Leigh Halfpenny remembers the day he realised Sam Warburton was going to make a proper captain. They were playing together for Wales in an Under-18 Four Nations match against Scotland. He doesn't remember where it was played, but he remembers the effect of the speech, characteristically brief and pointed, that Warburton gave.
"We had a team meeting the night before the game," the Wales full-back said. "It was our first game of the tournament. He just said a few words and, Christ, I was nearly in tears. We went on to win it."
Halfpenny is 22, a few months younger than his international captain, who turned 23 last week. They are team-mates with Cardiff Blues, as well as in the Wales side who will meet France in a Rugby World Cup semi-final in Auckland on Saturday, but their association goes back much further.
"I've been captained by Sam all the way through the age groups," Halfpenny said, "and he's no different now from how he was at the beginning. He's not a man of many words, but when he does speak it's short and sharp and it means a lot, and it's very inspiring. As a young guy, as well as for the older players, you think, 'We've got to get behind him.' It's easy to get carried away with a great win but our focus has always been to be real contenders for this trophy, and that also comes from our captain. Sam reminds us after a game that the job's not done yet."
Warburton is the figurehead of the youthful regeneration that has carried Wales into the last four. Only Warren Gatland, the head coach, knows how much of it was an improvised response to injuries and loss of form among senior players, but seven of this weekend's starting XV are aged under 25 and it is the juniors who have set the tone for the dedication of the whole squad to the unswerving pursuit of victory. "What you're getting from the younger boys is a very professional attitude," Halfpenny said. "That's where the game has changed, especially in Wales, since the academy systems have come in, where you're basically taught all the way through how to be a professional. Sam's come through that, and everybody's bought into it."
It was after Wales's victory over England in a warm-up match in Cardiff during August that Warburton spoke of the new mood of sober determination within the squad, symbolised by their behaviour after the narrow defeat at Twickenham a week earlier.
"Wales have obviously had a lot of bad press over the last year, with drinking," the young captain said. "But we made a collective decision that it was best not to drink after the Twickenham game. With only a short turnaround, we needed to get our recovery in. The best thing was to get back to the hotel and have some good food, bang in the protein shakes and get back to it on Monday."
The son – one of twin boys – of a London-born father who moved to Wales in childhood and a mother who is from Leeds but has Welsh family connections, Warburton was at first attracted to football. At 15, however, he committed himself to rugby.
His idols were other No7s: New Zealand's Richie McCaw, Australia's George Smith, Thierry Dusautoir of France – his opposite number in Saturday's semi-final – and Martyn Williams, the mentor whose position he has usurped for club and country.
Warburton won his first cap in the summer of 2009, but the captaincy arrived only after a neck injury forced the 30-year-old Matthew Rees out of the squad. Gatland had noted the way the younger man had handled leadership duties during the previous year's Under-20 World Cup, in which Wales finished fourth. On Saturday Warburton will lead the senior side for the ninth time in 22 appearances. His seven wins as captain include victories over England, Argentina, Ireland and Samoa.
Adam Jones, who is appearing in his third World Cup and will be winning his 75th cap, was "a little surprised" when Warburton was announced as captain. "Nugget [Martyn Williams] used to mention him a while back," the veteran prop said. "He'd talk about this young kid who was going to take his place with the Blues. I didn't see him play until a couple of years ago but he was obviously a hell of a specimen. Now we all know how good he is. He's a world-class No7 and he's doing a fantastic job. He doesn't speak for the sake of speaking, but when he does he knows what he's on about. He's going to have a pretty good career."
Wales's team manager is Alan Phillips, an 18-cap former hooker who played at the 1987 World Cup and has seen a dozen captains come and go since he took up his present post in 2002. He was clearly paying Warburton the highest of compliments when he said: "If my daughter walked home with him, I'd be extremely happy. He's a great bloke with some terrific qualities. Quiet, unassuming, tough. He doesn't moan and groan about anything. Leads by example, calm in the face of adversity, but he can ramp it up if he needs to get a point across. An intelligent footballer and a natural leader.
"When he got into the Cardiff team you could see that there was something about him. He picked up injuries because his body wasn't quite ready for the demands of that position. But he's worked terrifically hard over this year or so and, touch wood, he's not getting the injuries he was, because his body is conditioned to take the bruising.
"I thought Matthew Rees would be a terrific loss for us, but this boy stepped in. They're similar in many ways. What you want from a captain is some intelligence, and Sam has a feeling for the game. What we've tried to do is protect him and not overburden him. Once we've done our training, he likes to get away from rugby. He's one of those modern boys that can switch off."
The 129th captain in 130 years of Welsh international rugby, Warburton stands just two steps away from a place among his country's legends.
"This is where you want to be," he said. "Everyone's buzzing with confidence after last week's performance [against Ireland]. My main target when I was made captain was to make sure of my own performance and not to worry too much about anything else. Now I'm just thinking about France. I've been involved twice in squads against them and we've lost both times, but the results so far show that anything can happen in a World Cup."
On Saturday morning he will have his usual 15 minutes of one-to-one "mental priming" with the team's psychologist, Andy McCann. "He's been helping the younger players, including me, to stay relaxed," Warburton said. "In the captaincy role, you can get wrapped up in all the stuff you have to do. What helps me to get through is just to enjoy the game of rugby. That's what you'd tell kids from a young age. Just enjoy it."
