Posted by A miserable game in the miserable Italian rain, a suitably miserable way for the second spell of Warren Gatland as Cymru’s Head Coach to come to an end as his team fell to a 14th straight test defeat.
There’s no doubt that the New Zealander achieved great things with the men’s national team during his first stint in charge. The Grand Slams, titles and Rugby World Cup semi-finals will live on forever, even if he could never get it together against the big southern hemisphere three on a regular basis. Or at all, in the case of the All Blacks.
Yet this return was a disaster from the moment it was announced. It was never right for Gatland to come back in, it needed a strong leader prepared to put in 365 days of work a year, really embed himself in Welsh rugby and get to grips with the entire professional game in order to turn around a rapidly sinking ship after years of Welsh Rugby Union underinvestment and Wayne Pivac’s muddled reign.
Unfortunately Steve Phillips was too fuelled by his own ego, which covered for the fact he was entirely clueless, in appointing the 61-year-old, and then Abi Tierney lacked the necessary authority to do what the majority of supporters, pundits and outside observers could see was needed and relieve him of his duties after the 2023 RWC, last Six Nations, summer tour or autumn internationals.
Gatland is yesterday’s man. His approach to the Head Coach role lacked foresight, innovation and detail. If there was ever proof of that it was replacing Alex King with Rob Howley. Together they thought they had the longevity of Ant & Dec, but actually they were Jedward – successful for a time in an annoying way but now just a novelty nostalgic act.
The performance in Rome on Saturday was one of the most tragic seen from those in red jerseys for a long time. Particularly in attack a basic and predictable attacking shape was somehow still made to look disjointed. Although the players were still evidently putting a shift in, it was obvious that they had lost faith in the coaching.
Lineout-wise the calling was far too conservative, before randomly being totally over the top with a complicated front peel called within spitting distance of the try line, and in transition there is essentially no attacking threat despite being an area of the game where Cymru do have the players to hurt teams in unstructured play.
Jac Morgan was again symbolic of the effort put in by the players, while Tomos Williams showed flashes of his individual brilliance. Elliot Dee, Teddy Williams and Aaron Wainwright made a difference off the bench, but it needs more than a handful of players putting in eye-catching performances even against what was actually quite a poor Italian side.
Gatland arrived with Cymru in a bit of a pit, he leaves with us in a crater. The Welsh Rugby Union have finally stopped digging, but it’s too late for this campaign. Another wooden spoon beckons, and the men’s national team will be looking at a 17-game test match losing streak as well as being well outside the World Rugby rankings top 10.
Thanks for the memories, Warren. Hopefully these last two years will fade in time and only the good moments will live on, but perhaps for now we’ll switch the Gatland Gate for the Gatland Emergency Exit somewhere underneath the South Stand.
Matt Sherratt arrives with an unprecedented free hit on his hands. Zero expectations, zero possibility of actually getting a result, but the simple task of restoring hope to Welsh fans through at least playing some entertaining rugby that makes people want to watch, and excited to watch, the men in red once again.
There is undoubtedly talent within this group of players. They’re not the golden generation, but they’re so much more than what we’ve seen over the past 18 months. As the saying goes – let the boys play!
Cardiff Rugby Life 