"I'm not massively surprised where Wales are at" – Former Wales captain Sam Warburton on Warren Gatland's 10 game losing streak

Today at 11:54 AM

By Jon Page

In the buildup to Wales' clash with Australia this Sunday, Sam Warburton sat down for an interview to talk all things Welsh rugby. Warburton captained Cardiff Rugby, Wales and the British and Irish Lions in an illustrious career, so is well versed to talk about the ramifications of Wales' losing streak, and what they should do next.

Last Sunday Wales fell to their tenth consecutive test defeat, being beaten by Fiji 24-19 at home, continuing their worst run of losses since an 11-game losing streak between 2002-2003 under Steve Hansen. Wales Head Coach Warren Gatland is facing pressure over his Wales future, with former Wales scrum half under Gatland Mike Phillips calling for him to be 'kicked out' on his personal X account earlier this week.

However, Warburton, who is working as a TNT Sports pundit on the Autumn Nations Series, and Gatland's former captain in his first tenure at the helm of Wales, holds a more nuanced view. He suggested that Wales lack as much game breaking talent as other sides, such as Fiji's Caleb Muntz, who scored 19 of Fiji's 24 points last weekend, in an assured man of the match performance at flyhalf.

“I’ve kind of accepted now, that I look at the regions where I work, I look at the national team, and I compare them to the other top six nations in the world and I just look at personnel. I think we’ve got some great players, I think we’ve got some brilliant young players who I’m really excited about, but we don’t have as many as other teams and everyone’s acting shocked, I think that we’re not winning Six Nations titles or beating these teams.

“I look at teams on paper, and I look at Fiji, for example, and I’m like, Fiji had more game breakers than Wales, they provided more X Factor moments in the game, which created tries. We haven’t quite got enough quality at this moment in time, and that’s what we’re desperately searching for, so I’m not massively surprised where Wales are at, at the minute.

“I think a lot of people’s expectations are a little bit unrealistic and look, losing ten on the bounce of course is not where we want to be, but I sometimes just look at what we’ve got, and I compare ourselves to England, Ireland, and France in particular and at the moment they have stronger squads than we do. So, if Wales come in the top three in the Six Nations, I think that’s overachieving right now so I’m maybe a little bit more realistic to where Wales are at.

“France didn’t win a Six Nations for ten years, Ireland didn’t win a Six Nations for around six years until they won one recently. So, Wales is just going through their dip and being a passionate rugby country, I’m very confident that we’ll eventually come back out of it and be strong again.”

Despite this loss to Fiji, Wales' focus has turned to facing Joe Schmidt's Australia side, who have momentum on their side following a 42-37 victory in the final play against England at Twickenham last Saturday. As well as the lack of game breakers and depth in Wales, Warburton also highlights the different variables that effect an individual test week.

“Unless you’re on the inside you don’t know. I was saying this before, there’s all sorts of things which go into a training week. Did they get a training week wrong? Did they work the boys too hard? Is it selection? There’s been some selection changes. Is it coaching? Is it the environment? There are so many things which go into a successful rugby team, so unless you’re on the inside, you’re privy to that information; you don’t know.

“And of course, players aren’t going to be brutally honest and give us that in the media. So, that’s why I’m like, let it breathe. England weren't throwing knives in the Six Nations. Steve Borthwick put it, they turned up at Allianz Stadium, beat Ireland; no one saw it coming. So, that’s why I’m like, look, just let it breathe. It’s week one. Everyone’s gone panic stations. Two more weeks and then assess after the autumn.

“So, give it two more games because you don’t know what’s going to happen, and after that, you’ll be in a much better position to make a decision.”

Despite the result, there were Welsh players who stood up in defeat last Sunday. Warburton highlighted captain Dewi Lake, who made 14 tackles and carried tirelessly to punch holes in attack before his substitution, and former captain Jac Morgan, who made a welcome return to the red jersey off the bench.

“I thought Dewi Lake carried really strong. I thought we lacked carrying ability. I think that’s been one of Wales’ main problems over the last five years. And that’s not coaching. That’s kind of, yes, you can coach structure, but you look at all the top teams in the world. They’ve probably got like five really dominant ball carriers they can rely on.

“Dewi Lake was one of them. I thought Jac Morgan came on and provided a vital carry before one of Wales’ final tries. I think James Botham is a great athlete who will add more in that perspective as well. And hopefully, that will be able to free up Aaron Wainwright a bit. So, I think there’s more carrying ability. So, I was quite pleased to see the selections (for this weekend's match against Australia).

“I was hoping that James Botham and Jac were going to be starting. Not that the other players weren’t suited, but I just think when you’ve got a front five who doesn’t carry as much as other front fives in world rugby, then you need to find those carriers in your back row. And I think that’s why Jac Morgan and James Botham have come in, so they impressed me. I thought Max Llewellyn provided good go forward as well.

