Jamie Roberts – “We can’t afford to take a gung-ho approach”
Jamie Roberts has urged his Welsh teammates to play clinically and with caution against the upstart Scots, one of the tournament’s most in form teams. Roberts returned to the international rugby arena against England on Friday night but only touched the ball five times and made very little impact. Roberts seems worried that Wales, who haven’t won for 8 games, will grow desperate to score tries and move the ball wildly.
Roberts said: “Balance is key this weekend. We can’t afford to take a gung-ho approach and chuck the ball around.” With Scotland on the rise after an impressive three try performance in their loss in Paris, Roberts sees patience as the key to victory:
“When we won 26-13 at Murrayfield two years ago, it was one of the most clinical performances we’ve seen from this Wales team, I think.
“We were outstanding for the first 50-60 minutes. It was one of those games where we worked very hard off the ball, and it paid dividends for us.
“We carried strongly and put them to the sword, and that’s what we need to do again this Saturday.”
Roberts, himself, will need to play a large part in this as he’ll look to run with ball in hand and put away Welsh speedsters Stoddart and Williams. Warren Gatland has called for an improved performance from the whole squad, and Roberts in particular.
We will see if either man’s words can impact a floundering Welsh squad.
