27/05/2012 Scrum V

The wing wizard has done it again, Shane Williams breaks and

Leinster's hearts. Warren Gatland speaks to Scrum V, as he

recuperates. My main problem is mobility, I have a scooter at the

moment. People asking to pin put my it mobility scooter. We focus on

Wales, as they want revenge over the Barbarians. We understand that

the Barbarians want to play a certain style of rugby. Next,

Australia, they are on the hunt for a scalp. It is a massive target for

us. Good evening. Welcome to Scrum V. Within the last hour, the

Ospreys have been crowned the Pro12 champions. Jonathan Davies watched

the game, we will get comments the game, we will get comments

afterwards. But there's really of the action.

-- that's really of the action. Both teams were on good form,

Leinster hosted the European Cup. The bookies fancied Leinster. The

Ospreys had beaten them home and away this season. Could Shane

Williams inspire victory in his last-ever appearance?

Rob Kearney doesn't do with it. Some good tackling. They didn't

deal with the high one. Good pressure by Ryan Jones. Leinster

will go from the 22. They do that with Fergus McFadden. A knock-on,

play goes on. This time it is a penalty for the Ospreys. The front

five not staying on their feet. He has a chance to put his team are in

front. He has struck it well. A Rhys Webb was there for the Ospreys.

It is a bit manic at the moment. Leinster are pushing the Ospreys

a third race. Bishop can go all the way. He's still going. Rhys Webb.

One more pass should do it. It has to be a try. No penalty. There is

one now, according to Romain Poite. Surely they have to score there? It

is the first try-scoring opportunity for the Ospreys. Three

points for Dan Biggar. The Ospreys are under pressure. They are under

the shadow of their own posts. They run them over. It must be a score

for Leinster? It had to come in the end. The first try of the afternoon.

Again, that trio in the front row, James Jones, he is trying to put

pressure on. Another penalty. Distance is not a problem, Dan

Biggar has struck it well. The radar is good, as well. A bit too

far, possibly. Brilliantly taken. Great kick by Jonathan Sexton. They

need a good platform, the Ospreys. They have gone down to weaselly,

Romain Poite is going to his pocket. -- gone down too easily. That is a

yellow card for Heinke van der Merwe. Again they are putting down.

The scrum goes to ground. Something has to be done here? The seven of

scrum in all, again they go down. - - 7th. Alun Wyn Jones cannot

believe it, the Ospreys have been penalised. The Ospreys need to turn

pressure into points here. A good offload by Ryan Jones. Ashley Beck,

this could be a great start. A great start, that is a score. They

put it up. A good chase by Leinster. It has gone, it is untidy. There is

a chance here for Leinster, there are men out there. Was he in touch?

A great tackle by Dan Biggar. The advantage line, Shane Williams in

the corner. Has it got there? Romain Poite will go upstairs to

the TV match official. The decision is that he can awarded try. --

award. They are trying to get a rumble on. Great work from the

Leinster forwards. There will be a penalty, at least, for Leinster.

They are a great try. It hasn't gone forward, it has gone to Isa

Nacewa, he is over. That is the Leinster post, they go on. There is

a chance here, Shane Williams, he's going to go to read. Has he got

there in the corner? Is very second try for Shane Williams? -- is that

there are a second try. The try is awarded. This then to put the

Ospreys into the lead. It looks good, it is good! You can feel the

tension as Leinster a go every year, within striking distance. And all

important tackle, they cannot give away a penalty. The Ospreys have

forced a turnover. The ball is out of play, that's it for the Ospreys!

