Rugby:Wales are daring to dream after arriving in Auckland with 80 minutes against France lying between themselves and the Rugby World Cup final. Yesterday's 22-10 quarter-final victory over Ireland in Wellington set-up a last-four bout with Les Bleus at Eden Park on Saturday.
Warren Gatland’s side finished fourth in the Six Nations but have performed exceptionally well in New Zealand so far, losing 17-16 to defending world champions South Africa before victories over Samoa, Namibia, Fiji and the last-eight clash with Ireland.
Wales were tonight set to share their central Auckland hotel with Marc Lievremont’s France side, but they were simply delighted to reach the last four 24 years on from their previous World Cup semi-final appearance in New Zealand.
Speaking on the team’s arrival, Wales assistant coach Rob Howley said: “It’s a pretty special place to be. Auckland’s a pretty famous place in rugby terms and who would’ve thought five months ago this Welsh side would be in Auckland? We’re savouring the moment about last night but we’re preparing meticulously for the event which occurs on Saturday.
“We’re on a journey or a dream and we want that journey and dream to continue. The journey and the dream is based on hard work, some youth talent thrown in, and the players are very much looking forward to an opportunity in the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup on Saturday.”
Howley maintains the come-from-behind success over Samoa was key to Wales’ self-belief, but that much work is still to be done. He added: “A huge psychological hurdle for us was half-time against Samoa, being 10-6 down.
“As we said at the time, many a Welsh side would have lost that game. We had the resilience and the fortitude to come out. That was a huge game for us. Last night was another hurdle and we’ve got another big hurdle on the weekend.
“It’s the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup. The Welsh players have achieved getting to a semi-final of the Rugby World Cup — we don’t think we’re finished yet, we haven’t won anything. We felt before the game yesterday it wasn’t time to go home, but actions speak louder than words.
“The actions which you saw last night were pretty good ones and we have to replicate those to come anywhere near France at the weekend. We’re concentrating on ourselves, rather than France.”
Wales have mixed youth — epitomised by captain Sam Warburton, 23, and his back-row colleague Toby Faletau, 20 — with the experience of the likes of prolific try-scorer Shane Williams to great effect in the tournament.
And Howley believes the more experienced members of the squad have been reinvigorated by the emergence of such talented players. “This Welsh side wants to express themselves,” Howley added. “This side has worked continually hard, their work ethic is pretty high, but there’s no fear with the youngsters.
“The experienced old heads — the Shane Williams’, Mike Phillips’, Gethin Jenkins’ — have played in a lot of places in world rugby. Even those players, with the youngsters alongside them, they go on to another level in their game as well. It’s great.
“From a backs perspective we feel we’ve got a really good balance — in terms of skill, speed and physicality we can ask the questions that we need to depending on the opposition. Hopefully we can keep it going for another two weeks.”
