Warren Gatland did his best yesterday to bolster Welsh confidence before their 25th meeting with New Zealand on Saturday by insisting that the All Blacks have lost their aura of invincibility.

It is perhaps a risky strategy and the head coach must hope that his comments do not haunt him. But, with Wales chasing a first win in the fixture for 56 years, he has to try something.

Gatland, well known for his straight talking, was speaking at the announcement of the Wales side for the Millennium Stadium encounter, one in which James Hook will start at full back for only the second time in his international career and Paul James at tight-head for his second cap, six years after his first. There are seven changes to the team who lost 17-15 to Ireland in the final, deciding match of the RBS Six Nations Championship in March.

Explaining his rationale regarding the All Blacks, Gatland said that history justified his stance. For instance, New Zealand lost three times in this year’s Tri-Nations.

“It happens when you lose a few games,” Gatland said. “I was lucky enough and privileged enough to be involved in an All Blacks era when they went undefeated for 50-odd matches. You just felt that every time you went out there was no chance of losing. That creates the aura.

“You lose a few games, it doesn’t matter who you are, you become a little fallible [and] that aura goes away. The fact the All Blacks haven’t won the World Cup since ’87; there’s lots of reasons for it. But they are still incredibly well respected, draw the biggest crowds, traditionally play the best rugby and more often than any other team, they are ranked the best side in the world.”

Although Gatland is convinced that Wales can win, persuading his players, who have been getting ever closer in recent years, is another matter. He accepts that is part of his job; he has made a sports psychologist available for individual sessions if required.

To judge from the players’ reaction yesterday, the message is getting through. Alun Jones, the lock and one of 13 players in the side with Lions experience, summed it up. “There is more of a positive edge [to our mental state] than a nervous edge which we had in the past,” he said.

Gatland views this international as the start of the road to the 2011 World Cup, a period in which Wales face New Zealand, South Africa and Australia — the world’s top three teams — eight times. Playing frequently against the best and eventually beating them was the key to Sir Clive Woodward’s successful campaign with England in 2003, as Gatland has acknowledged. “We are not running away,” Gatland said. “We want to play against the best teams in the world.”

On his selection policy, one shaped by injuries to Lee Byrne, Mike Phillips and Adam Jones, Gatland said that he was confident that James can fill the void at prop. The head coach admitted that he had considered moving Gethin Jenkins from loose-head, but wanted to keep him in his specialist position.

The suspension of Tony Woodcock, the All Blacks loose-head, had no bearing on his decision, which he mooted a week ago. “If the scrum doesn’t function, we are really going to struggle,” Gatland said. There has been a heavy emphasis on this in training.

Gareth Cooper comes in for Phillips at scrum half, while Leigh Halfpenny starts on the right wing. Mark Jones, the Scarlets wing, suffered a knee injury during training last weekend that will sideline him for six weeks.

Ryan Jones starts at No 8 with Andy Powell at blind-side flanker, the pair switching positions from the corresponding fixture last November, when Wales were more than competitive in the first half, leading 9-6, before subsiding to a 29-9 defeat. Twelve of the starting XV that day are on duty this weekend, striving to ensure that Gatland will not have his words rammed down his throat.

Wales: J Hook (Ospreys); L Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), T Shanklin (Blues), J Roberts (Blues), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Scarlets), G Cooper (Blues); G Jenkins (Blues), M Rees (Scarlets), P James (Ospreys), A W Jones (Ospreys), L Charteris (Newport Gwent Dragons), A Powell (Blues), M Williams (Blues), R Jones (Ospreys).

Replacements: H Bennett (Ospreys), Duncan Jones (Ospreys), B Davies (Blues), Dafydd Jones (Scarlets), M Roberts (Scarlets), J Davies (Scarlets), T James (Blues).