Gatland Addresses Media Scrutiny on Future After Tenth Consecutive Wales Defeat

Warren Gatland, currently serving his second tenure as Wales head coach since taking over from Wayne Pivac in December 2022, has expressed his willingness to address inquiries regarding his future, even after Wales experienced its tenth consecutive international defeat. Following Fiji’s inaugural victory in Cardiff, Wales has now gone 400 days without a Test win. This losing streak under Gatland’s leadership now matches the international record previously held by Steve Hansen’s team in 2002 and 2003. After the 24-19 defeat at the Principality Stadium, Gatland was questioned about the potential threat to his coaching position. “You can write about that,” Gatland stated. “The pressure comes externally, basically from the media as it’s a narrative that you create. That’s ok from where I sit.” Gatland further commented: “We’ve said for the last 12 months since the World Cup, with the number of players and experience that we’ve lost, we were going to invest in a group of youngsters that we felt we could build with and take us on.” He continued, “We’ve seen development from those youngsters. We’ve said we need some patience and time. “But I understand Test match rugby is about performing and winning. “You [the media] control the narrative and write what you want. I’ll see what happens there.” Wales will aim to avoid an unprecedented 11th Test defeat when a revitalized Australia, fresh from a thrilling 42-37 victory against England under Joe Schmidt’s leadership, arrives at the Principality Stadium next Sunday. World champions South Africa are scheduled to face Wales six days later in Cardiff, prompting Gatland to consider where the team’s much-needed victory might originate. “Hopefully the win will come next week because it was supposed to be today,” Gatland stated. “I am trying to take a little bit of pressure off this group of players so they don’t feel that pressure themselves, so they have the confidence to go out there and be accurate and play. “I think there are lots of good positive things we did against Fiji to work on for next week, without feeling the world or the heavens are caving in on you.” He concluded, “This can stop you from going out there to play and express yourselves.” Warren Gatland has acknowledged an error in his replacement strategy during Wales’ recent defeat to Fiji. Wales’ last victory dates back to October 2023, when they defeated Georgia in a World Cup pool match held in Nantes. Since then, the team has experienced a World Cup quarter-final elimination against Argentina and five defeats in the Six Nations, resulting in Wales receiving the Wooden Spoon for the first time in 21 years. Following a defeat against Italy in March, Gatland revealed he offered his resignation to Welsh Rugby Union [WRU] chief executive Abi Tierney, an offer which was declined. Subsequent to that, additional losses have been recorded against South Africa, Australia, and most recently, Fiji. In his current tenure as head coach, Gatland’s record stands at six wins from 22 matches, representing a 27% success rate. Wales fly-half Sam Davies, who currently plays for Grenoble in France, posted on social media that it was “time for a change.” Concurrently, former Wales centre Jamie Roberts, now an independent non-executive director for the WRU, voiced criticism. “He [Gatland] says they’re growing as a group but I have to disagree to be honest,” Roberts informed S4C. “It’s the worst Wales have ever been in the professional era, losing 10 on the bounce.” He added, “I get the spin Warren wants to put on it. I’m sorry, I don’t think Wales have moved forward. Watching Australia yesterday I’ve seen a team that’s grown.” Roberts concluded, “But watching that performance today [Wales against Fiji], I haven’t seen a team that’s grown from the summer.” Gatland also conceded a significant error in his replacement strategy, which involved selecting six forwards and two backs on his bench, leading to replacement fly-half Sam Costelow playing in two different positions against Fiji. Fly-half Sam Costelow was compelled to enter the game out of his usual position, on the wing, in the 17th minute, replacing the injured Mason Grady. The intended replacement was Cardiff scrum-half Ellis Bevan, not Costelow, who ultimately played 47 minutes on the wing. Costelow transitioned to his preferred fly-half role during the second half following Anscombe’s replacement. Bevan was also required to play out of position for the final 16 minutes, during which he scored a late try. “Probably the wrong player has gone on as a replacement,” Gatland stated. “We talked about Ellis Bevan going on there and he was supposed to and then Sam’s ran on the field. I think he might have assumed he was the person going on.” He continued, “We had already had those discussions with Ellis that if we do lose a winger, you’re going to need to cover us there.” Gatland concluded, “I need to get to the bottom of that and that was something we had to deal with.” Gatland conceded that this incident would likely be the last time he would utilize a replacement strategy involving a quota of only two backs. “We were going to get a bit of bad luck and it happened today,” Gatland remarked. “It’s difficult. We had a long debate and discussion about the six-two split. “The first time you do that and you get caught in the one position, you’re a bit vulnerable.”