Warren Gatland hints at Immanuel Feyi-Waboso regret after quip around ‘impressive’ new Wales prospect
Wales head coach Warren Gatland alongside England wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
Warren Gatland had a slight chuckle when discussing Wales’ newest wing prospect after naming his squad for the mid-year series.
The 60-year-old selected a 36-man group ahead of their Tests against South Africa and the Wallabies in June and July.
There were several surprise calls from head coach Gatland with Josh Hathaway’s name immediately standing out.
Hathaway broke into the Gloucester squad this season and has only been a regular starter since mid-March, impressing despite the team’s struggles.
Played for two countries
He featured for Wales U20 in 2022 but switched to England a year later and featured for the Red Rose age-grade side in the U20 Six Nations.
It potentially opened up another tug-of-war between the two countries following the battle for Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s services earlier this year.
However, Gatland has moved quickly to tie the Cherry and Whites youngster down to Wales.
Asked the reason for calling the speedster into the squad, the head coach smiled and joked: “Well, to make sure we qualify him for Wales!”, hinting at his regret after missing out on Feyi-Waboso to the English.
Gatland added: “He’s a young player with a lot of potential. We think there’s a lot of improvement in his game whether that’s wing or full-back.
“He’s done some really impressive things on attack for Gloucester this year. We want to bring him into the squad and look to see what he can do with him.”
It appears to be a lopsided squad which features five tightheads and just one fly-half, but Gatland explained why Sam Costelow is the only out-and-out pivot.
“The thinking behind that is looking at some other options and depth at 10. We are probably looking at a player who can potentially play differently in that position,” he said.
“There’s some good young 10s in Wales at the moment but they are not big. They are quite small so we are looking for a different type of 10 with potentially a different type of stature.”
Wales’ head coach was asked specifically who that was and he responded: “Potentially someone like Ben Thomas or Jacob Beetham.”
Their fly-half experience
Thomas is a playmaking inside centre who has some experience of fly-half in the professional game, but Beetham has played most of his rugby at full-back.
“Potentially yeah. Potentially,” Gatland said when queried over whether Beetham could be considered as a number 10.
“He can play 15 and he can play midfield as well. He’s played 10 at under age.
“We know Ben’s played there and has had a couple of games for Cardiff and went there on the weekend. We were really pleased with his performance.”
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