Wales coach Warren Gatland has been the target of a scathing tirade from one of his former players ahead of the Wallabies’ visit to Cardiff on Monday (AEDT).
The Kiwi coach, in his second stint with Wales, is facing the brutal ignominy of leading the team to a record 11th straight loss in the Test against an Australian team buoyed by victory over England last weekend.
The noise around Gatland’s tenure has increased after a first-ever home defeat to Fiji, after which Gatland admitted he and his coaching team had made a bizarre error by bringing on the wrong replacement back.
Former Wales scrumhalf Mike Phillips, who played under Gatland for seven years, was aghast at an interview Gatland gave where he suggested there were plenty of positives to be taken from the Fiji defeat by the 11th-ranked team.
“Loads of positives yeah, you’re on 600k a year and don’t even have to win!,” wrote Phillips on X. “How the WRU [brought] his guy back is just nuts! Laughing all the way to the bank. The problems are not at [sic] who’s coaching Wales!”
“When I see this guy talking about family makes me cringe. Did he speak to me at the end of my career, did he f! I won for this guy.
“This bloke is only out for himself, and it kills me to see all this b praise he’s getting. He deserves to be kicked out, like he did to so many quality Welsh players.”
Phillips played under Gatland between 2008 and 2015, and was selected for the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia in 2013 when Gatland was head coach.
As the run has worsened Gatland has dug in but another former Wales star Alex Cuthbert has told the BBC there has never been a must-win game to match Sunday’s meeting with Australia.
“You only play eight to 12 Tests a year, so if you’re losing them all then you have to accept your job is on the line,” Cuthbert told Radio Wales.
“We’re in transition but we still had the players to win that game [against Fiji] and we’re not seeing progress.
“People will question what’s going on, if he’s not getting the best out of the team, or it’s the preparation, or the gameplan.
“He has been in this situation before and if anyone can get it right, it’s Warren Gatland.
“But there’s probably no bigger week in his Wales managerial career.”
Wales have not lost 10 matches since the 2002-03 season and now face two tough weekends against Australia, energised by their victory over England on Saturday, and world champions South Africa.
“You can worry about that,” Gatland told reporters when asked about his future.
“The pressure comes from the media as it’s a narrative you create. That’s okay. I believe that since the World Cup, with the players we’ve lost, we’ve invested in the youngsters and we’ve seen development.
“We need patience and time. I understand Test match rugby is about winning. You control the narrative and write what you want.”
The veteran New Zealander’s second spell as Wales coach is proving markedly less successful than his first, from 2007 to 2019.
That yielded four Six Nations titles – including three Grand Slams and two appearances in World Cup semi-finals.
But the 61-year-old has found wins harder to come by since replacing compatriot Wayne Pivac as Wales coach in December 2022.
Warren Gatland. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)
“Hopefully next week,” Gatland said of when the next win would come.
“It was supposed to be today. I’ve been around long enough to know Test match rugby is all about winning.
“But it’s taking the pressure off the players so they can go out there and play. There’s probably one or two moments there where players will think if they were more accurate, they could have created opportunities.
“But in fairness to the boys, the first thing they do is look at themselves.”
The Roarhttps://www.theroar.com.au/2024/11/13/makes-me-cringe-deserves-to-be-kicked-out-ex-wales-stars-f-bomb-gatland-blast-ahead-of-wallabies-clash/‘Makes me cringe’, ‘deserves to be kicked out’: Ex-Wales star’s F-bomb Gatland blast ahead of Wallabies clash
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