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Warren Gatland's frank admission about where Wales are at

By PA
Press Association

Warren Gatland has called on beleaguered Wales to show their mettle as they bid to snap out of the rut which has seen them crash to heavy defeats in their opening two Guinness Six Nations matches.

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The head coach admitted his team appear to be short of confidence after they followed up their 34-10 loss at home to Ireland with a 35-7 blitzing away to Scotland on Saturday.

Gatland conceded Wales face a test of character over the next fortnight as they attempt to spark an upturn in their next match against England in Cardiff.

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“Possibly,” he said, when asked if confidence was an issue. “We talk about winning becoming a habit but so does losing as well. It is just about getting through that.

“You need to keep creating chances and believing you can finish them. You need to be vocal, you need to be communicating from the outside in, and we were probably a little quiet on a few occasions and that’s probably down to a little bit of a lack of confidence.

“We’re in a bit of a hole at the moment, and it is about how we fight our way out of that with the development of some of the younger players in the squad and giving them opportunities.

“It is about being tight as a group, but also being honest and critical of the things we know we can fix. We’ve just got to do it pretty quickly.

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“We need to get back on the horse and be pretty tough on ourselves as we prepare for the next game.”

Poor discipline and a lack of ruthlessness in attack were among Gatland’s main gripes after Wales suffered their biggest-ever defeat against Scotland.

He is confident he will be able to iron out the main problems in time for the World Cup in the autumn but admits the bigger test is getting things sorted for the remainder of the Six Nations.

“I think the time together in terms of preparation for the World Cup will take care of a lot of that stuff but the more urgent issue is fixing things at the moment that are being costly for us,” he said.

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“I don’t think they’re hard fixes, I just think it’s about making sure we’re mentally switched on and that we’re more clinical from an attack perspective, and when we come under some pressure, we trust ourselves, trust each other and trust the systems, and we’re not caught out giving unforced penalties or doubling up on errors, which we were guilty of last week and we were guilty of again this week.”

Saturday’s match was only the second time Gatland – who previously coached Wales between 2007 and 2019 – has lost to Scotland in 14 matches.

“They are definitely a team playing with confidence,” he said. “The thing about this competition is that it’s about creating momentum.

“I thought Scotland defended exceptionally well, they played with good width to create opportunities and were able to finish those opportunities, so that’s a side which is playing with some self-belief and confidence.

“It is probably the strongest Scotland side I have seen in terms of strength in depth for a long time. They have good balance at the moment and they are playing with that self-belief.”

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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