Dubai: Former Wales flanker Colin Charvis fears the over-dependence on Welsh players in the British and Irish Lions’ squad this summer will leave the Red Dragons over-stretched heading into next year’s Six Nations.
Warren Gatland, who is head coach of Wales and also led the Lions on their summer tour of Australia, picked 15 Welshman in his 37-man squad for the trip Down Under in June and July, where they beat the Wallabies 2-1 for their first series victory for 16 years.
“The Lions tour was difficult on a lot of them, and you could see that in Gatland’s Wales selection for the autumn internationals,” said Charvis, who scored 110 points in 94 appearances for Wales. “He knows a lot of the guys need time away from the pitch.
“As long as we’ve got the right pair of boots on the field and the right boys are fit at the right time, they should feel fairly confident for the Six Nations. But no one stood up in the Autumn period and said ‘have a look at us, we are the best northern hemisphere team’, so we’ll have to wait until that first game [against Italy at home] to see how they rock up.”
Wales have won the last two Six Nations Championships and they begin their latest defence at home to Italy on February 1, before visiting Ireland, playing France at home, taking on England at Twickenham and hosting Scotland in their final match on March 15.
