Time for Gatland to go?

[truthteller]

I believe it is...why?

Well for me he has massively underachieved with a huge pool of welsh talent for the past 5 or 6 years.
why?

well hes been there too long got too complacent and stuck to his old wasps style of warrenball coaching and refused to evolve

Hes also been incredibly greedy and taken 2 years out in 5 for lions coaching. The irish refused to let their coach go with the lions and look how that turned out for Ireland eh?

Gatland has a 51%/49% win loss record. That is a poor return

He has failed to beat the aussies in 10 years and never beaten the all blacks, not even close

He only gave 4 new caps in 18 months after world cup 2015. That arrested welsh development and he threw in the likes of patchell for his 1st cap out of position away to new zealand in eden park.

He has his favourites, he holds grudges, he refuses to give the top performing welsh forward in the league, jamie davies a fair go , this has always been a personality issue and he ruined james hook and many other flair players who dont play to orders

he has his kronies , he has way too much power he dictates the rules over what exiled players are allowed to be welsh qualified too

His selection of biggar for years and years is frankly depressing, the man has absolutely zero attacking ability and the main man in the remarkable rise of scarlets has been the multi talented patchell. he helped them win the league make the europena cup quarter finals too....But guess what he didnt even make the welsh tour of the south seas last year. Gatland refused to let lions star liam williams play his natural position of 15 for wales in 5 years, he got rid of hook years ago, he played a crash ball 12 who cant pass run or kick , jamie roberts for 9 long years which meant world class players like jon foxy davies north shame williams and hapenny didnt get any passes

This welsh squad has massive talent and imo is the best squad in europe. better than ireland but they went to ireland with an appallingly negative selection and tactics. to have biggar who hasnt played for 8 weeks kick aimlessly and to stand off the irish and defend all day? madness

 

[Steveomac]

"Shame" Williams......that's good.

Regarding Gatland, being a neutral it does look as if things have gone stale with him and a change is needed. You would have thought that harnessing all the good stuff that is going on with the Scarlets would have been the natural thing to do at national level but after some early promise he has reverted to type and gone back to his favourites who haven't performed. Trouble is the welsh union aren't going to change with a WC on the horizon and will see finishing second in the championship as a decent result.

 

[General Melchett]

I don't see Wales getting more than two wins in next year's 6N. I see them losing away to France and Scotland and will probably struggle to beat both Ireland and a presumably fired up England at home.

 

[munstermuffin]

Rob Howley for top job????

 

[Big_Grumper]

If you're going to make a change now is the time: 18 months from the WC and with the beginnings of a new, young and exciting squad.

 

[truthteller]

winning yesterday is the worst thing that could have happened to Wales. It will just paper over the cracks. They were dreadful yesterday.

 

[profitius]

This welsh squad has massive talent and imo is the best squad in europe. better than ireland but they went to ireland with an appallingly negative selection and tactics. to have biggar who hasnt played for 8 weeks kick aimlessly and to stand off the irish and defend all day? madness

Wales have overachieved with Gatland. Be careful what you wish for.


As for being the strongest squad in Europe, you're deluding yourself.

 

[truthteller]

Wales have overachieved with Gatland. Be careful what you wish for.


As for being the strongest squad in Europe, you're deluding yourself.

Lol He overachieved in the first few years but hes underachieved in the last 5....Wales are stacked with class players.. a dozen british lions in the drawn series with the all blacks and 15 on the previous winning tour to australia...They have the highest points scorer in europe (halfpenny) the highest test try scorer in europe (North), the lions player of the series (Jon foxy davies), the best 8 in europe, Lions skipper, 2 Lions full backs, other world class players like webb, alun wyn jones, gareth davies, tipuric and Lions ken owens, biggar, moriarty, hill, etc etc In his period as boss hes also has the highest european try scorer of all time and world player of the year in 2008/9 (shane williams)..byrne hook geth jenkins adam jones the list goes on and on ....All fed by the pro 12 champions, the other regions and a boat load of quality welsh players in exile

 

[ThebigARena]

I don't see Wales getting more than two wins in next year's 6N. I see them losing away to France and Scotland and will probably struggle to beat both Ireland and a presumably fired up England at home.

That was predicted this year as well remember!

 

[ncurd]

Lol He overachieved in the first few years but hes underachieved in the last 5....Wales are stacked with class players.. a dozen british lions in the drawn series with the all blacks and 15 on the previous winning tour to australia...They have the highest points scorer in europe (halfpenny) the highest test try scorer in europe (North), the lions player of the series (Jon foxy davies), the best 8 in europe, Lions skipper, 2 Lions full backs, other world class players like webb, alun wyn jones, gareth davies, tipuric and Lions ken owens, biggar, moriarty, hill, etc etc In his period as boss hes also has the highest european try scorer of all time and world player of the year in 2008/9 (shane williams)..byrne hook geth jenkins adam jones the list goes on and on ....All fed by the pro 12 champions, the other regions and a boat load of quality welsh players in exile

Lions, Lions, Lions all selected by.....

 

[Amiga500]

Hahaha, time for him to go?

That time was about 4 years ago!

