Gatland left Waikato to become Wales coach in 2007
Head coach Warren Gatland
has said he does not anticipate a huge number of changes to the Wales
side to face Samoa in the World Cup on Sunday.
Gatland was pleased with his side's performance, if not the result, following their opening match against South Africa."I don't think there will be a huge number of changes," said Gatland.
Injured duo Gethin Jenkins and Stephen Jones have both resumed training after recovering from calf injuries.
Prop Jenkins has not played since 7 January after toe surgery, while fly-half Jones missed Wales' three World Cup warm-up matches and the defeat against the Springboks.
But Gatland has hinted both could be considered for selection against Samoa on Sunday if they stay fit.
"We've got a couple of players coming back from injuries," he said.
"We thought our scrum was excellent against South Africa.
"But we know what a world class player Gethin is and it's perhaps thinking how much game time do you try and give him before the quarter-final stage.
"He's confident he will be available."
Gatland said there were plenty of positives for Wales to take from the defeat against South Africa in their opening game.
But the New Zealander added his players had to forget about the Hamilton disappointment and look ahead to Sunday's match against old foes Samoa.
"We came into that game absolutely believing we were good enough to win," said Gatland of Sunday's defeat against the Springboks.
"The stats in terms of territory and possession put us in a
position that we were able to win the game, unfortunately we've lost by a
point.
"But we've got to pick ourselves up from that and start thinking about Samoa and the latter stages of this tournament."We've got to build from last week. We started well in terms of good performance [although] not a good results for us.
"One of things that we have been able to demonstrate in the past is that we have been able to get better as a team as games and tours have gone on.
"We've got to make sure we get better this week in Hamilton on Sunday - kick your drop goal and kick your penalty.
"That's how close the games are these days. That's how tight things are.
"We've just got to make sure at the highest level you take every opportunity that's presented to you.
"Unfortunately we had a couple of opportunities and we just didn't quite nail them and we've got to continue to work on."
Sunday's second Pool D game against Samoa will be staged in Gatland's home city of Wellington.
And the former Waikato coach is hoping the local supporters will be backing Wales against the Pacific Islanders.
"I'm hoping the Waikato people are going to get behind and support us," added Gatland.
"I know the two games here - Samoa and Fiji - there's going to be a massive amount of support for them.
"I've had a lot of calls and people contacting mew from Waikato [who] are going to get behind the team.
"Hopefully that should create a great occasion and a great atmosphere.
"I thought in the stadium in Wellington on Sunday the support we had was fantastic and really picked the boys up.
"From our performance at the weekend a lot of people said how unlucky we were and hopefully that's going to galvanise some people who might be sitting on the fence."
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