Thomas, 30, is one of the more experienced members of the Wales camp age-wise in a youthful squad named by head-coach Warren Gatland averaging just 25 for the tournament starting this weekend.
Wales kick-off their campaign against Scotland on Saturday afternoon in Cardiff but will not have the favourites tag having lost several players through retirement, ineligibility and injury since the Autumn World Cup. Whilst the Scots convincingly romped home 35-7 in Edinburgh in the competition last year.
Gregor Townsend’s side will be looking to start their campaign on a high with a repeat scoreline, but Thomas feels that Wales’ new breed of youngsters are more than capable of dampening the Scots parade to build on the momentum gained at the World Cup last autumn in France where similar low expectations were cast.
“Scotland will think this is an opportunity for them, but that’s good for us as well. As a fresh group of boys, we don’t have much to lose,” said Thomas.
“A lot of people have written us off already which is a dangerous thing to do with us with this squad. They wouldn’t be in there if they weren’t talented enough.
“Since I have been involved and watching Wales before me, nobody has had it easy, we always punch above our weight.
“I can’t see a team coming up against us and thinking that. With the boys we’ve got in the squad at the minute, none of us will back down in any fight.
“It’s exciting what we can do. Gats [Warren Gatland] said in the World Cup we’re a country that always punches above its weight. We’re going to have to do that in this campaign as well.
“We played big packs at the World Cup, and it all went well for us in the scrum and at maul time. We’re just trying to carry on from what we were doing where things were looking up, the stats we had there were good.
“There will be new combinations, so we have to do a lot of set-ups. We are trying to get those as fluid as possible.
“If we can deliver on the belief and detail we get from the coaches, I think we’ll look good.
“There will be a lot of work to do before Saturday in that area, but from the work we’ve done so far, it’s looking good.
“There’s a lot of energy in the camp and that will continue into the game. Personally, I will put everything into it from game one and empty the tank.”
[Lead image: Welsh Rugby Union]
