Wales’ defeat against Italy leaves Warren Gatland running out of road

Simon Thomas

They say all roads lead to Rome, but for Warren Gatland the road must soon surely lead to the exit ramp.

There’s no guarantee that a win over Italy alone would have seen him retain his job beyond this Six Nations.

But, without it, one would think his position has to now become untenable.

Looking at the three remaining Championship fixtures and the way Wales are playing, it’s very hard to see them recording a victory.

So we are likely looking at another whitewash and another wooden spoon and that surely would be that for Gatland, if he remains on board that long.

When he was retained at the helm by the WRU after an abject autumn, he was publicly challenged to bring success in the Six Nations.

It wasn’t clear just what success looked like in the eyes of the Union bosses, but it certainly doesn’t look like this.

That’s now a 14th straight Test defeat under Gatland in his second spell at the helm and it was arguably the worst performance of the lot during that wretched run.

Georgia 

It sees Wales drop down below Georgia into 12th place in the world rankings, their lowest ever position.

In the space of five years, five months and eight days, they have gone from No 1 to No 12.

Now that is some rapid decline. Clearly, Gatland hasn’t been at the helm for the whole of that period.

But this worst ever losing run for the national team which he has overseen has contributed hugely to the slide.

The ranking shift will doubtless embolden Georgia in their bid to be considered for Six Nations inclusion, either via a play-off with the bottom team or inclusion in an expanded tournament.

Earlier today, they beat Lyn Jones’ Netherlands 40-7 in Tbilisi, having annihilated Switzerland 110-0 last weekend.

If a relegation play-off were to be introduced, it’s fair to say they would fancy their chances against Wales given the current state of affairs.

Moreover, it’s becoming harder to argue they shouldn’t be handed the chance. That’s where we are now.

Worryingly, things could get worse still.

With Ireland, Scotland and England to come in this Six Nations, it seems pretty likely that Wales’ losing run will stretch to 17 games.

Then there’s a summer tour to Japan, with Eddie Jones’ team just one place behind in the rankings in 13th.

Should that trip go badly wrong, then Wales would probably fall out of the top 12 which could have disastrous consequences in terms of the draw for the 2027 World Cup.

All of which suggests something has to be done and sooner rather than later.

Changing coach

Speaking on ITV after the match, former skipper Dan Biggar was asked about the possibility of changing the head coach midway through the Championship.

“I don’t think anything is off the table,” replied the fly-half.

“You just can’t carry on like this.

“At the minute, it just isn’t working. Whatever is going on from Monday to Friday clearly isn’t being transferred onto the pitch on a Saturday.”

It’s hard to argue with him on that front.

Wales had spent the week preparing at a training camp in Nice, a stay which wouldn’t have come cheap.

But, if anything, the performance was even worse than the one against France in Paris, so that was hardly money well spent.

Those remaining Gatland supporters will probably continue to argue he can only work with the players at his disposal and question whether anyone else would do a better job.

And, clearly, the talent pool isn’t what it was for much of his first highly successful stint in charge.

But it’s also fair to argue he hasn’t maximised the players that are available to him.

To start with, there was the baffling omission from his squad of Max Llewellyn and Gareth Anscombe, two men who have been performing well for Gloucester in positions which have been an issue.

There’s also his team selection, with Ben Thomas being handed the No 10 jersey when he plays his club rugby at inside centre for Cardiff.

Game plan

Then you’ve got the game-plan which has been found wanting in the opening two Championship matches.

There’s a lot of talk about a lack of depth in Welsh rugby, well if anything there’s been too much depth from Gatland’s team.

That’s been evident in attack with the near obsession with the pull back behind a dummy runner, particularly in Paris.

When you are struggling to cross the gain line, one wonders why you would want to make it even harder by starting from 10 metres deeper?

One wondered if the inclusion of the strong-running Eddie James at 12 would see a change of strategy in Rome, but he was seldom given the kind of flat pass on the gain line which would have given him the opportunity to get his team on the front foot.

Once again, there were too many occasions where Wales ended up metres back from where they first launched an attack.

The other area where there was too much depth was with the kicking game.

With the incessant rain at the Stadio Olimpico, the victory was always likely to go to the team that won the aerial contest – and Italy won it hands down.

Their kicking and their accompanying chase was right on the money, with half-backs Martin Page-Relo and Paolo Garbisi expertly controlling the direction of the game.

It was Garbisi’s precise left-footed grubber, after he had dummied his way through, which set up his team’s one try for wing Ange Capuozzo.

On top of that, their effective kicking strategy delivered the territorial foothold which, when combined with Welsh indiscipline, presented a succession of shots at goal for full-back Tommaso Allan who bisected the posts six times.

In all, Wales gave away 14 penalties, either through indiscretions at the breakdown and maul, careless offsides or offences at the scrum, which was not the positive set-piece it was last week.

Then, above all, there was their kicking out of hand.

Speaking alongside Biggar on the ITV punditry panel, Jamie Roberts didn’t mince his words.

“Our kicking game at times was schoolboy,” said the former centre.

“Our kick-chase quality and accuracy was schoolboy level.”

Once again, depth was often the issue, with Wales kicking too long, merely handing possession over unchallenged.

Then, when the length of kick did allow for an aerial contest, that was frequently lost, with the chaser either mistiming his arrival, being beaten in the leap or spilling possession.

The two best kicks Wales put in were both from scrum-half Tomos Williams into the left corner, but unfortunately Josh Adams was unable to hold on to the slippery ball on each occasion with the try line beckoning.

Other scoring opportunities were wasted through wayward forward passes, while there was also a misjudged call at a five metre lineout when they went for an intricate move which came to nothing when a no-nonsense maul was what was needed in the conditions.

That was confirmed in the closing stages when Wales earned two tries off lineout drives, one for Aaron Wainwright and one via a penalty try.

But, by then, it was too little too late.

So, any individual plusses to cling onto?

Well, Taulupe Faletau demonstrated his enduring class on his first Test outing in 16 months as he made the most carries (13) and the second most tackles (14) of any player on the pitch. You became used to him taking such lofty positions in the stats charts over the years, but for him to do it at 34 after so long away from the international stage just shows what a remarkable player he is.

Blair Murray also emerged with credit following his late addition to the team in place of the injured Liam Williams, proving an elusive customer at full-back.

The other plusses came via the bench, with Wainwright making a big impact in the back row and Teddy Williams transferring his excellent club form at lock, winning both lineouts that led to the tries.

Then there was young Dan Edwards. He certainly looked the part at fly-half, earning warm praise from Gatland who said he was “excellent” and “showed a lot of maturity” as he delivered “go-forward and territory”.

So you can predict the likely changes on the playing front for the game against Ireland in Cardiff in a fortnight’s time.

But the bigger issue is the change on the coaching front which now surely can’t be too far away.