They have taken it right at the very death. What a finale to the

season! What a game! What an outcome for the Ospreys squad!

outcome for the Ospreys squad! Their fourth league title. It was a

very tough game. I was trying to put it away. It is commendable the

way the guys played. There were opportunities, and we gave away

some silly tries, a got frustrating out there at times. In fairness, we

stuck at it, and we won in the 79th minute. Getting to the Grand Final,

it is testament to the Ospreys, and a testament to our players. They

can come from behind, they showed maturity. There are some people

going into retirement, people moving on, people leaving. This is

for them, and the fans. It has been an emotional week. We have some

great friends leaving, going on to pastures new. We have a wonderful

little winger who is retiring. It is a sad time. This is a fitting

way to send them off, and something they will treasure forever. I knew

this day was coming. I will miss the guys the most. They take the

mickey out of me constantly. I will miss that camaraderie. I will miss

that a large, but I am not going away, I will be involved with these

guys. My affiliation with the Ospreys will be there until the end.

I am not passing away, I'm not going anywhere, and I will enjoy

their success. Plenty of emotion out on the pitch.

That was a thrilling final. becomes too were brass, we will

also take the mickey out of them! It was a fantastic performance by

the Ospreys. -- if he comes to work for us. The Ospreys were turned

over many times, there were knock- ons, handling errors, it was not a

pretty performance. But they showed their character, they hung on, they

sneaked a brilliant result. To do that, under the circumstances, that

was phenomenal. Leinster were the European champions, they were the

favourites, they caused them some problems early on. They aren't the

European champions for no reason, they played really well. We were

shown in the analysis what they were doing. -- we will show. This

led to three points. They were very slow in picking this up. They split

of the field. They were challenging for the ball, regaining possession.

They were stacking the right-hand side, leading the receiver one-on-

one. Hanno Dirksen should be defending. All day, they try to

play the inside channel. Ultimately it paid off, a little bit

fortuitous. An opportunist strike. The plan was to take them up front.

They got penalties against them, two yellow cards. They were able to

get their runners, Ashley Beck, and Hanno Dirksen into the game later

run. Ian Evans got into the game in open space, they have been awesome

in the second half of the season. Do not underestimate what Richard

Fussell did here. The master finisher squeezes in. If it went to

the last ten minutes, I always felt they had the firepower to get in.

Who better to have ben Shane Williams? When it comes to the last

Kate, Jonathan you know more about that than me. -- last kick. He has

put a lot of work in. He has flourished. The slow ball does not

suit him, he has that pace. Now he's getting on to the ball, he's

getting runners, they are putting some wit been to the pitch. To kick

that conversion was brilliant. -- width. If you don't kick those

kicks, you don't remember those tries, that's as simple as that. He

did a great tackle near the end as well. When I said the sea were

score that -- are so NASA. When they scored from the kick-off, that

should have not happened. They should also have been a penalty try.

-- there should also have been. The referee should have a field of the

situation, he knew that pack. They did a passive scrum, that of the

initiative away. What about the penalty try? A I don't know. You

see it week-in, week-out. I think Jonathan has done a great job with

that front five. They have steamrollered some sides, it is

very frustrating for someone like Jonathan, and the players, that

they did not get their just rewards. Fortunately, it did not cost them

in the end. There were eight penalties conceded. You know who is

in charge of that area, you have to be in charge of that. When he gave

the yellow-card, which made a passive scrum, that takes the whole

initiative away from the Ospreys. They wanted a scrum, they want to

get a penalty, to get into field position to force a penalty try. I

think we have mentioned scrums, and the tackles this year, but I feel

that the scrum has become a bit of a joke. It is such a crucial part

of the game, I remember watching Leinster, and they were getting

stomped on, the referee allowed it. You have to get some front row

forwards in their to assess what is going on, otherwise people will

just switch off. Taking nothing away from the Ospreys, they were

back to the sin. -- they were Let's put this into context, it's

only been in the last few months we have been talking in doom and gloom

terms about the regional game and here we have the of praise beating

the European champions in Dublin to win the Pro12 title. Not too bad,

is it? The Ospreys have won four Celtic titles and EDF, and runners-

up. We are not doing too badly. The doom and gloom has been around

finance, but there are good young players coming through. A lot were

on show today. Beck was outstanding. Biggar is 22. Difficult to believe

he has 22. That goes for all the regions. There is a good spread of

talent. All the players going to France, we have said this before,

it gives the opportunity to the youngsters to perform at a regional

level and I can't emphasise how important the Premiership is. There

is enough talent in Wales, they have to make the Premiership a bit

more competitive to make it fair for all those good coaches and all

those quality players, for the next step up the regional level is not

that big. We have a reduced Premiership for next season, so we

will see what that does to competitiveness. Let's go to the

international game and the three Tests and a series of Australia.

