Spring has barely sprung but, in international rugby, thoughts are already turning to summer. With the season ending for the Welsh regions in April, Warren Gatland has named his provisional squad for the World Cup. He did so on Monday, 132 days before Wales’s first match – Steve Borthwick has spent less time as England head coach – but as the end-of-season run-in looms into view in Europe, so too does the World Cup over its shoulder.
Gatland’s squad announcement can be seen as the start of Wales’s campaign and, if they are first out of the blocks, his European counterparts will all be finessing their final plans. These teams are about to enter the period that head coaches repeatedly remind us is so important because it affords uninterrupted access to players. It is the point in time that Eddie Jones was effectively counting down to before he was sacked as England head coach. As Gatland said: “At times it feels like a club side because of the time you get to have with the players.”
