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Warren Gatland is enjoying having last laugh in Eddie O'Sullivan rivalry
Warren Gatland has delivered a withering putdown of Eddie O’Sullivan, the coach who succeeded him after he was sacked as Ireland boss in 2001. The pair had worked together for two years with the Irish team, but their relationship disintegrated after O’Sullivan, who had been an assistant, replaced the Kiwi.
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The pair had another history, Gatland replacing O’Sullivan as Connacht coach some years earlier after his Irish rival had a falling out with the province. Gatland eventually got to settle the Test level score, guiding Wales to Triple Crown success over O’Sullivan’s Ireland at Croke Park in 2008.
O’Sullivan opted to resign some weeks later following an Ireland trouncing by England at Twickenham and while his career subsequently faded away with low-frill stints in charge of USA and Biarritz, Gatland’s status continued to soar with the Welsh following his post-Ireland rehabilitation at Wasps and Waikato.
Now back in New Zealand in charge of the Super Rugby Chiefs, the 2021 Lions coach voiced stinging criticism of his old Irish rival during an interview on The Lockdown, the RugbyPass pandemic interview series.
“Look, it was tough when I was replaced by Eddie O’Sullivan. I have always said that technically he was a good coach but I’d question some of his man-management skills,” said Gatland. “When I look back now, there has only been one winner in that debate. He’s not in coaching anymore and when he finished with Ireland he struggled in jobs and found it difficult to get coaching positions.”
“It’s understandable there is disappointment and disagreement about selection – I want to have a good representation of Scottish players. I desperately want that to happen”
– Warren Gatland tells @jimhamilton4 on @RugbyPass about 2021 Lions selection????????
https://t.co/r3bGjWxCAK— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 17, 2020
Having guided Connacht to a breakthrough Challenge Cup quarter-final qualification, Gatland was contacted by the IRFU to replace Brian Ashton as Irish coach after he had resigned following a defeat to Scotland in the opening match of the 1998 Five Nations.
Ireland won 18 of 38 matches in the four years Gatland was at the helm but even a 2001 Grand Slam-ruining win over England in Dublin wasn’t enough for him for secure an IRFU contract extension.
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“I’m indebted to them for the opportunities,” he said looking back 19 years after his sacking. “I was coaching in Ireland at 34 years of age and it wasn’t a job you had any security about. I think I was the ninth coach in the 90s or something. Brian Ashton resigned and I got a phone call on the Sunday, ‘Am I prepared to coach Ireland for the remainder of the Five Nations?’
“Was I ready for it? No. But sometimes you get those opportunities in life and you don’t turn them down. I learned so much the four years that I was involved with Ireland. It was the grounding of those experiences that really made me such a better coach when I moved on.
“I look back and I don’t have any hard feelings about that. What disappoints me at times is people say with the Brian O’Driscoll situation, leaving him out of the third Test against Australia for the Lions, it was kind of me trying to punish the Irish for my experiences there.
“When you’re a coach and you’re desperate to win a game, you don’t think about those things. People at times think I was anti-Irish. I was never anti-Irish. I have got some great friends there and the opportunities they gave me, I can’t express how lucky I was.
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“Bryn learned to talk in Ireland so he had a strong Irish accent until he was about 13 or 14… and he has still got a bit of that twang. That was special, and Shauna was born in Ireland, so for us it was where I first had my chances when the game went professional.
“They gave me a chance to coach professionally, initially with Connacht and then with Ireland, so special times. Through disappointment or through adversity, it makes you stronger and you learn from those situations.
“I definitely learned from the experiences I had as such a young coach. That gave me such a great grounding and I learned so much. It made me such a better coach going forward from my time there.”
“I’m not sitting here and thinking about what do I have to do over the next few years to be the All Black coach. Definitely not”
– Lions boss Warren Gatland tells @jimhamilton4 on @RugbyPass how isn’t consumed by desire to take charge of New Zealand ??https://t.co/bRfG6iF6xA
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 17, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
smith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
37 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
9 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
37 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
37 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
37 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
37 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. All the Kiwis sticking up for this unprincipled individual because they can't accept justified criticism, he has zero credibility or integrity. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
37 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
37 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
2 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
37 Go to comments