Toby backing Wales to seal test victories

Toby Faletau insists  Wales will  go into their autumn  international  campaign believing they can win  every match.

The Six Nations champions  face  a daunting schedule, with  South  Africa, Argentina,  Tonga and Australia coming to  the Millennium  Stadium on  successive weekends in   November.

But Faletau believes the confidence so many of the Welsh  players  have gained through  being part of a  winning Lions  team can help lift  them to new   heights for their  country.

“I don’t see  why the boys  can’t  go into the  autumn series  and  think they  can win every   game,” said the  Dragons No8.

“The boys are  confident from   being on tour  with the Lions   and they will look to take that  into  the autumn series.

“It will be good for all the boys  to  get back together and get  ready for  the Test matches.”

Faletau admits he is still coming  to terms with what was  achieved by  the Lions Down  Under, where he  earned selection for the  series-clinching  victory over the  Wallabies.

“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet.   Maybe it will in a couple of  years or  later on in life,” he  said.

“My highlight was being selected  for that last game. Obviously everybody wants to  play a Test match and  I was just  fortunate enough to be  involved in the last one. It was   definitely the highlight of the  tour  for me.

“The whole trip was a real  learning experience. You get to  learn  from other players in  your position  and look at their  qualities and learn  from that.”

The Lions tour certainly seems  to have had an impact on  Faletau in terms of bringing  him out of his shell a little off  the pitch.

Interviewing the Tongan-born  youngster has proved  something of a challenge in the  past because of his shy,  softly-spoken nature.

He hasn’t overnight turned into  a Sam Warburton in terms of  his ease in front of the microphone, but there is a noticeable difference to him recently. when I sat  down to chat to him this time.

The answers were longer and  more assured and he seemed  more relaxed with the whole  experience.

Not that he entirely agreed  when I told him he was a  changed man!

“I think I am still the same  person, before and after the  tour,” he said.

“I still feel like I’m mumbling a  lot. I don’t really know what  I’m saying half the time!

“It doesn’t feel different.”

The 26-cap Faletau also says  he is  going about his job on the  field in  pretty much the same  way.

“I just kind of go out there and  do  what the team has prepped,”  he  said.

“The line-out is for a second  row,  the scrum is for a front  row. I guess  that just leaves me  to get on with  the stuff that I do.  That’s just how it  still is.”

But he acknowledges he is  keen  to keep developing as a  player and  broadening his  game.

“You are never going to stop   learning,” said the  22-year-old.

“I thought I would have  learned  quite a lot by now, but  there’s still a  lot more to learn  and a lot of  improvements for  me to make. So  I’ve still got to  knuckle down and  work hard.

“I need to improve my  all-round  game, to be used  more as a line-out  forward  maybe and be better in the   breakdown area. Anything and   everything.”

Former Springboks captain  Gary  Teichmann recently compared  Faletau favourably with  New Zealand’s Kieran Read, who is generally  recognised as the world’s best No   8.

But the man himself is quick to   play down such talk.

“He’s quite a special player,  Keiran,” said Faletau. “I watch  him and  see what he does well  and try to  learn from  him.

“But I’m nowhere near that  level.  He is pretty good, isn’t  he?”

Since returning from the Lions,  Faletau has been adapting to  the new coaching regime at the  Dragons where the larger-than-life duo of Lyn Jones  and Kingsley Jones have taken  the helm.

“They are pretty much a comedy double act!” he said, with a  smile.

“Lyn is probably the funnier.  Some of the stuff he comes up  with is random.

“That’s good to have around  the squad and the players. It’s  going to pick up any player  that’s down.

“The players are just more  willing to listen I guess or they  are being directed better  maybe.

“Things are going well and  hopefully it will keep going.

“For me, it’s been a case of  back with the Dragons and  back at it.”

From next week, the attention  switches to international duty  and returning to the Millennium Stadium in the colours of  Wales.

“When you run out and the  crowd is behind you screaming, it’s just a feeling you can’t  really explain,” said Faletau.

“You are running out with a  group of boys you know well  and you kind of play for each  other, die for each other sort of  thing. It is pretty special running out there with your mates  and playing for the fans that are  there.

“Putting on the Welsh jersey  and being out there definitely  gives you a little tingle.”

It will be a particularly significant occasion for Faletau if  he gets to line up at the Millennium against the country of  his birth, Tonga, on November  22.

“It will be good if I do get the  opportunity,” he said.

“I don’t know many of the  current side, but I probably will  by the end of it!”

Toby backing Wales to seal test victories