5 Talking points as Warren Gatland reflects on Wales finishing 2024 winless after Springbok thrashing

Yesterday at 04:19 PM

Wales fell to a second straight drubbing at the principality to end the Autumn Nations Series without a win but more worryingly for Wales and Gatland they haven’t won a single game in their last 13 matches.

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Many came into this game thinking that Gatland’s future was already at knife edge, and this echoed when Gatland and Dewi Lake addressed the media following the full-time whistle. Here are the five biggest talking points from Wales’ record extending defeat to South Africa.

1. Gatland praises players heart despite dismal full time scoreline.

Warren Gatland was quick to admit his side wasn’t good enough against the reigning world champions however he was also adamant about how his players showed heart and didn’t give up on the game.

He said “It was a really tough game but I cannot question how hard our players tried out there. I thought they gave absolutely everything. Some of those youngsters and inexperienced players,they’ll learn massively from their game tonight in terms of when they’ve got caught a couple of times, maybe stepped in when they didn’t need to and things. hopefully, that they’ll be better for that the next time and the time after that, but I thought the effort in terms of what the players put in. I think the people should be really proud of that.”

“[I’m]Not contented with the result. I think we were disappointed with the result, but I think, for me, I can’t question how hard the players tried. And I think, like I said, what needs to happen with that is the learnings that go with with that. They played against the world champions, you know how clinical they are and how effective they are.” Gatland said

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2. Gatland isn’t happy with certain players fitness and admits work needs to be done.

Warren Gatland did point out a weakness of some of his players. He admitted that a few players weren’t up to scratch from a conditioning point of view and admitted that work must be done before the six nations campaign.

He said “I think a few players are aware that in the next couple of months, not everybody, but there’s some work to do from a conditioning perspective. So that they’re in even better shape when they come back in for the next campaign. And those are the things that they learned from tonight’s experience, in terms of just little wee things that sides that you’re playing against. That quality in terms of world champions, you know, they take advantage of and they punish you for.”

“Yeah. I think that’s some of the conditioning side of things and just continue to work on those technical aspects. I think that when we’ve planned things in the past and we’ve gone through cycles and our whole thing has been building towards World Cups. What’s tended to happen in the past is that we’ve had that 4 months together building for a World Cup, and you might lose a couple of players that are coming towards the end of their career and you replace that. And then over that cycle, there might be 3 or 4 other players that lose. But you can’t finish a World Cup normally, and you’re hoping that most of that squad’s gonna be around for the next next cycle.” Said Gatland.

3.Gatland insists he is fully committed to his role for the future.

Warren Gatland also tried to put his future into a clearer picture for the media by insisting that he is fully commited to his role as Welsh head coach.

He said “Look. I’d only be human if I haven’t seen the last few weeks have been challenging and been tough and we question ourselves after each game. What could have we done better? what could have I done better in that week in terms of the preparation?”

“But that’s no different when you’re losing you do that. But when you’ve also won and had gone on, you know, winning streaks, you still ask yourself the same questions about what could have we done better in terms of the week’s preparation and stuff. So yes, just probably seeing what happens over the next few days and go and chat with the powers that be and, you know, also talking to family and stuff as well.”

“So I guess people would expect me to say, yes. I’m 100% determined to go all the way through this country and keep driving on.”

4.Gatland points out difference between now and after the six nations when he offered his resignation.

Warren Gatland also pointed out the rumours of him offering his resignation following Wales dreadful six nations campaign were true and he also pointed out how that situations is different to his current situation.

He said “I think the 6 nations is different. I think that’s a competition. we’ve in the past traditionally used the autumn as part of development. You’re not playing for points every week.”

“So that to me and I understand that how important the competition is to the union, not just from a results point of view, but financially as well. And being around the game long enough to understand that, performances and results are important. So, look, I was genuine about that. Right? but you know probably approach the the autumn a little bit differently, and we have done that traditionally in the past when you’re looking to develop players in the squad and and giving them time to help prepare for a 6 Nations campaign”

5.Gatland weighs in on his potential future roles outside of coaching.

Gatland was poised a question of whether he’d ever thought about moving higher than coaching towards a role such as director of rugby.

He said “Yeah. My wife said that to me this morning. So we thought about doing some stuff. So look. There are a number of things that hopefully we talk about strategy and that relationship and a deal to be done with with the regions.”

“I think there have there have been issues within the game. Probably the success that we’ve had in the past has played better over some of those cracks. The dam burst and it’s gonna take a little while to fix it and get it back on track. But the thing is whether people give you that time and they give you that patience to be able to do that, what I saw today from this group of young men and and players, it gave me a lot of positive hope that there is an opportunity for us to improve and get better and, like I said, to focus on the 6 nations in terms of coming.”

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Can you name Wales’ XV from their 2012 Grand Slam?

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