Warren Gatland says Rio Dyer has to stay in the Wales set-up through to the World Cup following his try-scoring debut against New Zealand. He has also been singing the praises of scrum-half Tomos Williams in the wake of the autumn international opener at the Principality Stadium.
Speaking on Amazon Prime TV, former Wales and Lions coach Gatland said: “Dyer was fantastic in his first game. He has to stay in the squad for the next 12 months or so, play some more rugby in the autumn and hopefully get some game-time in the Six Nations.”
Fellow pundit Jamie Roberts, a former Dragons team-mate of winger Dyer, added: “Rio has taken his opportunity really well and he is only going to improve. He took his try well, he looked comfortable, he looked like a Test player. I am really proud of the young man.”
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Gatland went on to talk in glowing terms about Cardiff No 9 Tomos Williams, who was involved in both of Wales’ tries. “He is incredibly skillful. He plays a lot of basketball. He’s like a Jack Russell as well. He’s a terrier and he’s as competitive as anything. He won’t back down to anyone. He’s a great player to have in the squad.”
Giving his overall assessment on Wales’ 55-23 defeat, Gatland said: “I just thought the All Blacks were brilliant in the Welsh 22. It must have been a 100 per cent conversion rate. Every time they went down there they came away with points. That was the big difference, just the clinical way they approached that. They kept going forward, kept getting behind Wales and eventually wore them down.”
Former Wales and Lions captain Sam Warburton, who was also on punditry duty with Amazon, spoke about the defensive lapses from Wayne Pivac’s side, who leaked eight tries in all, missing 24 tackles during the game.
“A lot of silly, trivial errors came in defence. It might have been through a lack of composure, maybe because of fatigue setting in during the last 20 minutes. Wales bought dummies, they came off the line too soon,” said the ex-flanker.
His long-time team-mate Roberts added: “Wales lost the advantage line. They will be disappointed with their defensive performance. This game is about going forward, you can dress it up all you want. With their ability to play rugby on the front foot, New Zealand outshone Wales in that department.”
The three pundits all hailed the display of Man of the Match Ardie Savea, with former centre Roberts dubbing the New Zealand No 8 as “the best player on the planet at the minute”.
Warburton concluded: “There are still positions up for grabs in the Wales team. I don’t think they are as far down the line as New Zealand in knowing what their best XV is.”
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