Wales announce team as Jac Morgan leaves squad in shock blow: Live updates

That’s all from Warren Gatland today.

Gatland: “There were some conversations through his agent and it was understandable given where he’d come through and how highly rated he was there was no need for him to commit to anyone else.

“I fully understand that. He would have been one of the ones if given a chance we’d have liked to get our hands on. He was on a pretty long-term contract with the Bulls anyway in terms of seeing where he goes.”

Gatland: “He’s been great. He looks physically in good shape and he’s done a good job in the set-piece.

“They (locks) know how physical the game is going to be and that’s a big part of their role on the weekend. If they do that and focus on their set-piece that’s all I can ask for.

“Matthew has come in to us on a couple of occasions and impressed. If I was him I’d go out there and look to put a statement.

“31 is not old for a tight forward. I look at that as a good age. Players around that age need to think I’m still young and fit enough to be around at the next World Cup.”

Gatland:“That’s part of the challenge. If you start doubting yourself… you’ve got to overcome those challenges because Test rugby is tough. You’ve got to handle adversity.

“You’ve got to go through that pain and come through the other side. You’ve got to go through some pain. It is tough, it is challenging. If you get through that and come out the other side it’s what happens after that in terms of your personal development as a player.

“We’ve got some players who love that and will thrive in that. I see Dewi Lake and Daf Jenkins as two. They thrive on meeting it head on and see it as part of their development.”

Gatland:“I don’t see it any different to when I arrived in 2008. Roger Lewis asked me who you want to play and I said whenever you get a chance to play a Southern Hemisphere game go and take it.

“That’s the way you improve. They need to experience that.”

Gatland:“There’s a chance to look at external investment. It’s what they’ve done in football so I don’t see why rugby shouldn’t be looking at similar opportunities.

“There has been a huge strain not just in Wales but everywhere in rugby. There’s been a reset but having that external investment could be a positive and maybe growing the game globally as well.”

Gatland: “We are not very experienced in terms of the number of caps. There is a great opportunity for this team to go out and perform. We’ve been training and working very hard.

“It depends on how SA try to play and if they move the ball. If you look at amount of kicks in Bulls v Leinster there were 40 kicks per team.

“We’ve got to be smart and prepared to handle what approach they’ll take. We’ve got to be smart with our game management. We need to make sure we stay in the fight and the battle. We’ve got to make sure we don’t force things and put ourselves under pressure.

“That was something we were guilty of in Six Nations…we conceded 11 turnovers in our 22 compared to one in the World Cup.”

Gatland:“The more the merrier. It’s challenging at the moment when you look at the amount of non-Welsh qualified players at our regions. That’s a big challenge for us.There’s still some players (exiles) out there who the regions may make contact with.

“We try to keep our finger pretty close to the pulse in terms of doing that. There’s players in NZ who have been playing Super Rugby with Welsh qualifications, who have played for Wales, who have told us about one or two. It’s up to them (regions) from there.”

“We haven’t been the most proactive with that as other nations have. We’ve had players in the past but you’ve got to find that balance from developing from within and rewarding that but also not excluding players from outside of Wales.”

Gatland:“Not really. We’ve done a little bit on the kick chase, the guys have got to make sure they are onside, and the free kick from scrums. It’ll be interesting to see how they are applied.”

Gatland:“We do have them for this game.”

Gatland: “The way the game is we are up against a really physical South Africa team. It’s a chance for him to get his hands on the ball more.

“A 12 ends up with the ball more than a 13 does. It’s a little easier to defend from 12 and Owen’s experience at 13. It’s a good chance to see how he performs in that 13 jersey..

“He’s not just someone who can carry, although we want him to do that, but there’s other aspects to his game like his offloading. We saw the impact he made against Italy.”

Gatland:“He’s impressed us at training. He’s got a left foot which gives us a different kicking option. The way he’s worked, the extras he’s done after training, he’s got a strong voice and been really positive about taking feedback from the coaches.

“We see a huge amount of growth in him and we wanted to find out about someone else in that position to give us some more depth.”

Gatland: “I just see it as a great opportunity for other players to step up and put their hands up. There’s an opportunity for others to get given a chance. They get a first opportunity to put a marker down for the first game and the rest of the tour.”