Gatland is keen to remain under radar

Wales' spirited run to the last four of Rugby World Cup 2011 has quickly established the team from the Principality as a fans' favourite.

While coach Warren Gatland is delighted to have taken his youthful and adventurous team to their first semi-final since 1987, their success means they can no longer avoid the spotlight ahead of their clash with France on Saturday.

"The fact that we're in New Zealand is probably easier for us because all the talk is about the All Blacks and Australia and we can hopefully continue to come under the radar," Gatland said.

"People are starting to talk about us a little bit, but not too much. It's been nice that there hasn't been too much focus on us, which has been good for us. There hasn't been too much pressure on us."

Gatland has been forced to make one change from the team that beat Ireland 22-10 in the quarter-finals. James Hook replaces Rhys Priestland at fly half after the Scarlets player was unable to recover from a shoulder injury.

Pivotal role

Hook has yet to start at fly half so far in the tournament. Even so, he has beaten veteran Stephen Jones to the pivotal role, with Jones taking over from him on the bench.

"We put James Hook into the side," Gatland said. "He's very experienced. He's excited about his opportunity. We know how good he is.

"He's been running there and looked really sharp in the last two weeks of training. Having played in the XV in the first couple of games, unfortunately picking up an injury, we would have played him a little earlier than this."

Wales' advance to the last four is their best performance since the inaugural tournament, when they eventually finished fourth.

It marks a massive turn-around from RWC 2007, when a dispirited and disjointed side was knocked out in the pool stages by Fiji.

Desire and belief

The fallout led to the appointment of Gatland, who promptly won the 2008 Six Nations Grand Slam and put in place a new regime which has been the spur for the team's RWC 2011 success.

Even so there remains the desire and belief to improve on the 1987 side that contained Welsh legends such as Jonathan Davies, Robert Jones and Ieuan Evans.

"We didn't come to the tournament to make up the numbers," said full back Leigh Halfpenny. "We came to contend for this trophy and there are no real celebrations going on yet because we've still got our goal to achieve.

"People didn't really expect us to come this far, whereas we did. From the start, our preparations (at a training camp) in Poland, were all geared to get into these stages of the tournament.

"It's just a great feeling of satisfaction, we've worked so hard to get where we are and it's really paying off."