Some of the best running backs in Europe and he has them playing that crud.

 

[MikeTheNative]

If you were to get rid of him it would have to have been before the last AI's it's too late now. Wales do have a lot of talent in the backs and back row however that tight 5 is an issue. Yes there are young talented players coming through but there's a bit of mediocrity there at the moment.

Wales do need some fresh ideas, hopefully they get someone who is willing to try something new and give new players an actual go.

 

[truthteller]

The man is stale and his coaching team even moreso...howley and mcbryde and zero successful coaching background or experience ...They should go first.
Theyve had way too much power for way too long, theWRU are paying him a kings ransom , time to get rid and scour the world for better coaching team

 

[truthteller]

If you were to get rid of him it would have to have been before the last AI's it's too late now. Wales do have a lot of talent in the backs and back row however that tight 5 is an issue. Yes there are young talented players coming through but there's a bit of mediocrity there at the moment.

Wales do need some fresh ideas, hopefully they get someone who is willing to try something new and give new players an actual go.

Theyve failed to even give seb davies a proper go despite him clearly being the best prospect....They failed to develop a back up 8 and back up tight head is an issue

 

[The5thOfficial]

Generally speaking.....

Ireland - they deserved their Grand Slam. Although you know BoD himself said last weekend that the team hadn't played great rugby and that they had more or less coasted it. And it could have all been derailed in the first game if Sexton had missed that kick, or not had the opportunity to go for it in the dying seconds. And in fairness, the Wales game was 'close'. But nah fair play to them they deserved their ***le. And to go to Twickenham and beat England in their own back yard, can't argue with that given the EJ home record and all that! The pressure was on and they delivered.

Wales - With all those injuries at the beginning of the 6 Nations, we dreaded what would happen. It looked like disaster was the only outcome. The England game was pretty close to be fair. But for me, the contrast in the style of play, in that last game against France was astonishing. It was hide-behind-the-sofa terrible for all the wrong reasons. It was like watching an entirely different team playing, and that was because basically it WAS a different team playing. I don't really understand why Gatland can't see what others see regarding selection and development etc. I often wonder what Sean Edwards thinks - I mean all of the criticism is levelled at Gatland and Howley, but I wonder what Edwards and some of the wider team think. I know this comment will probably invite abuse of Gatland and Co here - but hey if 'I' can see it, surely he must! ha ha!

England - They beat Wales, got blown away by Scotland and lost to France. What's going on? It seems like only a short time ago England were, if reports were to be believed, gearing up to take the 2019 RWC. And it seems only a short time ago that the question was being asked, is Itoje the 'most complete player ever' (or words to that effect). I mean his penalty count alone must be a record somewhere along the line? Yeah, the Lions hangover and burnout might have something to do with that I guess, but AWJ was on the Lions tour and he had a good 6 Nations - and he's getting on a bit! I dunno - to me, it seemed like as soon as the media was full of how well England were doing under EJ, it began to go wrong. That maybe just the way I see it, I don't know. This SA tour should be interesting for a lot of reasons.

Scotland - they choked against Wales first game - no-one expected that. Not even Wales expected that truth be known. But in the last game against Italy, they were as close, if not closer to losing than Wales were against France. I always think 'here we go' when those questions and comments come up, 'is this Scotland's time?' 'Scotland are back!' Its like setting them up for the fall. A bit like England above. Why do we like building people and teams up so much and then taking them down? Who knows! But Scotland are heading in the right direction it seems!

Italy - I think they've played well in patches! If they could do it for 80 minutes every game, I reckon they'd win some.

 

[Sixways Cheryl]

I think there are parallels with Warren Gatland at Wales to Arsene Wenger at Arsenal. Both enjoyed a lot of success in their early years playing a specific style of game, both have failed to evolve that style over time & the game has caught them up and passed them by. Just a case of staying somewhere that bit too long & allowing things to get stale.

 

[bushytop]

Whether things under Gatland have gone stale, or even if he should have left years ago (both of which are debatable) getting rid of him with 18 months to the World Cup would be imo a stupid move. I grew up in the 90's and also well remember the 2007 World Cup, under Gats there have been the very rare occasions where we just didn't turn up but on the whole even in the games we end up losing we are always competitive and in with a shout of winning the game until the ref blows up. I agree that Gatland is nowhere near perfect but he is a great coach, one of the best money can buy... he has had his eye on this upcoming RWC for sometime and to replace him at this point would be undoing a ton of hard work that he has been asking the players to do (both in and while away from camp).

Assuming Gatland does serve out the next World Cup (even if we finish 5th in next years 6N it would be crazy to ditch... maybe 6th tho) his replacement will be a huge appointment. I personally would like Pivac and Jones to come in at that point but even as a huge fan of both those guys there is no guarantees. Eddie Jones latest fall from grace shows that rugby (indeed sports) is incredibly fickle and even if the chips are down, playing the percentages by keeping a proven man in place is probably the wisest option.

 

[truthteller]

sooner they sack him and better still howley and mcbryde the sooner they can rebuild....otherwise it will be another wasted 18 months of misery and mindlessness