Gatland has the jump on Borthwick but World Cup planning has pitfalls

S pring has barely sprung but in international rugby, thoughts are already turning to summer. With the season ending for the Welsh regions in April, Warren Gatland has named his provisional squad for the World Cup. He did so on Monday, 132 days before Wales’s first match – Steve Borthwick has spent less time as England head coach – but as the end of the season run-in looms into view in Europe, so too does the World Cup over its shoulder.

Gatland’s squad announcement can be seen as the start of Wales’s campaign and if they are first out of the blocks, his European counterparts will all be finessing their final plans. These teams are about to enter the period that head coaches repeatedly remind us are so important because they afford uninterrupted access to players. It is the point in time that Eddie Jones was effectively counting down to before he was sacked as England head coach. As Gatland said: “At times it feels like a club side because of the time you get to have with the players.”

The Wales coach’s players are not due in camp yet and for the first month they won’t even stay overnight, but it is significant that they initially convene on 25 May, before the Premiership final has even taken place. In short, Gatland has the time to knock his players into shape – judging by the Six Nations, where they finished fifth, he needs it – but how effectively he does so is likely to define how Wales navigate a World Cup draw that puts them in the more favourable half, but in a pool alongside Australia and Fiji.

Borthwick, for his part, has less time with which to prepare his squad. All England players are mandated to five weeks off after their season finishes which means they will join up for the pre-World Cup camp in batches.