Wale were completely outclassed and outplayed by the Wallabies in Cardiff with a result that just piles more pressure onto Warren Gatland who has come under heavy fire from the media and fans in the build up to this game.
Wales head coach Warren Gatland and Welsh captain Dewi Lake addressed the media at the principality and gave their thoughts and feelings on their trouncing at home to Australia. Here are the five biggest talking points from Wales’ crushing defeat at the Principality Stadium.
1. Gatland’s future hangs in the balance as welhs head coach highlights what changes can be made.
Warren Gatland’s head was close to the chopping block even before a ball had been kicked today but after an eleventh straight win pressure is really starting to mount of the Wales head coach with many unsure of if it’s a matter of when he’ll go rather than if he’ll lose his role.
Gatland said “I said that I’m more than comfortable supporting [the]Welsh Rugby Union and making the best decision for Welsh Rugby. So it’s just a matter of talking to the right people, making the right decision, whether that’s from a union perspective or myself and my family.”
look. I think there’s a number of the things that I think the game needs to to do, and I’m not sure it’s the right time in this forum to create any differences. You know, I’ve said it said for a for a long time in terms of I feel there’s a number of things that the game could improve, and I think definitely from our perspective is having more influence and potentially a bit more control over the preparation of the players and some of the things that they do with with some of the structures.”
“[The WRU has]Been very consistent on non-Welsh qualified players and the numbers that are there. And can we reduce those numbers? I’m a great believer in having them, but just trying to get it trying to get real world class quality into those things.”
2.”We weren’t good enough.It was disappointing that performance hurts really” Gatland admits his teams poor showing
Gatland’s response just sums up how every Welsh fan felt come the final whistle with Wales putting on a woeful display of rugby which dragged them to their eleventh straight loss in a row. Going into the second half things looked bright for Wales but a second half dominated by the visitors changed that story.
Gatland said “You know, we’ve started off not great, conceded some points, and we’ve got back into it,[Wales] showed some courage. I thought it was a bit of a momentum shift and to concede 21 points when we were a man up. just to be honest, wasn’t good enough here. It does hurt.”
Dewi Lake reiterated “They scored 21 unanswered points, and the game’s kinda gone. And, you know, that’s on us to get to get better at .[The] coaches don’t control that from up in the box. We’re a man up. We’ve just we’ve gotta be better there.”
3.Gatland unsure about his own future but makes his feelings clear “whatever the best decision for Welsh rugbys is, I’m more than comfortable with that.”
The main talking point in the media building up to this game was all surrounding Gatland’s future as Welsh head coach and many speculated this to be one of Gatland’s last opportunities to turn the tide against his future.
He said “Whatever the best decision for Welsh rugby is, I’m more than comfortable with that.look, there’s so much negativity around the game in terms of what’s been happening on the field and and regionally wise and financial and stuff. You know, whatever the best decision for us to make a change to get some positive in the game I would support that 100%”
4. Gatland insists he’s still got the drive to get the job done.
Warren Gatland was adamant that he still had the fight within him to carry on as Welsh head coach. Gatland has now failed to win a game with Wales in the last 11 games a record breaking losing streak for Wales but Gatland was adamant that he will keep fighting.
Gatland said “Absolutely. Yeah.You know, I do it because, love being involved in the game, and I’ve had so many good memories in terms of the time in Wales. We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved in the past, you know, particularly in terms of World Cups and preparation and the continuity that we’ve built over World Cup campaigns.”
“It is challenging at the moment. Yeah. I don’t I’m only human if I didn’t ask myself a few times, you know, am I doing the right thing? But, I definitely still wanna be a part of it”
5. Captain Lake wants to put the wrongs right against the springboks
Welsh Skipper Dewi Lake was question how his squad were going to fire themselves up for their next game in a weeks time against the springboks but the Welsh hooker was blatantly believing in his teammates ability to bounce back and what they needed to do to put this loss behind them.
Lake said “We were probably all fans of the game before we were players. So, you know, we don’t go out there to lose. Like Gats[Gatland} said, we’ve trained really well. We’re working hard, You know, just with halftime, it looks like we’ve got a shot[to win].”
“We’ve just gotta be better there. We’re obviously disappointed with the loss, and, you know, you probably don’t wanna go into the history books for all the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, that’s where we’re at. But professional sports’ about bouncing back. We got an opportunity to face the world champions next week, so we’re gonna go out and take it.”
