Intro:

Wales head coach Warren Gatland and winger George North spoke on Tuesday (24th February) ahead of their Six Nations match against France in Paris on Saturday (28th February).|

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English) Warren Gatland, Wales head coach:

Yeah just felt that it was an opportunity to make a couple of changes in terms of the strength and depth we've got in the squad at the moment, and we felt that some players deserved that chance as well, but that was the thinking behind the changes. We thoguht it was a big improvement from the second half against England to Scotland, and again we are looking for an improvement for this game.

SOUNDBITE (English) Warren Gatland, Wales head coach:

This team does respond to pressure. We felt during campaigns we do improve as a team and get better. We are still reflecting on the second half performance against England which wasn't good enough, we thoguht we improved in the second game and the forwards today in terms of a unit session that we had this morning was the best we've been since we've been in the campaign, so I have no doubt we will step up in performance against France as well and continue to improve as the tournament goes on.

SOUNDBITE (English) George North, Wales winger:

It's quite difficult to play against France really, you're not exactly 100% sure whats going to happen and a lot of that depends on the half back pairing and their fron five selection, so it will be an awesome game. For me personally I've only played about quater on an hour, 20 minutes out in Paris because I got injured four years ago out there early on in the game, two years ago I missed it because of a nerve injury in my shoulder, so for me personally I'm looking forward to playing in Paris because I haven't really had a good hiot out there.

SOUNDBITE (English) George North, Wales winger:

I love having pressure to play against, I would much rather a game like this against France where it's a must win game, compared to playing a tier three, tier four nation at home where you're expected to win by 15 points, it's much more exciting, there's a lot more tension on the training ground, but it's a good energy and a much more enjoyable test to be involved in. It's really exciting as players to have a game like this coming up on the weekend against such a top team, away from home as well. It's a massive challenge but one you really enjoy playing in.