One Nation Going Backwards Under Warrenball

Despite having one of the most talented squads Wales has ever produced at his disposal, Warren Gatland is no longer getting the results he did three years ago. Lee Calvert suggests a change to his Warrenball coaching philosophies could be in order.

Wales have arrived in New Zealand to play a three match test series against the All Blacks, a series which many are predicting for the Welsh will be the rugby equivalent of trying to win an arm wrestle against an angry gorilla.

The signs are not good for the Dragons heading into the opening test this Saturday evening at Eden Park. After a middling 2016 Six Nations campaign, their tour warm-up was lost 27-13 to a second-string England side whose fly-half, George Ford, missed 14 points due to kicking like he had Toblerone boots on.

This is a Wales team that has won three Grand Slams in ten years, the last of which came in 2012, so what exactly is the problem?

Many might conclude the blame must be laid at the door of the head coach, Warren Gatland, something that would have been tantamount to heresy just a few years ago. But the fact remains that since 2013, Wales have been going backwards, or if not going backwards then certainly standing still while others move forwards. This despite the fact that they have virtually the same squad, containing the likes of Warburton, Jamie Roberts, Alun-Wyn Jones, George North, Leigh Halfpenny, who are one the most talented crops of players the nation has produced.

Gatland made his name at Wasps, where along with his terrifying henchman Shaun Edwards he brought cups to the London club while defining his Warrenball style and game plan which he would later bring to Wales. This was a game built around huge amounts of running power, few mistakes, physically punishing and tireless defence, winning the tackle area, kicking well out of hand and leaving Shane Williams to the do the creative bit. It was brutal and effective – who cared if it didn’t win any awards for artistic merit?

Until recently, no one. Then Williams retired, and as the effectiveness of the plan decreased there was an equal and opposite reaction in disquiet from fans. Warrenball had never beaten Southern Hemisphere teams, but it had come close and so was given a pass as the team dominated Europe.  But it feels now that Gatland and his trademark style is a game plan out of time.

Wales will not win a match on this tour, make no mistake. But there are defining moments for many coaches when they realise that what has worked thus far is no longer doing the job. Great coaches seize these moments and use them to define their legacy by demonstrating they have both the ability and the bravery to significantly change their approach. Gatland could and should seize this tour as the time when he finally accepts that his previous success means nothing in a changing rugby world and implements a tangibly different approach for his players. Let them offload (it is currently not only discouraged by coaches but not allowed at all), allow Liam Williams to use his gifts from fullback, give George North an opportunity to get into the game more and for Christ’s sake let Jamie Roberts pass the bloody ball.

It won’t change the ultimate results for his team this summer but it will show that Gatland is prepared to change. To perhaps be remembered not just a very good coach who ultimately couldn’t adapt, but perhaps as one of the greats. A man who led his team fully into a new era where they had the gameplan to consistently challenge and beat the very best.

The last thing Wales fans want is to lose with the same problems present that have been highlighted repeatedly for three years. Losing they can handle, depressing repetition they cannot. New Zealand fans will probably also enjoy beating a team that attempts to play some rugby rather than one that spends 80 minutes doing an impression of 15 large men headbutting a boulder in the hope that it will cleave in two.