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Warren Gatland teases his next move, takes pop at Jones' England
Warren Gatland has opened up about his potential future beyond the expiry of his current deal with the Chiefs, while he also criticised England in the wake of their loss to Argentina last Sunday. Eddie Jones is contracted through to the end of the 2023 World Cup in France and won’t look to continue with the English beyond that tournament, but pressure has ratcheted up on the Australian following the fifth defeat for his team in their nine matches in 2022.
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Gatland, the three-time Lions head coach who spent twelve years in charge of Wales, is currently working in his native New Zealand as director of rugby at the Super Rugby Pacific Chiefs. However, that contract has less than a year to run and the Kiwi is currently in the UK on a speaking tour and doing some TV punditry on the Autumn Nations Series.
He has also made a guest appearance on this week’s Evening Standard Rugby Podcast with Lawrence Dallaglio, his former captain when he coached Wasps to Premiership and European glory in the early 2000s.
Asked by Dallaglio what his immediate future holds, Gatland said: “I have kind of got the itch again. My contract is with the New Zealand Rugby Union so I am contracted to them with the Chiefs and that finished around World Cup time.
“I have never had an agent from a rugby perspective. I have always been a great believer in what will be. I have done my own contracts and thought this is what I am worth and what my value is… To be honest I have had a few approaches and a couple from Japan and people talking and a couple of other teams as well. Something will come along.
This week's @standardsport Rugby Podcast with Warren Gatland is out now. I am forever grateful to Gats for our time @WaspsRugby – download now wherever you get your podcasts @Sarraelgan @stevecording @London_Pride https://t.co/RxfwL3osFb
— Lawrence Dallaglio (@dallaglio8) November 8, 2022
“I am not actively looking. I haven’t got someone out there actively looking for me. I am not worried about that and I know the right thing will come along and I will be excited about it.” Asked which team he would love to coach, he quipped: “Probably France at the moment.”
The show also reviewed last weekend’s Autumn Nations Series action and quizzed about what the problem is with England at the moment, Gatland said: ”I’m not too sure. The one thing about the message I always tried to do in Wales and I found this to be really helpful was to control the narrative. Let people know what you are thinking, what my plan is for these campaigns. I can’t see that with England. I’m looking from the outside and I am not 100 per cent sure what the plan is.
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“They picked a really big team and tried to overpower Argentina with the size, but Argentina aren’t really the sort of team you can do that to because they hang in there. They are not going to beat you by 30, 40 points but they will stay in the fight and they will fight for scraps and stay in the arm wrestle and do enough to win. I am not sure the direction they are going in at the moment and what they are actually trying to achieve.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Big difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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.
30 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 comments