FILE PHOTO: Rugby Union - Six Nations Championship - England v Wales - Twickenham Stadium, Twickenham, Britain - February 10, 2024 Wales head coach Warren Gatland before the match Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra/File Photo
(Reuters) - Wales veteran George North and his centre partner Nick Tompkins were dropped for Sunday's Six Nations clash against France to allow the opportunity to look at other midfield options, coach Warren Gatland said on Friday.
The pair were shock omissions from the side to face France in Cardiff, with Gatland also springing a surprise by moving captain Dafydd Jenkins from the second row to flanker.
"George and I have had some honest discussions about whether he gets through to the next World Cup,” Gatland told reporters on Friday.
“He started at a very young age, I think at 18 he was playing for Wales. Part of our discussions was about how we manage him. How do we look after him going forward? We’ve just got to make sure we’ve got some depth in that number 13 position.”
Gatland has brought Joe Roberts in for a second cap at outside centre in the place of North and Owen Watkin instead of Tompkins.
"I must say how the two boys have responded after the disappointment of being left out this week, they have been fantastic in the way they’ve trained and helped the team. It’s a credit to them. Apart from that disappointment, they’ve been outstanding for us," Gatland added.
Jenkins’s surprise switch to the flank accommodates the return to the starting line-up of lock Will Rowlands, who will partner Adam Beard in the second row.
"We’d spoken early in the tournament about giving Daf that chance,” Gatland added.
“He was pretty excited when we did talk about it in one of the earlier games. When we said we were playing him at second-row, he joked we didn’t have the guts to put him in the back-row. It wasn’t the right moment to do that. It’s a good chance as a young player to get that opportunity in a different position.
"We probably bolster up our pack in terms of the size. We know what a big pack France will put out and particularly that first 20 or 30 minutes, they were really direct against Italy in that time and could have been three tries up. We’ve got to expect a real physical challenge, particularly in the early exchanges of the game," the Wales coach added.
Wales suffered narrow losses to Scotland (27-26) and England (16-14) earlier in the Six Nations, but were outclassed in their last outing in Ireland, where they were handed a 31-7 defeat.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Toby Davis)
