Old friends back at the Millennium as All Blacks get technical

Wales coach Warren Gatland announces his squad for the Invesco Perpetual Series '09 on Sunday and the stakes couldn't be higher.

Lying ahead of his squad is a four match series that will see Wales play three teams who sit above them in the official IRB World Rankings and a fourth who will be rivals in their Rugby World Cup Pool in 2011.

IRB World Rankings

1 SOUTH AFRICA 91.69
2 NEW ZEALAND 89.61
3 AUSTRALIA 85.15
4 IRELAND 83.27
5 FRANCE 81.48
6 ARGENTINA 81.29
7 ENGLAND 81.23
8 WALES 80.74
9 FIJI 76.52
10 SCOTLAND 75.23
11 SAMOA 73.48
12 ITALY 71.23

Bring on the mighty All Blacks, Samoa, Argentina and Australia - the Millennium Stadium is getting ready to serve up a feast of rugby with the games against New Zealand and Australia already sell-outs in the public areas.

The opening clash with the All Blacks on November 7 will give Wales another chance to end what is currently a 56 year wait for a victory over one of our biggest rivals.

The game also sees former national coaches Graham Henry and Steve Hansen returning to Wales, albeit in slightly different guises following a shake up in the coaching roles in the All Blacks' camp.

Henry had been in charge of defence, but has switched roles with Hansen to look after the forwards - a job he last had with Wales.

He admitted after his first session this week that the line-out had become a bit more technical, saying, "It was 'I want it at A, B and C'. It was never as searching as it is now."

And he has brought in kicking coach Mick Byrne to help him in that area. Byrne is a specialist skills coach who also looks after the line-out for the Japanese Test team.

Henry said: "I've got great people around here. Steve Hansen's done it all, he's with me all the time. Mike Cron is a superb specialist coach and Mick Byrne is a very specialist skills coach, and he's coaching the lineout in Japan.

"Plus I've got all these guys, very experienced Test players who can do a lot of peer coaching. I'm really just the guy who initiates it all, and throws my two bob's worth in."

INVESCO PERPETUAL SERIES '09

Saturday, 7 November Wales v New Zealand (5.15pm)
Friday, 13 November Wales v Samoa (7.30pm)
Saturday, 21 November Wales v Argentina (2.30pm)
Saturday, 28 November Wales v Australia (5.15pm)

TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE - CALL 08442 777888

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