Warren Gatland, the Wales coach, has taken the bizarre step of switching dressing rooms at the Millennium Stadium as he looks to give his side every chance of victory over Scotland on Saturday.
Wales are hoping to build on their historic 26-19 victory over England at Twickenham last weekend.
“The old [home] dressing room, it was difficult to see all the players because some were behind you when you were addressing them,” he said. “You don’t get emotionally-tied to changing rooms because that’s not what delivers the performance.
“This is an unbelievable stadium. Last time I came here, coaching Ireland, we had a good victory so I’d like to continue in that vein.”
The New Zealander has quickly established a reputation as a disciplinarian, but the man who led Wasps to the European Cup insisted this was far from the truth. “It wasn’t my decision [to swap], it was something we discussed with the management and the players.
Advertisement
“What you’ve got to realise is that it is not a dictatorship. Everything I do is about consulting with the players and consulting with the rest of the coaches. They are very comfortable with that.
Unlike last weekend, Wales are favourites to win on Saturday, following Scotland’s lacklustre performance in their 27-6 thrashing by France at Murrayfield. Gatland, though, was cautious about his side’s chances.
“A poor performance undoes all the good that was achieved last week,” he said. “There’s a heck of a lot of pressure accepting favouritism, the expectations of the public, the press, the fans and everyone else. The players are pretty aware of that.
“We are playing against a team that were expected to beat France last week. They are a bit like a wounded animal.”
“These [Wales] guys know how dangerous teams are when they’ve got their backs to the wall. Wales lost against Italy away last year and then the following week beat England here at home.”
Advertisement
Much was made of England’s second half collapse at Twickenham, but Gatland insisted the Welsh performance enabled victory.
“We only gave away seven penalties. That limited England to the number of lineouts they had - they only had 10 and they only had four scrum put-ins.
“With the sort of side England had, it takes a toll. If you look at the way the [England] tight five ran out of steam in the last 20 or 30 minutes, well that was part of the gameplan.
“England had a relatively dominant first-half, we hung in, but the game’s about 80 minutes. With our territory and domination in the second-half, we thoroughly deserved to win that game. The best team won on the day.”
And Gatland though laughed off suggestions that, as a consequence, he was now under greater pressure. “Do I look like I’m under pressure at the moment?,” he said, with a grin.