Warren Gatland just kidding about Ireland, he knows Wales have strength to win – Shane Williams

Wales are in a great position to win the Six Nations. I was already confident that Wales could do well in this year’s Championship after the guts they showed at the World Cup but I’m even more convinced after watching the various countries name their squads.
In many ways this was a show of strength by Warren Gatland.
While Eddie Jones clearly felt there was a need to freshen thing up and Ireland are in transition, Gatland was able to say to the rest of the competition, “Look at us. Not only have we still got the lads who performed heroically at the World Cup, BUT we’ve also got a few more top players coming back as well.”
The injury crisis before and during the World Cup was like nothing I had   seen before. It was as if the Welsh back-line was cursed.
But as painful as it was to go through at the time, Wales have come out of it in a better shape.
There are now guys like Gareth Davies, Tyler Morgan, Matthew Morgan, Ross Moriarty and Tom Francis who have World Cup rugby under their belt. They know what big Test matches are about, what happens during training and what’s coming at the end of the week. These are the guys who are going to form the nucleus of the team moving forward towards the next World Cup.
There’s a good succession plan under Gatland who has always backed the youngsters but is now in a position where he can be pretty consistent with selection because they have been steadily drip-fed into the squad.
There is no need for wholesale changes for the sake it. There’s no need for new blood, like England, and no need to go searching for leaders, like Ireland.
Instead we still have that nice balance of youth and experience and, apart from maybe Gethin Jenkins and Paul James, they will be around in 2019.
Incidentally, I was delighted to see Tom back in the mix after his performances for Cardiff Blues.
It says a lot that there were not many surprises or major talking points about the squad. James Hook was probably not surprised to miss out. Sam Davies and Rhys Patchell have both had good seasons so far and could still be ones for the future, but clearly Gareth Anscombe is rated ahead of them when it comes to a guy who can play both 10 and 15 as all of them can.
Lloyd Ashley is unlucky because he has been simply outstanding for the Ospreys in Europe but is in arguably Wales’ strongest position given they have Alun Wyn Jones, Luke Charteris, Bradley Davies and Jake Ball already competing for two places.
People point to Wales doing well after a World Cup and certainly it proved the case in 2008 and 2012. I guess it just goes to show what Gatland can do with this squad when he has time.
International rugby is an incredibly complex thing and getting it right is a real puzzle.
You have to bring a group of players together, get the combination and mix right on and off the pitch, learn moves, drill techniques and build a team.
So it goes without saying that the more time you have, the better you get. We saw that with so many of the Tier 2 nations at the World Cup.
Gatland named Ireland as favourites but I can’t help think that’s a bit of gamesmanship. If Wales were playing Italy first he would probably have tipped the Azzurri for the title!
Ireland managed to win the Championship without Brian O’Driscoll but I think they are a different side without Paul O’Connell as well.
It’s a huge shame my old Ospreys team-mate Tommy Bowe is still injured but the uncapped Ulster centre Stuart McClosky is a lively player and Connacht lock Ultane
Dillane has shown great promise. The problem for Ireland’s new faces is that they have big shoes to fill and I think it will be a while until they can.
It was good to see John Barclay get a re-call for Scotland having probably thought the chance was gone.
He has been the difference for the Scarlets this season and, when he plays well, Scarlets usually do too.