Wales announce World Cup warm-up schedule

WarrenGatland

Warren Gatland's men have been drawn alongside Australia and host nation England in a daunting Pool A for next year's tournament, and will face Ireland twice in August as they step up their preparations.

The first fixture takes place at the Millennium Stadium on August 8, before the sides meet in Dublin 21 days later.

Wales, who will also spend time training in Qatar, Switzerland and Poland, then welcome Italy to Cardiff on September 5, and Gatland is confident his players will be ready for their tournament opener against Uruguay.

"We are delighted at our schedule for next year," he said. "We have home and away ties against Ireland as an extended squad and will face Italy with our final world cup party.

"The training camps have been designed to push the limits of the squad and ensure we peak at the tournament.

"We were very pleased with the results of the 2011 preparation and this schedule not only uses what we learnt back then but builds upon it.

"As we have already outlined, the focus for this season is on next September and the hard work has already begun with the squad undergoing a conditioning focused camp during the Dove Men Series [in November] to help build a base ahead of next summer.

"We have spoken at length about the benefits of being together as a squad for longer periods and I'm sure the results will show that come game time at the World Cup.”

Gatland will announce his training squad in early June.

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