Warren Gatland’s men face the Azzurri in the RBS 6 Nations opener this weekend and know the Italians are set to provide a stern challenge. Brunel guided his side to fourth place in last season’s Championship, claiming famous victories against France and Ireland along the way.
But ahead of Saturday’s opener to the 2014 tournament, Brunel admits Italy must be on top of their game defensively to stand a chance against the men in red.
“Traditionally, Italian rugby likes combat and contact,” said the former Perpignan coach.
“It was a little more based on defence. Since I arrived, I’ve tried to balance it out, to put more emphasis on the ability to play and create.
“Sometimes we’ve managed that but then we’ve broken our balance.”
With Wales posing a plethora of attacking threats behind the scrum, Brunel knows his side need to deal with the likes of George North, Alex Cuthbert and Jamie Roberts.
“During the last RBS 6 Nations we had that balance between creativity and defence but in the summer and autumn, we lost our defence,” he added.
“It will be very difficult to do better with trips to Cardiff and Paris to start with and two out of five matches at home.
“The goal is to improve our level of play, especially in defence.”
There are still a limited number of tickets available for Wales vs Italy at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday, February 1. There are single tickets available for Wales against France on February 21 but the home encounter with Scotland on the final weekend is sold out. To get your tickets go to www.wru.co.uk/tickets.
