Sam Warburton explains the standards that 'Wales can't go beneath'

Sam Warburton has set out the targets for Wales in a World Cup year with Warren Gatland suddenly back at the helm in place of Wayne Pivac. The head coach roundabout continued in December with Gatland returning to take back the spot that he had relinquished to Pivac, his fellow New Zealander, following their fourth-place finish at the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

The first match of Gatland’s second stint in charge takes place this Saturday with Wales hosting Ireland in the opening round of the Guinness Six Nations, but Warburton is already looking further down the track to the World Cup taking place in France later this year.

Wales have been pitted against Australia, Fiji, Georgia and Portugal in the pool stages and Warburton believes that his old coach Gatland is the perfect appointment to ensure that the team he has re-inherited will achieve at the finals.

“In the short term, his priority would be at least getting Wales to the quarter-final of the World Cup. If you are at the top of the WRU that is what this decision has been made to do, explained Warburton.

“Without a doubt, it was the best option to go for Warren to get Wales out of the group and then a quarter and semi has got to be the target. Wales can’t go beneath those standards. He is the right man to do that and I have the utmost faith he will do that.

“Beyond I can see more of a club type of system (with Wales) – and here I am guessing but from reading between the lines – where you get a head coach and a director of rugby. I can imagine Warren moving into perhaps a more DoR type of role where you deal with more administrative issues like funding, regions and player release and bring a bit more harmony there,” explained Warburton in an Ice 36 blog.

Warburton’s backing for the return of Gatland to Wales is interesting as the two-tour British and Irish Lions captain was appointed as technical advisor for defence and breakdown in November 2019 when Pivac took over the national team. That role ended in October of the following year with Warburton opting to quit, and the vacancy was taken up by Gethin Jenkins.

Would he ever consider a return to coaching? “I remember saying to my wife, ‘What would you think if I was keen to go coaching again?’ She said, ‘Don’t be so stupid!’ The main reason I finished was that it was time intensive being a player. I finished being a player because I wanted to stop putting the family second.

“I went straight back into coaching emotionally because it was a great opportunity. My second child was coming, covid was just around the corner and we were going into camps for two months at a time. My wife had just given birth and I didn’t want to miss that time with the family so I left. It was just bad timing. Whether it is something I go back into in the future, who knows?”

“I’ve always said if I had no kids I would want to coach and be a really good defence coach. With kids, I want to prioritise family over rugby for now.”