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'There is a clause... but I cannot see any circumstances whereby we would invoke that clause'
By PA
Warren Gatland has been backed to turn around Wales’ fortunes and lead them towards the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
Nigel Walker, the Welsh Rugby Union’s interim chief executive, hailed Gatland during a press conference unveiling of Abi Tierney as the organisation’s new chief executive – a post she will commence by the end of this year.
New Zealander Gatland is eight months into his second stint as Wales head coach after replacing Wayne Pivac and he is preparing for a fourth World Cup at the helm during September and October, having masterminded semi-final appearances in 2011 and 2019.
Wales finished fifth in the Guinness Six Nations last season, while Gatland inherited a squad that lost nine out of 12 Tests last year.
“The contract was a five-year contract. There is a clause (believed to be after the World Cup in France), but I cannot see any circumstances whereby we would invoke that clause,” Walker said.
“We feel we have one of the best coaches in the world, if not the best. I am confident Wales will do well in the World Cup.
“It’s a long-term project, and from what I’ve seen, Warren is quite capable of turning around the fortunes of Wales.”
Asked for his reaction to Walker’s comments, Gatland said: “I am just focusing on the short term.
“I have never been a person who thinks long-term too much in terms of my own personal situation. I am a great believer in what will be, will be.
“I have already said that the work this group has done and strides we have made, I think we can do something pretty special at this World Cup, and I honestly believe that.
“If that happens, then those other things take care of themselves.”
Wales complete their World Cup warm-up schedule on Saturday by tackling South Africa, and they will be without British and Irish Lions Liam Williams and Dan Biggar.
Both players had been selected to start the game in Cardiff, but have been withdrawn as a precautionary measure.
The WRU said that full-back Williams has a tight hamstring, with Biggar suffering from back irritation.
Cai Evans is promoted from the replacements’ bench to make his Test debut as Williams’ replacement, while Sam Costelow takes over from fly-half Biggar.
Gatland added: “Both of them, if we pushed them hard, could play on Saturday, but the decision was made there is no point taking a risk at this stage.
“If this was a World Cup semi-final, Dan Biggar would have been fine for the weekend.”
Forwards Dewi Lake and Taine Plumtree, who were injured during Wales’ narrow defeat against England at Twickenham last weekend, are on course to be available for the World Cup opener against Fiji in Bordeaux on September 10.
Saturday’s clash in Cardiff is a last chance for players to impress Gatland, who will announce his 33-strong World Cup squad within 48 hours of the final whistle.
“There is an opportunity for players on Saturday. We will come back as a coaching group after the game and finalise the squad,” Gatland said.
“We are confident that those players carrying injuries are going to be available for the first game against Fiji.
“We will get a pretty detailed injury update in terms of all the players in the squad, the ones carrying knocks and when they can return to full-time training and when they are available.
“Potentially, there may be one or two decisions, which has happened in the past, where we are still undecided and we might sleep on it and make a final decision potentially on the Sunday.
“Then it’s a matter of notifying the players and announcing the squad on Monday.”
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Stephen Larkham, Mick Byrne, Scott Wisental, Ben Mowen, Les Kiss, Jim McKay, Rod Kafer.
There are plenty of great Australian coaches who could do a better job than Schmidt.
Go to commentsThis piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.
I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.
Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.
The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.
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