Inga Tuigamala: Gatland's gauntlet provides the spur for All Blacks

Opinion

Warren Gatland is obviously licking his lips at the prospect of becoming the first Wales coach in 56 years to beat the All Blacks.

He has talked at length about the All Blacks having lost the aura they possessed. I think Warren should know better; he was once an All Black.

The game has changed dramatically since the days when he and I were kicking around.

We were part of a team that won 51 matches in a row and, yes, we had many sides beaten before we even kicked off, but we were touring and playing club teams as well.

We were basically a side with a professional ethos playing in an amateur sport and that, as well as the black jersey, gave us a massive advantage.

Since the sport went professional it was inevitable other teams would catch up to the All Blacks, but to say they have lost their aura, well, I think Warren might find out the hard way on Sunday morning that it is not the case.

Not that I think Graham Henry will be using Warren's words as extra motivation. He is an astute man who still commands a lot of respect in the Rhondda Valley and he will have his team fizzing for this match.

I know he loves going back to Wales and he would find it unthinkable to walk out of Millennium Stadium with anything but a win.

That's why I'm excited about this test. I really like the balance of this side, with talented young guys like Zac Guildford getting the opportunity to blend in with the experience of guys like Richie McCaw and Dan Carter.

In that respect the selectors have got it spot on for this tour, taking away more unproven young players than many thought they would.

This is basically the only chance they have to experiment.

If you think about it, there is little chance to do it other than this Northern Hemisphere tour.

From next year on, thoughts are going to turn to 2011 and the selectors will start to have firm ideas about who will be in the mix for that and who will miss the cut.

Guildford is starting on the wing this weekend and that is a sign of how much Henry rates him. I have not seen a lot of him but from what I have seen, he has a ton of talent.

There has been a lot of talk this winter about the changing nature of wing play. Wings cannot just be finishers now. They must be able to catch the high ball like a fullback, kick like a five-eighth and hit the breakdowns and clean out like a flanker.

That is the way the game has evolved. No longer can you get away with operating in your own little area of the field like you used to. Size is important. Even wingers are expected to be able to hold their own when they hit the rucks, even if the first player they meet on the opposition is a tighthead prop.

For all that, I'm not convinced the players are any better than they were, just different.

A lot of the changes to the way wing play has evolved is down to the rules which were meant to speed the game up and make it more attractive.

However, it didn't take long before South Africa found a way of circumventing that by employing a ruthless kick-chase game that has forced wingers back to auxiliary fullback roles.

Ironically, rugby has become more unattractive as a result of the new rules, not the faster more open game they were hoping to promote.

* Inga Tuigamala played 19 tests for the All Blacks