Pool A: Warren Gatland in good spirits and ready for England

Warren Gatland may lob the odd verbal grenade but he is rarely the one to initially pull the pin. That's been the media's function in the past; walk into a press conference, a picture of doe-eyed innocence, invite the Wales coach to comment about something that someone else has said and stand back.

Age may have made the New Zealander more circumspect in reacting to Chinese whispers – he’ll continue to fire broadsides of his own volition – but he declined to provide any material for England’s dressing room wall at Twickenham.

Besides he had other concerns, the first of which was to clarify that Wales had not broken any rules when inviting extended World Cup squad players including Rhys Patchell, Dan Baker, Nicky Smyth and Rob Evans to take part in a defence training drill during the week.

World Rugby issued a statement admonishing Wales pointing out that they had broken a rule listed in the Rugby World Cup agreement albeit that they had not done so deliberately.

Gatland took a different view. “Well I’m sure you have all read the participation handbook, which has about 400 pages. The ruling 6.68 didn’t say that we had broken any rules so apparently with the statement from World Rugby we have broken the spirit of the rules; what that means I don’t know.

“We didn’t do anything that we thought was out of hand. We brought some players in for training for a bit of defence work. I don’t know what we have done wrong. Either you have rules or you haven’t got rules: what is the spirit of the rules?”

He retained his sense of humour through the brief debate, the semantics of the argument dispatched promptly. Of more pressing concern for Gatland is Saturday's collision with England, a game more oversubscribed in terms of the demand for tickets than any other in the tournament including the World Cup final.

He conceded that although Stuart Lancaster’s team leaked to the press, it necessitated additional work in the analysis room. “We were expecting that they would go with the same 10-12-13 so it threw us for a couple of days.”

Quality player

Describing Sam Burgess as a world-class player he continued: “Having been involved with Owen Farrell on the Lions I think he is a quality player. Sam is obviously similar in size and stature to Jamie Roberts and then you have Brad Barritt who is very experienced and a great defender. They believe it’s the right selection.”

Gatland named his own team, one that contains scrumhalf Gareth Davies, winning just his second cap and 23-year-old tighthead Tomas Francis, playing in the red jersey for the fourth time. Samson Lee visited a specialist who advised that there was nothing wrong with the Achilles tendon and that some minor discomfort in the heel would disappear when it hardens up a little. Another prop Paul James will play against Fiji, allowing him additional time to rest a calf strain.

The New Zealander conceded that there were other tough calls, preferring young Hallam Amos to Alex Cuthbert on the left wing, Bradley Davies to Luke Charteris in the secondrow, and the one that traditional generates the most debate, a decision to leave Justin Tipuric on the bench.

“I spoke to Justin [Tipuric], told him he was man-of-the-match in two [World Cup warm-up] games and Sam [Warburton] was man-of-the-match in the other one. I told him I am not going to try and say anything to appease you.

Tough decision

“It was a tough decision, keep doing what you are doing and putting us [management] under pressure. He said he appreciated me not trying to tell him any ‘porkies’ and giving it to him straight.”

One inquisitor asked why Gatland had a poor record at Twickenham to which he replied. "[Teams I've coached have] won three Premiership finals and a Heineken Cup; I don't think that's too bad.

“Oh, Wales . . . I think the record since I have been involved with Wales in 5-5. That’s not bad for a nation the size of Wales when you are up against the most powerful and richest union in the world. To be 5-5 I am more than comfortable with that record. 2013 [at Twickenham] mattered for Wales; it matters on Saturday. We have been able to demonstrate that in the past [we can win those games].

“What’s caused us a lot of problems in the last few years with England is footwork; [Jonathan] Joseph has caused us a lot of problems at centre. He has been one of the outstanding centres in world rugby over the last 12 months.

“[Anthony] Watson and [Jonny] May are great finishers. They’re a threat. I’m not sure that Burgess and Barritt have the same footwork but they will be more direct as players and bring a physical element that’s going to be required at this level.”