Some in Wales are prepared to write off this Six Nations, but whether Gatland remains the right man going forward is dividing opinion
One advises him to scoot off back to New Zealand and take with him his expensive and antiquated ideas of playing, mystifying selections and cantankerous relations with the four regional teams.
Meanwhile, the props Wyn Jones, Nicky Smith, Tom Botha, Rhys Carré and Henry Thomas, and hookers Sam Parry and Liam Belcher, seem to be simply out of favour. Gatland had to clarify remarks last month that appeared to criticise the regions’ coaches and ability to “reset”, saying that what he meant was the regions need to prioritise infrastructure, which “will have so much more of an impact for us long-term than one or two players will do in a squad”.
This tasted sweet to a generation who had choked on the wooden spoon in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995 and 2003 – a period that coincided with great success for neighbouring England., and Wales finished fifth, but this felt partly excusable by the failure of Wayne Pivac, who was boss in the meantime, to fully institute a new way of playing. Pivac’s Wales took the Six Nations title with four wins in 2021, but they had only one win in each of 2020 and 2022.
But France won 45-25, thanks in part to a huge, gnarly bench in contrast to the mostly wet-behind-the-ears Welsh. Harlequins tighthead prop Dillon Lewis now gets his second Test start since last February, presumably for his jackal threat and mobility, while Keiron Assiratti and Corey Domachowski are out altogether.
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