Gatland taking long-term view

Wales head coach Warren Gatland has compared preparing for next year's World Cup to preparing for an Olympic Games.

Preparations for the World Cup will step up next month as Wales take on Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and South Africa at the Millennium Stadium.

Then follows the RBS Six Nations in February and March although Gatland is already focussed on meeting his number one goal - reaching the World Cup quarter-finals.

To do so, he must navigate a tough pool that includes hosts England, former champions Australia and Fiji.

"Our approach to the autumn and the Six Nations from a coaching and conditioning point of view is a little bit different," he said.

"We are treating them as World Cup preparation camps, although the rugby is important. It is a sequence.

"I have told the coaches I want to look at this differently because I do not think any other country in the northern hemisphere would have the confidence or courage to do what we are in our planning and preparation.

"We want the players to peak for the World Cup as athletes would for the Olympics.

"There are certain things we will do in these campaigns that we would not normally because your focus is on the rugby in November and then the Six Nations.

"We will, for example, put emphasis in some of the weeks on scrummaging, driving lineouts and pick-and-goes - a lot of core things that will be put in the bank for 12 months' time.

"It leaves us underdone a little bit now, especially in some of the short-term rugby things, but our long-term planning is what it is all about.

"We know we have to get out of a tough group, but it is also about being forward-thinking and looking at Wales, what our strengths and weaknesses are, limiting the second and building on the first. Our success will be judged on making the (World Cup) quarter-finals."

Wales have not beaten Australia, South Africa or New Zealand since 2008, although they have pushed Australia close, with five of their nine successive defeats being by four points or less.

Furthermore, they have developed a reputation for improving as tournaments go on, as their performance in reaching the semi-finals of the 2011 World Cup reflects.

In South Africa earlier this year, they were beaten 38-16 in Durban only to come back and go down by just one point in the second Test in Nelspruit one week later.

"We picked a squad of 31 for South Africa and tried to replicate what would happen in the World Cup," Gatland added.

"We went into the first Test really underdone, having played in midweek. We did not do a lot with that Test team.

"There were a lot of scrums and driving lineouts from South Africa in that game, and the feedback from the players afterwards was that some of our legs had gone.

"We struggled physically, having not done a lot of scrummaging or driving lineouts, but the next week having had time together, as we have often done, there was an improvement. Our focus now is not to get caught short from those things.

"The hardest thing about international rugby is that you often have to prioritise.

"You do not get the benefit of a pre-season or spending hours and hours with the team doing the scrummaging and lineout work, and those are some of the things we are looking to put in place in the next couple of campaigns."

Gatland will name his squad to take on Australia on Tuesday and given their strong start to the season, an all-Ospreys half-back pairing of Rhys Webb at nine and Dan Biggar at 10 could mean no place in the team for Mike Phillips, a man with 87 caps to his name.

"I think they have been outstanding for the Ospreys," Gatland said. "Rhys is playing with a lot of confidence and making some pretty good decisions.

"And for me, the way Dan is playing, controlling the game, playing wide and flat and attacking the line, he looks like he is doing it easily. I think his game has really come on.

"Some of the criticism we would have had of Dan 12 months ago was about some of his erratic kicking - just kicking for the sake of it. He is definitely not doing that now. He is really in control of his game, and that partnership is working extremely well."