'Martyn unlucky to miss out on Tests' Gatland admits verdict was tough on Blues ace.Byline: Andy Howell WALES coach Warren Gatland Warren David Gatland (born 17 September 1963 in Hamilton, New Zealand and educated at Hamilton Boys' High School and Waikato University) is a former All Black and the current Coach of the Waikato Air New Zealand Cup team. has explained the Lions Test omissions of Cardiff Blues Cardiff Blues (Welsh: Gleision Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park and are owned by Cardiff Rugby Football Club. star Martyn Williams Martyn Elwyn Williams (born 1 September 1975) is a Welsh rugby union footballer who plays for Cardiff Blues and won 76 caps for Wales as an open-side flanker. Williams, height 6 ft (1. and Andy Powell. Williams lost out to Ireland openside flanker David Wallace David Wallace or Dave Wallace can mean:
He got the nod for the third Test in Johannesburg and excelled during the 28-9 victory. But Blues No 8 Andy Powell was one of the few players not to appear for a single minute in the Lions' 2-1 Test series defeat. "In terms of sevens, Martyn Williams was really very unlucky," said Gatland, the Lions forwards coach. "It was always going to be a toss of a coin which way the selection went. "As far as Andy is concerned, he had a lot more carries in the provincial games but a lot more turnovers than Jamie [Heaslip] and was probably not as accurate ball in hand and defensively." But Gatland praised the performance of rookie Wales centre Jamie Roberts, the Blues ace named the official Lions player of the 10-match tour of South Africa. "Jamie was definitely one of the most improved players on tour," he said. "What was great for him was to play inside a player like Brian O'Driscoll. "Before Brian left I went up to him and said 'I think you have been brilliant for Jamie and, from a personal point of view, I just want to thank you for what Jamie has learned on tour.' "Brian just laughed and said 'I hope he has not learned too much!'. "It was a very strong partnership, both complemented each other well." Gatland maintained the Lions could have won an enthralling en·thrall tr.v. en·thralled, en·thrall·ing, en·thralls 1. To hold spellbound; captivate: The magic show enthralled the audience. 2. To enslave. series in the backyard of the world champions. "We trained really well on the tour and felt we had been unlucky.. "We had hardly any 50-50 calls go our way in the first two Tests," he said. "It didn't help us at all by going to uncontested scrums in the second. "The players felt we had their forward pack under a bit of pressure. "But we were also disappointed with the way we de-fendein terms of conceding tries. "Unfortunately, we made a couple of errors on set-piece in the second Test from which we conceded tries. "Those problems wouldn't have been there if we had continuity with the team over a longer period of time." Wales won't face opening 2011 World Cup opponents South Africa until the autumn of next year. But Gatland's men will meet New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. and Australia in November, as well as having physical tests against Samoa and Argentina. And Gatland hopes the feelgood factor created by the Lions having won the final Test in South Africa rubs off on his squad for the sell-out November 7 opener with New Zealand at the Millennium Stadium. That is followed by Samoa, Argentina and then Australia to complete the autumn series. CAPTION(S): Martyn Williams was close to selection for the first two Lions Tests before playing in the third match against South Africa * Warren Gatland |
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