Rugby: Mind Games...Do They Work?

When England Head Coach Martin Johnson addresses his team before the Six Nations clash in Cardiff, his pre-match team talk will already have been written for him.

New Zealander Warren Gatland, entering his fourth Six Nations Championship as head coach of Wales, earlier this week publicly criticised England Hooker, Dylan Hartley in what many pundits and ex-players perceived as his first shot at pre-match mind games.

Hartley, 25, was the focus of Gatland’s first press conference when he singled out the England hooker as the weakness in the English forward pack.

Hartley is seen by many as the epitome of a Martin Johnson-led England with big aggressive forwards and fiery temperament’s.

In many ways, Gatland singling the New Zealand born Northampton Saint, masks some of the fear from within the Welsh camp that if Hartley performs to the levels he can, then England flow as a forward unit and are far more dangerous, as they proved with the victory over Australia at Twickenham in November.

The local Welsh media have not been as supportive of Gatland’s actions as he may have hoped, many claiming the comments were made to deflect the attention away from the Welsh sides frailties and would only act as a motivational tool for their English opponents.

These claims were reiterated by Martin Johnson when he was asked to respond to Gatland’s comments. The 2003 World Cup winning captain laughed, claiming they weren’t unexpected and wasn’t the first time his opponents had tried mind games to intimidate his team.

"Warren has done it before with mixed success to say the least," added Johnson.

"Let's see what happens this time. It was very premature, 10-11 days away from the game but that's how some people react to the pressure. Where Wales are, they are under pressure as a team in terms of their performances and not winning a game for a while, it was not unexpected.

"It was pretty obvious to even the youngest member of the squad what he is trying to do. It's never been something I have done, you are potentially giving ammunition to the opposition. Ultimately, people remember the game, not who said what."

Wales entertain England at the Millenuim Stadium, Friday the 4th of February.