One man hoping to make it down under his Warren Gatland, who is

recuperating in New Zealand after a nasty fall that saw him broke both

First of all, how is the food? is coming on really well. It is one

of those injuries that Having landed on the heel, they have been

stories about what happened, but I was at the beach, I climbed up to

clean some windows with a brush, lost balance and fell backwards

onto the concrete by the garage. It was about three metres. I landed on

my heels. Initially they were going to operate but they decided not to.

A couple of wires were put in mind right heel, they come out next week,

in seven or eight days, and I can start using crutches. I am hoping

in a few weeks after being on crutches and taking weight on my

right foot, I will be mobile again, walking around. Have you got cabin

fever? It has not been too bad. Luckily, when you have the laptop

and keeping up to dates with what has been happening in Wales, or

online and you are lucky enough with the rugby channel, you get to

see rugby, I am reliant on people getting around but what my wife's

friends has given me a mobility scooter. I have started taking

training. I and driving around on the mobility scooter, some friends

turned up with some tassels and said they wanted to dunk my

mobility scooter. I'm keeping busy locally, helping the academy boys

locally and the team there, instead of being asked speak to the coaches,

keeping my hand in -- I am being asked to speak to coaches. It is

good to be away from Wales, looking at what is done on the other side

of the world, the changes in the game the training, having a really

close look at Super rugby at the moment particularly with the New

Zealand sides and the Australian sides, it is quite nice to have

that opportunity that I don't normally get when I am in Wales.

How much in but it is there from you? How often are you talking to

rob and the boys? I am probably talking to Rob three or four times

a week, just depending. He rang me at about ten o'clock the other

night when he was walking the dog, we had a chat about things. It is

probably a chance for me to listen, really, some of the things he had

experienced, one or two frustrations, but you have to give

them their own opportunity to make what they feel is the best

decisions for the team without me having too much input. What is the

plan now, the Test series coming up, are you going? Will you be here?

this stage I will probably struggle to get to Brisbane for the first

Test but if I can be in Melbourne for the second and third Tests

cover that will be great. As much as anything, just to go and have an

input but to support the court cheers and the players as much as

anything. -- to support the coaches. What about lanes? I have spoken to

them,. -- what about the Lions? They're waiting for assurance that

the injury is going to heal and it will not be a hindrance and 12

months. I can assure you I will be right in a few weeks. I will be up

and running around. I think perhaps the next process is the Lions

agreeing with Wales and Roger Lewis in terms of the release period and

what their compensation is and when that is done, perhaps sitting down

with myself and hopefully being able to agree terms in terms of

time frame and whatever else. I think it has been going on for a

while. I would like to think we are reasonably close but until all

those things are done, nothing is final until the dotted lines have

been signed. And your career as a window-cleaner?! The Queen's

birthday next weekend, we will go back to the beach and I must go

back to the beach and finish. By nearly finished before I fell off

the deck. By well for clean a few windows next week. Know, Warren! --

No.. I have been knitting as Garth for my sister, she is going to

support Wales, I have been making a red scarf for her. People will be

surprised about that. It is nice to get away next week for a while and

put the last six or eight weeks behind me and start concentrating

and thinking about getting back to Wales and rugby, particularly

supporting the coach is as well. A fairly upbeat Warren Gatland,

hopeful he will make it to Australia for some of the summer

tour. There is the Test against the Barbarians to come first, then a

trip down under for the battle of the titans. The Grand Slam

champions against the Tri-Nations champions.

In the helter-skelter world that is professional rugby, Wales have

played an incredible 16 Tests since they faced the Barbarians last June.

