Wales vs England: Warren Gatland urges his side to ‘create something very special’ after Six Nations win

Wales boss revelled in spoiling England’s party after Saturday’s 21-13 victory that leaves them aiming for a famous Grand Slam in his final Six Nations in charge

Andrew Baldock
Monday 25 February 2019 09:48 GMT
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Warren Gatland wants Wales to try and "create something very special" by building on their memorable Six Nations victory over England.

Wales are two wins away from marking head coach Gatland's final Six Nations campaign at the helm with a title and Grand Slam glory.

Scotland at Murrayfield and Ireland in Cardiff are the remaining hurdles to overcome in pursuit of a third Six Nations clean sweep since Gatland took charge 11 years ago.

"The biggest challenge for us now is to not be happy with beating England and accepting where we are at the moment, but try and build further and create something very special," Gatland said.

"It would be pretty special if we could win the championship in my final year with Wales, and sign off like that.

"I was really proud of the performance. The second half was as good as it gets, and a lot of people out there might sit up and take a little bit of notice of that.

"Eddie (England head coach Jones) said they were coming down to spoil our party. Well, maybe we've spoilt theirs.

"The great thing about the Six Nations is that anyone is potentially capable of beating anyone else on their day.

"That's what we want. We don't want England - or France, like they did in the past - dominating this tournament. We want unpredictability, teams being tactically astute, and upsets.

"It (Wales' 21-13 victory) was a bit of an upset - not for us, because we were pretty confident in ourselves and how we've worked. We expected to win, but for a lot of people out there this would have been an upset."

Wales' 12th successive win - a new national record - owed much to the second-half introduction of fly-half Dan Biggar, whose brilliant game management relentlessly drove his team home.

Warren Gatland revelled in spoiling England's party
Warren Gatland revelled in spoiling England's party (PA)

Biggar provided the cross-kick assist for wing Josh Adams' game-clinching try, yet he also knows that this season's Six Nations job is nowhere near complete.

"We are in a great position, but we are fully aware that one slip-up would probably mean we don't win the championship," Biggar said.

"It (the Grand Slam) would be the perfect way to finish off what has been a great reign by Warren.

"We've won 12 on the bounce now, so we are going into games full of confidence. We're on a great run, but we know the next two games will present very difficult challenges.

"It was just a really solid second half, a very professional 40 minutes. And in international rugby all that matters is getting across that finishing line with your noses in front.

"The team in general is building some great strength in depth, and to go toe to toe with an England team which is as good an England team as you can play against, we are really proud of.

Dan Biggar made a positive impact after coming on for Wales by setting up both tries
Dan Biggar made a positive impact after coming on for Wales by setting up both tries (Getty)

"You could see a couple of moments when Owen (Farrell) put a ball out on the full. It was a bit of a turning point.

"He has been so good and consistent that when you see players of his quality making errors the boys grew with belief that we could turn the screw.

"We kept within one score, and eventually we managed to grind out the result."

PA

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