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Preparing for South Africa Wales coach Henry says U.S. test will not be easy
CARDIFF (Reuters) -- Wales coach Graham Henry insists that the United States will provide a tougher test than Samoa when they visit the Millennium Stadium on Saturday. Henry saw his side clock up a half-century of points against the depleted Samoa last weekend. But although the American Eagles could only beat Welsh-Scottish League side Cross Keys 22-7 last Saturday, Henry refused to underplay the significance of their challenge. "They will be better than Samoa, a bit more organized and experienced," he said. "There is also the fact that they should be more organized at the set piece. "You cannot prejudge anybody in international rugby and it's important that we improve in this match. I am aware of their result against Cross Keys but I don't think we can read too much into that." The Welsh are using the match as preparation for a test against South Africa next weekend. Henry has made four change to the side that began the match against Samoa. Chris Wyatt takes the place of Ebbw Vale's Deniol Jones in the second row. Nathan Budgett comes in for Geraint Lewis at blindside flanker, Darren Morris replaces Iestyn Thomas at tighthead prop and Dafydd James plays on the left wing because Shane Williams has a tight hamstring. The American and Bath number eight Dan Lyle has already admitted that his team will need a miracle to beat Wales. "If we are perfectly honest, it would take a poor performance from Wales and an absolutely fantastic one by us for us to win," he said. "But somewhere in-between would be a realistic effort for us. I'm not going to say that we cannot win the game but we have to worry about improving our standards. "Rugby is a learning curve for all our players and when we come over to Europe it is accelerated."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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