Warren Gatland ‘hurting’ following exit as Wales head coach
Warren Gatland says he is “hurting” following his departure as Wales head coach.
Gatland left his role on February 11 by mutual agreement with the Welsh Rugby Union following a run of 14 successive Test defeats.
The New Zealander’s second reign as Wales boss delivered just six wins in 26 Tests, with Matt Sherratt appointed on an interim basis for remaining Guinness Six Nations games against Ireland, Scotland and England.
“The negativity will go away, it will go. Am I hurting a little bit? Yes, of course I am hurting. But I will get over that quickly,” Gatland told the Telegraph.
“Dreading the game”
Gatland reflected on what he called the “must-win” nature of Wales’ Six Nations clash against Italy, which his team lost 22-15 and proved to be his last match in charge.
“If we didn’t win that game, then I’d have to seriously consider my position. It would be the best time and the best thing for everyone to walk away.
“In the past I have gone into games always nervous. But excited, a little bit apprehensive, nervous about what’s going to happen.
“Recently, I’ve been going into games nervous, probably not feeling that sort of positivity and not having that belief. Almost dreading the game and the results and the negativity that follows.
“I’ve felt a huge amount of negativity in the Welsh press, and that just kept weighing down on me. I just kept thinking, ‘where is someone in my corner or someone fighting a little bit for me?’”
Gatland’s second spell in charge contrasted starkly with the first between 2008 and 2019, when Wales won Six Nations titles, Grand Slams, reached two World Cup semi-finals and were briefly world-ranked number one team.
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Warren they have short memories here. The fact that you are one of best coaches certainly the most successful in recent times ever to manage Wales means nothing to some, also the fact that you were effectively conned into taking the job second time around and not allowed to pick your preferred defence coach means nothing.
Warren Gatland is a brilliant coach. The people that decry him obviously cannot see that he has been trying to coach a bunch of second rate players with no natural talent. They have done Gatland more harm than good which is not fair.
Ah, the classic WRU strategy—find a scapegoat, kick the can down the road, and pray nobody notices the house is on fire. Welsh rugby’s in bits, the CEO and Chairman were parachuted in to slap a PR plaster over the sexism scandal, and somehow, we’re all meant to pretend this is progress. Meanwhile, the regions are skint, the national team’s playing like they’ve just met in the car park, and the WRU’s master plan is… what, exactly? Hope for another Shaun Edwards miracle?
Welsh Government should organise a reverse takeover by the FAW .
Welsh Rugby has been at the very top in 4 Golden Eras over 3 different centuries, whereas the Welsh Government has been third world standard, so keep them out.
What we need to do is get rid of substandard English officials running Welsh rugby, all the FAW can do is put substandard English players on the field.
Despite her arrival coinciding with the catastrophic collapse of the national team, Agent Abigail insists she cannot be judged on results until 2029, so considering her mess is twice as bad as Man Utd we’ll need the 10 head coach changes in half the time. We’ve now got an English coach to go with the disastrous English CEO brought in by the clueless English Chairman, following the sabotage report by individuals from England Rugby. To get out of the current mess we’re supposedly getting an expensive consultation report from England, I wonder if they’ll point out the sinister yet repeatedly… Read more »