LONG READ Gatland needs a catalyst to start the Wales fightback or the game faces a stark future

As an antipodean, Warren Gatland must feel the call of home, Waikato, more strongly than usual right now. Hunkered down in Sydney, out of the glare of Welsh rugby’s internecine politicking, he must feel strangely at ease.

Like the politician he has become, 35 years after starting his coaching journey at Galwegians, he has set out his simple mandate; to prepare Wales for a tilt at the 2027 Rugby World Cup. Development is a watchword he has been repeating ad nauseum since returning to Wales in January 2023. He has stressed that performances trump results – which is a good job, because Wales have lost their last seven Tests.

Preparing for the next World Cup was the well-worn coaching trope used by Eddie Jones as England dramatically imploded on his watch. That line can only take you so far, however, and sure enough, eight months before the 2023 World Cup, the irascible, authoritarian coach was hounded out of Twickenham quicker than he could say, ‘ah mate’.

Gatland has credit in the bank after 140 Tests, three Grand Slams and the very public backing of his new CEO Abi Tierney. Hell, he even has gates named after him. His power base has firm foundations in South Wales. Certainly, Gatland has been afforded more rope than his predecessor Wayne Pivac in his second coming, but deep down he knows the Welsh public need hope to cling onto sooner rather than later. Indeed, this weekend, there may well be more interest in what happens in Dusseldorf where Welsh sports fans will England’s football team to win…or more likely lose, than what unfolds 12,000 miles away. That is a concern.

While fans rage against the dying light of Welsh rugby, Gatland and Tierney can rest easy – at least people care, but when that anger subsides you start to worry. Apathy is a revenue killer, and when Tierney announced there was a £35m funding gap over the next five years, the one thing they can ill afford is empty seats at the Principality Stadium. Despite the slogan, ‘One Wales – rugby means more’, aping Liverpool’s 2019 campaign, ‘This Means More’, if Wales don’t start delivering on the field, then talk of cutting a region could become a necessity rather than an option.

The Welsh players are, in effect, playing for their livelihoods this summer and if that isn’t a motivation to pick themselves up from the canvas, then gawd help us. So, to return to Gatland in Sydney, there is quite a bit resting on this three-fixture, two Test tour. A dead rubber it is not.

So where are Wales? Well after a first whitewash since 2003, and just one win in 10 Six Nations games since Gatland returned, they’re ostensibly at rock bottom, with nothing to lose.

In many ways, Australia are staring down the same barrel of a financial abyss and public indifference that worries rugby’s stakeholders far beyond their shores, with a Lions tour and a men’s and women’s World Cup scheduled to take place there over the next five years. Gatland and Joe Schmidt, who don’t seem like natural bedfellows, may have more in common than they think if they meet up for a glass of New South Wales’ finest chardonnay in the coming days.

So where are Wales? Well after a first whitewash since 2003, and just one win in 10 Six Nations games since Gatland returned, they’re ostensibly at rock bottom, with nothing to lose. In fairness to Gatland, his team selection for the first Test is bold. Archie Griffin, Bath’s fourth choice tighthead – who was schooled in Australia – is selected for his first start, with a host of tightheads unavailable for selection. Christ Tshiunza, who is yet to set alight to his stop-start Test career packs down with his Exeter Chiefs and U20 buddy, Dafydd Jenkins.

In the backline, Ben Thomas, who has looked a class act with Cardiff this season at 12 – and has only one start with a No 10 on his back in black and blue this campaign – starts in Wales’ problem position. A tall order by anyone’s estimation. Mason Grady, who is yet to punch is considerable 106kg weight at Test level is given another chance to prove to Gatland that he is Jamie Roberts reincarnated at inside-centre and Owen Watkin, who is yet to show the mien of a Test match animal after 39 caps, joins him in midfield. Experimentation away from the Welsh goldfish bowl is the order of the day.

Interestingly, Nick Tompkins, on the bench in Sydney, alluded to going ‘back to our roots’, of having a style of play Wales could hang their hat on, much like the Gatland sides of yesteryear. The challenge for Wales is imposing that simplified gameplan on a fresh-faced Wallaby side intent on disrupting any red-shirted fluidity.

Wales will always produce talent and should prosper, given the right pathway and strategic direction. Sadly this has been woefully lacking in recent years.

There are signs of promise, however. The seedlings of a Welsh side that, in time, can trade blows with the world’s elite. Injury-free, Dewi Lake looks like he has the physicality and leadership qualities to shine for a decade at Test level, and while Taulupe Faletau ponders the long road back, and Jac Morgan nurses his hamstring back in Wales, a backrow of Taine Plumtree, Aaron Wainwright and Tommy Reffell has pleasing balance and age-profile to it. In the back-three, Liam Williams brings his familiar blend of fire and ice to the backfield, while guiding Josh Hathaway through his first Wales appearance.

It would quicken the pulse further if Regan Grace can get some minutes against the Queensland Reds to help Wales recover from the devastating loss of Louis Rees-Zammit and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso in a matter of days in January.

As Wales’ U20s have shown in South Africa – it’s only a matter of time until Morgan Morse and Ryan Woodman are putting heat on the current Wales backrow – Wales will always produce talent and should prosper, given the right pathway and strategic direction. Sadly this has been woefully lacking in recent years. This writer believes they have the wherewithal to dine back at rugby’s top table within years, not decades. But it won’t be easy.

Gatland is as wily as they come but the public fallings out with the likes of Rhys Carre and Sam Parry have been damaging. Manageable when you’re winning but bad PR when you can’t catch a break. The court of public opinion has veered from #InGatlandWeTrust’ to #Gatlandout in social media’s fickle swingometer but some salvation could coming in the shape of the Lions, which generally awakens Welsh rugby from its torpor. Yet time is pressing. The comeback has to start somewhere and the Allianz Stadium would be a good place to start. A first win on Australian soil against the Wallabies since 1969? Possibly. For the future of Welsh rugby, a firestarter is needed.