The 26-year-old will captain his country on the global stage for the second time in his career after being named as a back-row forward alongside Justin Tipuric, Dan Lydiate, Taulupe Faletau and James King.
The British & Irish Lions skipper is yet to feature in the World Cup warm-up matches after suffering a slight shoulder injury, but has witnessed first-hand the commitment shown in training by those vying for a place in the final squad.
He said: “I’m gutted for the players who missed out and I’m absolutely delighted for some of the boys who made it. I’ve seen first-hand how hard guys like James King and Dom Day have trained, they’ve really impressed me over the two months. The effort from the Ireland game shows all the teamwork we have been working on over the past two months really paid off.
“It was a really impressive performance considering it was the first time most of the guys had played in a while. Historically, we are quite slow starters and I think the preparation we have done with our 15 on 15 games in training has worked out really well. Ireland have lost twice in 15 games and to go out there to Dublin and win is a massive confidence boost for us. You play the World Cup warm-ups down but that win is massive for us as a group.”
Warburton gets a shot at World Cup redemption after being sent-off in the semi-final in 2011 for a tip tackle on Vincent Clerc of France. First Wales must come through a ‘pool of death’ that contains hosts England, southern-hemisphere giants Australia and Fiji, who dumped Wales out of the tournament back in 2007.
And the Cardiff Blues man is confident he will be ready to open up the World Cup campaign against Uruguay at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday, September 20.
He said: “The shoulder is ok, I’m going to see the physio again today. It was more a precaution to be left out on the weekend, I just took a bump on it the day before and it wasn’t worth the risk. It’s happened in the past and we know how to manage it so I’m confident I’ll be ready.”
