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Warren Gatland reveals the key player Wales missed in their World Cup semi-final defeat
Former Wales head coach Warren Gatland has reflected on how sorely his side missed the presence of injured utility back Gareth Anscombe in his team’s World Cup semi-final defeat to the Springboks in October.
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Wales lost 19-16 to eventual champions South Africa in Yokohama in the knockout fixture, bringing an end to Gatland’s 12-year tenure with the side.
Gatland’s final match with Wales came a week later in the ensuing bronze final, which they lost 40-17 at the hands of the All Blacks in Tokyo.
The Season: Hamilton Boys High School – Episode 5
However, it was a fixture the Welsh may have avoided had they had the services of Anscombe available to them, according to the 56-year-old.
Anscombe was ruled out of the tournament after sustaining a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in a World Cup warm-up fixture against England at Twickenham in August, leaving him sidelined for up to eight months.
Speaking to WalesOnline, Gatland said that although he doesn’t normally dwell on player injuries as they “are part of the game”, he admitted that Anscombe could have been the difference between making the World Cup final in Japan.
The @Highlanders have been dealt a hefty blow ahead of the 2020 @SuperRugby campaign. #Highlandershttps://t.co/IXB1aNnmGf
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“We gave it everything in that semi-final against South Africa and at 16-16 with 10 minutes to go we were in control of the ball, the momentum had swung our way, I thought we were going to win and get ourselves into a World Cup final,” Gatland said.
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“It wasn’t to be but that’s just rugby, it’s sport. I was gutted.
“That was the first time in my whole time that I felt we really missed a player and that was Gareth Anscombe. He was a big loss for us.
“Rhys Patchell did really well for us in a World Cup and Dan [Biggar] was excellent.
“But I just felt that the balance we had with Anscombe and Biggar beforehand, they complimented each other really well. They’re different types of players and you’re able to use them differently and use your strengths differently.
“It was the first time in my entire coaching career I felt that the loss of one player had a real effect.”
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Wales had also lost veteran No. 8 Taulupe Faletau to injury prior to the tournament, while Cory Hill, Liam Williams, George North, Josh Navidi and Tomas Francis were all injured during their tilt for a maiden World Cup crown.
“If you lose someone like [Taulupe] Faletau – and we know how good he is – we’ve got other players who are able to fill the space,” Gatland told WalesOnline.
“A fit Faletau at his best would have been significant but there are other quality loose forwards there, so I felt like we could manage that.
“Anscombe is someone that we missed.”
Now back in New Zealand in his new role as Chiefs head coach, Gatland’s focus will now turn to the 2020 Super Rugby season, which kicks-off against the Blues at Eden Park in Auckland on January 31.
He will then take a year-long sabbatical to take charge of the British and Irish Lions’ 2021 tour of South Africa before returning to the Hamilton franchise to take the helm of the club through to 2023.
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🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments