Wales v Fiji
Priestland should put 'two fingers up' to boo boys
ESPN Staff
November 12, 2014
Rhys Priestland was booed by some sections of the Welsh support © Getty Images
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Wales coach Warren Gatland wants Rhys Priestland to put "two fingers" up to those who booed him when he came off the bench in last weekend's loss to Australia.

Priestland came on as a second-half substitute for the injured Dan Biggar against Australia but his introduction was greeted with boos by some of those in the crowd. The incident has infuriated Gatland and the coach wants his fly-half to shine come Saturday against Fiji after naming him as starting fly-half.

"I only heard today that he was booed. I suppose it's part of sport now - Tottenham got booed at the weekend, didn't they?" Gatland said. "The way with social media and stuff and criticism, you feel for Rhys a little bit because he's been hammered on social media by certain sections.

"He is a confidence player. You hate to see it. He's a young man who at one stage contemplated giving the game away because it wasn't worth taking that sort of personal criticism.

"I thought he did pretty well when he came on at the weekend. I just hope he goes out, plays well and puts two fingers up to the section of the crowd that may have been booing him last week. It's something I don't think we need in the game.

"We don't always agree, but that's the beauty of sport. You disagree with someone and that's fine, but you'd like to see there's a bit of respect out there for people who are trying to do their best. He doesn't go out there to put that jersey on and fail. But that's enough of that rant, I suppose."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd

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