“He impressed me at 13. So really glad that they got some continuity in the midfield. It’s just been a bit of a position where we’ve been mixing things up a lot, 10, 12, 13. So it was nice to see some consistency there.”

In Warburton's career he played in the back row, mostly at openside flanker, but shifted to blindside flanker when the form of other opensides became too hard to ignore, such as Justin Tipuric for Wales and Sean O'Brien during the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand.

As his area of expertise, Warburton rationalises the selection changes in the back row for this week, with Botham and Morgan elevated to the starting side to face Australia, Tommy Reffell benched, and Taine Plumtree dropped from the matchday 23 entirely.

“I think the thought process is you need more going forward and perhaps a bit more physicality. Which those players, as back rowers come in Wales, are probably two of the better ones in that regard, Jac and James. You know, they can both play number eight. So, all of the back row that we’ve got can all play number eight.

“And they all have played number eight for their clubs. So, I think that’s just what it gives. It’s probably the best carrying back row that we have available to us right now. I think once you get going forward, and you’ve got to consider as well, you know, Mason Grady is not in. So, you lose a go forward player off set piece there.

“So, you know, do Wales look more to short lineouts and use their back row to sort of hit up on first phase? We can’t just rely on Max Llewellyn to carry us up every single phase. You know, so if you lose Mason Grady, you’ve got to get back some carriers elsewhere. They’re not in the front five, so we’ve got to add them into our back row.”

Much was made of the move to play the versatile Mason Grady on the right wing, after Gatland's experiment playing him at inside centre over the summer failing to bear fruit. His club coach Matt Sherratt sees him as either an outside centre or winger and this was supposed to be his time to shine in his regular position, utilising his hulking 6'5" frame and deceptive pace to provide Wales with front foot ball.

But with Grady ruled out of the Autumn Nations Series, Scarlets' Tom Rogers takes the number 14 jersey for Wales' clash with the Wallabies this Sunday. Despite their differences as players, Warburton is still confident of Rogers' ability to step up on Sunday.

“Rogers is still very explosive, fast, you know and a good kick chase. I don’t think the Welsh team would pick a back three if they were poor in the air or poor in contact. There’s basic skills you have to have. So, I think with Rogers coming back in and losing Mason, yes, you might lose an option off first or second phase to go forward.

“But I thought Wales looked very good when they used Ben Thomas as a distributor, and they got the ball wide. The first 20 minutes was a great blueprint of how Wales can potentially play. If you get the first two phases right, then it’s brilliant to have the guys like Anscombe and Ben Thomas in your team.

“And Cam Winnett I thought was a great distributor as well. So, if they can manufacture good first and second phase, then those three boys can really come into their own and hopefully get that ball to the edges for the guys like Tom Rogers to show what he can do.'

For Wales' next steps as a squad, Warburton's advice is simple, but whether it is easy to execute is another question. He talks about finding identity and building a game plan around the talent available, so that Wales can fall back on their strengths to pull themselves out of tough situations on the pitch. Warburton notes the strength of the Welsh driving maul, and with an unchanged tight five from Gatland, this could suggest confidence internally from the Wales camp regarding their maul.

“They all know what it is. And players and pundits, ex-players and pundits have sort of challenged this. But when you’re in a team, there’s something you hang your hat on. So, when it goes wrong or when you’re in a tricky part of the game, you know there’s something that can bail you out. It might be a relentlessly suffocating defensive system.

“It might be kick-and-chase, but there’s something that they need to lean on which they know, that when momentum swings against them in the game, they can lean into that and that’s their point of difference. I think the difficult thing for us, we don’t know because we’re not inside, but we’re watching the game.

“What is that? Wales got great success in the maul against Fiji, brilliant success. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Keep mauling. Keep getting penalties. Keep suffocating them. Go set pace. Wales’ line-out went really well. So maybe look towards that. I think you’ve got to work with the player group that you’ve got. Wales have historically been a physical team.

“Then they suddenly go pragmatic with certain 10s that we’ve had. It’s like, look, you’ve got to work with the tools that you’ve got. I think Wales have got some great distributors. They’ve got some set-piece, I think, that’s going really well for us. And Archie Griffin, I think, has been a revelation this last 12 months.

“Let’s use some of those back-row ball carriers. I think Dewi Lake and Archie Griffin in particular, some great forward carriers in that front five. And some great distributors. Let’s get a game plan around those guys. How do you get those boys in the game as often as possible? So, there is some good, bright, young lights in that Wales team. And you’ve got to start devising a plan around those guys.'

Every match of the 2024 Autumn Nations Series is exclusively live on TNT Sports and discovery+. The Autumn Nations Rugby Show airs every Thursday at 10pm on Quest.

The post "I’m not massively surprised where Wales are at" – Former Wales captain Sam Warburton on Warren Gatland’s 10 game losing streak appeared first on Ruck.