That includes the World Cup exploits and the Six Nations Grand

Slam. There are four more to be added before the season finally

ends and the successful to Mud -- summer tour to Australia what would

make it a vintage year. You need confidence and self-belief. It is

one thing that after the Grand Slam we are in a good place. It has

flown by, the last 12 months, thinking of what has happened in up

time. It has been a great ear as well. As a warm-up for what is to

come down under, the Baa-Baas are back at the Millennium Stadium next

weekend but they won't be facing the Welsh team that last appeared

them at the end of the Six Nations. Half the Welsh squad will already

be acclimatising in Brisbane but it has a chance for others to shine

and press replaces -- press for places and food Rob Howley coming

out of Warren Gatland's shadow it is essential to get off to a

winning start. It is an important fixture in Wales' Callander,

certainly ask questions of our players from a defensive aspect in

particular which will be great going to Australia. The players

involved in a Barbarians game, it is great for them to join the boys

in Australia of the back of a win. It is always a much happier camp

when you're winning. The Barbarians themselves are runners three-match

tour, having played England at Twickenham today and facing Ireland

on Tuesday and even though there is a throwback to amateur days in the

preparation and playing philosophy, there is an emphasis on enjoyment

and success. The star-studded squad includes Six Nations, Tri-Nations

and even World Cup winners and with four wins in the last five meetings

against Wales, it is not decide to be taken lightly. The amazing thing

is you put a plate -- a group of players together and it naturally

happens by itself. Hopefully that is the case and it comes out on a

weekend and the amount of time, it will be a good three weeks. It will

be tough, the Millennium Stadium is to have to play and when the crowd

gets going, it will be a big match and I am sure there are a lot of

guys up for it. We understand the Barbarians want to play a certain

style of rugby and enjoy the occasion, it is finding the balance.

Everyone wants to win. It is about getting out there and putting on

the track. If there is a lot of familiar faces amongst the Baa-Baas,

Wales will be more familiar with their Wannabe opponents. They have

faced them twice in the autumn with Australia winning with Auckland and

Cardiff. Now they will face them three more times in as many weeks

and of Wales need any reminding us to the enormity of their tasks, the

record books show Wales haven't won a Test match on Aussies soil since

1969. They have the talent. A lot of players like Kurtley Beale

playing at ten, you have the young blokes, they're doing fantastic

things. They are being creative. are confident about the tour to

Australia. We are respectful that they are one of the best teams in

the world but that is the challenge we want, really. A tough challenge.

It is tough but they have the balance, they have a good winning

culture coming offer good Six Nations, they know each other, get

down there and have a go. Two Grand Slams in five years on the World

Cup semi-final and no mean credentials. But to take the next

step forward Wales have to beat the southern hemisphere countries and

do so in their own backyard. For true recognition a Test win is

essential. A series win, now that would really make everyone sit up

and take notice. I think back to the World Cup, we have 4th place,

we were unbeaten against some sides. To get a series win was a massive

target for us. This will be the opportunity to get that southern-

hemisphere Cup they have been looking for for some time -- scalp.

There are no good space. It will be the most exciting prospect for the

summer tour series. If we have got anything about us winning work

Rugby World Cup sand being semi- finals and finals, we have to go

out and get a southern-hemisphere scout. So it all kicks off next

week with a game against the barbarians. Catch all the action on

Scrum V Live on BBC Two Wales. On June 9th it is the First Test

against the Wallabies in Brisbane. On the 12th they take on the

Brumbies in Canberra and the second and third Tests are run the 16th

and 23rd in Melbourne and Sydney respectively and you can hear

commentary on all the summer Tests on BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru.

Looking at the Wales squad, other than Jamie Roberts, they have a

fall, clean bill of health. Is it the strongest squad but has been

sent down under? Definitely, yes. Injuries at the end of the season

always plays a big part. When they come up in the autumn it is very

similar. They seem to have more strength and depth than us. I do

feel that now, apart from Jamie Roberts, there is a question, we