WRU Audio: Captain Gareth Thomas looks forward to his fourth World Cup

Currently locked on 11 appearances in the RWC finals with the 1991 skipper Ieuan Evans, the 33-year-old Cardiff Blues player will win his 96th cap in next week’s Invesco Perpetual Summer Series ’07 match against Argentina when he leads Wales for the 18th time.

Thomas will be among a six-man Leadership Group identified by Wales Coach Gareth Jenkins to spearhead the Welsh challenge in France. Among the six are two other players who have led their country, Stephen Jones and Michael Owen. The others in the group are Alun-Wyn Jones, Jonathan Thomas and Dwayne Peel.

Thomas led Wales on their summer tour to Australia and took charge of the team against England at Twickenham last weekend in the absence through injury of Stephen Jones.

Llanelli Scarlets playmaker Jones was elected Wales captain last season, but has been hampered by injuries and will miss both warm-up matches before the World Cup. However, he is expected to be fit for consideration for the opening Pool B match against Canada in Nantes on September 9th.

Speaking on the captaincy issue, Gareth Jenkins said: “Gareth Thomas has the captaincy credentials to take us where we need to go and his influence on and off the pitch is there for all to see.

“Myself, Stephen and Gareth have had long discussions on the subject and identified that Stephen’s injury means he is not going to have the opportunity to influence the build up to the World Cup in the manner in which we would have wished him to do so.

“I have picked my captain based on the need to have a skipper who can fully influence the squad from today. Gareth is fully fit and raring to go and we are lucky to have someone of his calibre to call upon.

“Stephen’s injury means that this is the right decision. He has expressed his own concerns about fulfilling the role knowing he won’t be able to play in our next two games – matches that will be extremely important to our World Cup bid.

“He remains a vital part of this squad and his contribution, along with the rest of the Leadership Group, will be as invaluable as ever.

“If we are going to achieve our aims we are going to need the very best of what the likes of both Alfie and Stephen have to offer.”

There are 19 players within the 30-man squad with previous Rugby World Cup experience and Colin Charvis, Martyn Williams and Stephen Jones will be going to their third World Cup.

Speaking about the difficulties of cutting his World Cup training group to 30, Gareth Jenkins said:

“We knew this wasn’t going to be easy. But there is no more time for discussion – we have had to choose the best 30 players to represent us at the greatest rugby tournament in the world and we will be doing all we can to win the title.

“It’s tough on those players who have missed out, especially as they have all worked so hard to make the grade. But we have our top 30 players and now we need the nation to fall in behind them to give them the best chance of success.”

Speaking in general terms about his 30-man squad, Gareth Jenkins said: “There is an exciting mix of experience, energy, professionalism and talent and we believe these are the players that can do Wales proud at the Rugby World Cup.

“We have players with big reputations and vast experience who have stepped up and shown us they want to be a part of what we are trying to achieve. Then we have players like Will James who has grasped his opportunity with both hands, put in the hard graft and quickly made himself a part of the squad.

“We know that Ian Evans has the talent we are looking for and it will be important for us to get him back to full match fitness. There has also been talk about players like Alun-Wyn Jones, Shane Williams and Tom Shanklin reaching their full potential at this tournament.

“But our message to the players has been that they are in this squad because we believe in them – they have all earned their places by right and now have a fantastic opportunity ahead of them.

“Every one of them has put in the groundwork. The stage is set and when their country needs them most, we know they will give their all.

“We are fitter and stronger than we have ever been before and are set to peak our conditioning levels just as the competition starts. The coaching team has been planning for this ever since we took over in April, 2006.

“All we need now is to gain some momentum from our Invesco Perpetual Summer Series games against Argentina and France at the Millennium Stadium later this month.

“In the excitement of this announcement it would be remiss of us not to respect the efforts of the group of committed players who have not made this selection.

“They are worthy men in their own right, they are the players who will provide us with World Cup back up and I think it’s fair to thank them for their huge effort.

“One of the hardest jobs of the national coach is to exclude players and their humility and understanding to a man has been exemplary.”

Gareth Jenkins has split his 30-man squad into 14 (backs) and 16 (forwards). His back division contains three scrum-halves – Dwayne Peel, Mike Phillips and Gareth Cooper – and three outside-halves – Stephen Jones, James Hook and Ceri Sweeney.

There are three specialist wings in Mark Jones, Shane Williams and Dafydd James with fullback Kevin Morgan adding his own versatility to that of his captain, Gareth Thomas, in providing cover across the back three. Tom Shanklin, Jamie Robinson and Sonny Parker are the specialist centres.

Up front, three hookers make the trip – Matthew Rees, T Rhys Thomas and Huw Bennett – and four props – Chris Horsman, Gethin Jenkins, Adam Jones and  Duncan Jones.

New boy Will James joins Ian Gough, Ian Evans and Alun-Wyn Jones as the second row options, although Jones could also figure at flanker.

The back row contains three players with Welsh captaincy experience – Colin Charvis, Michael Owen and Martyn Williams – and they are joined by Alix Popham and Jonathan Thomas. Owen and Thomas are also able to play in the second row.

WALES 2007 RUGBY WORLD CUP SQUAD
 
Backs
1. Gareth Thomas  Cardiff Blues (Captain)
2. Kevin Morgan  Newport Gwent Dragons
3. Shane Williams  Ospreys
4. Dafydd James  Llanelli Scarlets
5. Tom Shanklin  Cardiff Blues
6. Jamie Robinson  Cardiff Blues
7. Sonny Parker  Ospreys
8. Mark Jones  Llanelli Scarlets
9. Stephen Jones  Llanelli Scarlets
10. James Hook  Ospreys
11. Ceri Sweeney  Newport Gwent Dragons
12. Dwayne Peel   Llanelli Scarlets
13. Mike Phillips  Ospreys
14. Gareth Cooper  Gloucester

Forwards
15. Michael Owen  Newport Gwent Dragons
16. Martyn Williams  Cardiff Blues
17. Colin Charvis   Newport Gwent Dragons
18. Alix Popham   Llanelli Scarlets
19. Jonathan Thomas  Ospreys
20. Ian Evans   Ospreys
21. Will James   Gloucester
22. Alun-Wyn Jones  Ospreys
23. Ian Gough   Ospreys
24. Chris Horsman  Worcester Warriors
25. Adam Jones   Ospreys
26. Matthew Rees  Llanelli Scarlets
27. T Rhys Thomas  Cardiff Blues
28. Huw Bennett   Ospreys
29. Gethin Jenkins  Cardiff Blues
30. Duncan Jones  Ospreys