Gareth Thomas believes Wales’ upcoming Autumn Nations Series matches will provide the perfect opportunity for players to push for a place in next year’s World Cup squad.
It is now less than a year until the World Cup begins in France, and the upcoming Autumn matches will be the last time that Wales face sides such as New Zealand and Australia before the showpiece event.
Rugby legend Thomas, a veteran of four World Cups, believes now is the time for players to start impressing Welsh coach Wayne Pivac before next September and October.
“Post every tournament we start talking about the World Cup, maybe three years out. We’re literally now in pre-World Cup preparation when it comes to real big match experience and playing against the best teams in the world,” said Thomas, speaking during The Tackle HIV Myth Bus Tour which launched at the Cardiff Half Marathon on October 2 and is visiting Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and London to offer educational information on HIV as well as encouraging and offering testing advice, information and test kits to the public.
Myths have created so much stigma around HIV.
— Tackle HIV (@TackleHIV) October 13, 2022
These are the facts that people must know so we can stop the spread of misinformation.@ViiVHC pic.twitter.com/9cBeabV7XA
“We’ve got so many great youngsters that are probably still quite new to the cauldron that is the Principality Stadium in Wales - because of Covid and a lot of players finding their feet - wanting to play in full stadiums against the likes of New Zealand and Australia.
“All of the other teams competing well and playing so well has made it a really interesting time, especially approaching a World Cup year. There’s places to be played for, so I just feel it’s going to be a really interesting, good tournament as to realising the real magnitude between the north and south.”
Test series in the southern hemisphere this summer saw Wales push South Africa in a 2-1 series loss, while Ireland and England picked up significant series victories over New Zealand and Australia respectively.
Proud to have our #TackleHIV Myth Bus Tour on @SkyNews today with @gareththomasofficial talking to @KayBurley
— Tackle HIV (@TackleHIV) October 12, 2022
The bus continues its journey this month to help educate the public about HIV to eliminate stigma & normalise testing@ViiVhealthcare @Thtorguk pic.twitter.com/KKS6o0fzM0
And with the gap between the northern and southern hemisphere seemingly closer than ever, Thomas believes this Autumn Nation Series could demonstrate who the favourites for next year’s World Cup are.
He added: “It’s a really big moment individually but also collectively to stake a claim for the World Cup and also I suppose for World Cup favouritism.
“If Ireland prevail through this then all of a sudden they could probably go into the World Cup being favourites, but who after the last World Cup would’ve thought Ireland would have gone to New Zealand and defeated them in a test series.
“It just goes to show how important the transition from the last World Cup to this World Cup, and how important it is to peak at the right times as well.
“I do think that’s another thing we’ll get from these November internationals, what teams have maybe peaked too soon and what teams are peaking at the right time.”
Tackle HIV, a campaign led by Gareth Thomas in partnership with ViiV Healthcare and the Terrence Higgins Trust, aims to tackle the stigma and misunderstanding around HIV. Visit www.tacklehiv.org and follow @tacklehiv
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