Warren Gatland taking criticism with ‘grain of salt’ amid Wales pressure

Warren Gatland says he takes with “a grain of salt” comments fired at him from former players following Wales’ record-equalling 10th successive Test match defeat.

Gatland also revealed that he has not thought about stepping away after beginning his second stint as Wales head coach ahead of the 2023 Six Nations.

Former Wales centre Jamie Roberts, an independent non-executive director on the Welsh Rugby Union board, and scrum-half Mike Phillips were among the critical voices after a 24-19 defeat against Fiji.

“Losing 10 on the bounce – that’s the worst Wales have been in the professional era,” Roberts said, in his role as a match-day pundit for S4C.

“I understand the spin Warren is trying to give, but sorry, I don’t think Wales have moved forward.”

All-time low

Wales tackle Australia in Cardiff on Sunday, when another loss would see them arrive at an all-time low by surpassing their previous worst results sequence set under Gatland’s fellow New Zealander Steve Hansen in 2002 and 2003.

“I haven’t really thought about it (his own position), we will see what happens. It is not in my mind at the moment,” Gatland said.

“I hadn’t seen the comments. My son rung me about that this morning and said, ‘have you seen the comments?’ He was probably more upset about them than I was.

“I take some of those comments with a little bit of a grain of salt. I don’t have any issues with it. He (Roberts) is paid to do a job from a punditry point of view, and there are no issues from my perspective.

“I know there are a couple of people who have contacted him and sent him messages and said he was a bit out of line, but that is their opinion as well.

“Am I happy with where we are at the moment? No. Is there pressure? Yes.

“It is a different kind of pressure. It is a pressure that potentially I don’t like, but I am not uncomfortable with because I understand where we are at.”

Work

Australia have beaten Wales nine times from their last 11 Cardiff visits, and have arrived in the Welsh capital following a spectacular victory over England.

“We can only continue to work as hard as we’ve been doing, and hopefully we will get across the line,” Gatland added. “Do I believe in what we are doing? 100 per cent.

“The conviction is there, and if the conviction is there it probably takes away a little bit of some of the noise that is coming towards us.

“My job is making sure we are all on the same page as a group of coaches, and developing some confidence and self-belief in the players in what we are doing. We have not thrown in the towel in any way.

“How do I take the pressure and be comfortable with it on me and take it away from the players so they can go and play with some freedom, back their skills and ability and not feel the pressure about the performance and the result.

“I am comfortable with the pressure being on me.”