of model and benchmark to take to Ireland.
"We have got to be physical against them up front and stop the running power of someone like CJ Stander, who's a big go-forward player for them and stop allowing Murray and Sexton to dominate the game.
"If we can do that we have got a chance."
Gatland has recalled Dan Biggar, Liam Williams and Leigh Halfpenny to his starting line-up.
Rob Kearney tries to ramp up pressure on Dan Biggar
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Even with absences we still had the cattle to make the playoffs. As it was, we nearly stumbled our way into the top 8. Which shows just how easy it was to get there. And still we failed. As for Razor, there are many instances of him patching up the Crusaders roster. Numerous. Several players I'd never heard of. Also, using AB legend John Afoa was a classic.
But, some of the games we were losing were from schoolboy errors, or downright confusion. Either the players were really dumb (they weren’t) or they were poorly coached. Given the repetitive nature of errors, brain fades, poor decision making, & loose structures, this all lands with the coaching group.
With only six playoff spots now in SR, & Aussie franchises now consolidated to four, 2025 looks like a tight one. I'm picking we'll have to tough it out under Penney & hope for the best.
Go to commentsAgree we need a 10, 12, 13 refresh. ASAP. Well, next season now lol. Reiko should be put back on the wing. He'll be an absolute menace there. Imagine 11 Reiko 14 Clarke 15 Jordan as the backfield unit.
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