Thursday 22 January 2015 18:23, UK
Jonathan Davies talks about the Wales squad and his team's winner-takes-all clash with Saracens this weekend.
The Wales squad for the Six Nations has been announced and it’s a great relief to see my name in there. When you’re young and heading towards international rugby you get really nervous around the time the squad is announced. As time goes by, however, you get a better idea of how you’re playing in comparison with what the coaches expect of you. You are more aware of whether or not you’re in the mix, so generally it’s less of a surprise. Still, it’s always a relief to see your name on the sheet because there is a lot of talent in Wales so nothing is ever certain from year to year.
I can remember my old PE teacher from school always used to point out the difference between the need to succeed and the need to avoid failure. The emphasis should always be on wanting to succeed.
There has been a lot of talk about Adam Jones' omission. I have played with Adam a lot and he'll be disappointed not to be involved but I'm sure he will go away and work on his game and try get back into the squad. Not only does he have plenty of experience but as I mentioned last week it's a huge honour to play for your country and it's not something you ever stop wanting - you want it more and more over time. So even with the amount of caps he's got, he's not going to be satisfied and will be working hard to get back into the international set-up.
He's been involved in four championship title wins - three of which were Grand Slams - and he's a two-time tourist with the Lions, so you can't knock what he's achieved on the rugby field, but it just goes to show that nobody’s place is ever guaranteed. To have him on stand-by in the wings is an incredible luxury and speaks volumes of the strength in depth for Wales.
First and foremost I'm looking forward to the massive game against Sarries on Sunday. I thought they looked really good against Munster and it's teed up a nice showdown in our neck of the woods this weekend.
As a side we want to show what we are capable of doing; we know we have a good home record in Europe behind us and preservation of that record is important to us but we know as players that we aren’t the only reason teams struggle here in Clermont. The atmosphere of the crowd really puts pressure on the opposition, which will be crucial for us against Saracens. Saracens like to pressurise other teams by keeping the momentum for long periods so we know our job is to keep the crowd on our side and keep Saracens from getting the edge in the small battles on the field. I’m really looking forward to it! These are the games you want to play in - as a professional you want to test yourself against the best.
Saracens are a very focussed and organised side - when you play against them you can see that each player really knows what he is doing and they are very accurate in execution. We have had a great week of preparation – we’ve talked a lot about what we need to do in order to win and I think it will shape up to be a really close contest.
We had the disappointment of losing our first game of the tournament but since then we've notched up some good wins and now we are in control of our own destination which is the perfect situation. We know we have a good record at home and we know that other teams will be aware of it, but it's still up to us to produce the right rugby on the day. It's a big day for us, and we want to ensure that we get a home quarter-final with a good win.
Our coaches have pinpointed big games for us throughout the season and I think part of the reason for that is they want us to familiarise ourselves with the pressure that comes with a big match such as this one. One of the biggest aspects of the message we get from the coaches is that they want us to go out in these games and be positive and to make sure we don't go into our shells out of fear.
I can remember my old PE teacher from school always used to point out the difference between the need to succeed and the need to avoid failure. The emphasis should always be on wanting to succeed, which is the message we have been getting from the coaches which is great.
My mum and sister have come over to watch the game. They landed on the one day I had off so I picked them up from the airport. Being a taxi isn’t the first thing you feel like doing on your day off but when the boss says she's arriving, you have to jump! I'm really looking forward to having them both here for the weekend - it’s always good to see the family.
