By Graham Thomas
If you printed out all the reviews currently taking place in Welsh rugby, then you could probably use them as compacted blocks of snow to build a new igloo, inside which WRU officials could shelter themselves from reality.
The roof of the current one seems to have finally fallen in on those running the game, with national teams of both genders and all age groups hardly able to win a game.
The Dirty Dozen used to be just an old war film, but now it’s also the run of defeats suffered by Wales senior men’s team over the past 12 months.
The winless 2024 has provoked plenty of heat, but not much light and it seems the review into the Autumn Series won’t be concluded until the third week of December, some time around the darkest day of the year.
Rightly, WRU chairman Richard Collier-Keywood, stressed that the review was into the whole campaign as run by the Union and not simply Warren Gatland.
‘But who could do better than Warren Gatland?’
Well.
In 2020, Gatland led the Chiefs in NZ to eight straight defeats. He then went on sabbatical with the Lions (which he lost).
In his absence, Clayton McMillan coached the Chiefs to the Super Rugby Final and kept the job. 1/
— Sei Williams (@CapS45) November 25, 2024
Both Gatland and his bosses have been taking plenty of stick, but don’t expect Collier-Keywood or chief executive Abi Tierney to be taking a long walk into the cold before their coach.
That’s not the way the Union rolls. It will need another revolt from member clubs for changes to happen there.
Based on results, Gatland should surely be dismissed, which is why he would rather lead the review into safer territory.
Expect them to hear a lot about development, building for the future, young men learning harsh lessons and all the rest of it.
The problem with that argument is two-fold. Firstly, he’s well paid to deliver results, not development.
Secondly, by shifting onto ground that should be occupied by Nigel Walker – who’s been responsible for development for the past three years – Gatland reduces his own scarcity value.
How wonderfully simple to blame Warren Gatland. Welsh rugby has been massacred by Union rubbish (still going), no finance, player departures and back stabbing. Who has the status and knowledge to fix a replacement? Nigel Walker? Oh no. And where on god’s earth would Welsh rugby…
— Stephen Jones (@stephenjones9) November 15, 2024
Why pay £600,000-a-year for the difficult trick of winning now, if it’s all about the future?
What Welsh rugby really needs now is Warren Gatland, but Gatland circa 2008, not the diminished, hollowed out version we have seen this year.
When he arrived for his first spell in charge, the New Zealander was 45 years old – young (in coaching terms) and hungry, fuelled by anger and resentment over his rather poor treatment by Ireland and ferociously determined to prove he could be among the very best international coaches in the world.
The Gatland who came back for a second go, two years ago was at a very different stage of his career, and life.
Older, wealthier and wiser – shrewd enough to demand more powers – he has also looked more weary with every defeat.
In Case You Missed It
WRU describe Warren Gatland’s Winless Year As “Disappointing” Ahead Of Wales Review
Read here: https://t.co/dGS4OXkWeI#WarrenGatland #WelshRugby pic.twitter.com/pYOBeTeoR4
— Dai Sport (@Dai_Sport_) November 26, 2024
As for Walker, it is hard to make a judgement since he is rarely seen these days, in sharp contrast to his visibility when Gatland returned and had the allure of popularity.
But just like Gatland, Walker is now in his 60s and even Olympians have to slow down sometime.
He is also in danger of being chased down by another review, that into the Wales women’s team and their fraught negotiations over new contracts.
That’s not to say either man is over the hill. Far from it. But they should be selling advice and wisdom, not expected to provide the fresh, sleeves rolled-up energy needed to turn around a stranded oil tanker like the WRU.
In his sixties, Gatland should be some sort of freelance coaching consultant, offering rugby nations the benefit of his huge experience to shape their coaching operations – not out with players in the wind and the rain at the Vale of Glamorgan.
Nor it is feasible for him to be kicked upstairs into that type of overseeing role in Wales – as has been mooted – given the bridges he has burned in battles with the regions.
Wales need new blood, fresh ideas, energy and drive – the kind that might be provided by two men 20 years younger with much still to prove and the desire that Gatland so clearly possessed 16 years ago.
DragonBet made 44-year-old Steve Tandy their early favourite to succced Gatland should he go, followed by 47-year-old Ronan O’Gara at 5/1 and Brad Moar, Jonatham Humphreys, Franco Smith and Michael Cheika, who are all 8/1.
It may not be possible to recruit two new leaders before the Six Nations, meaning temporary solutions may be be necessary.
But if Wales are ever going to get out of the rut of endless reviews, then it’s surely time to face forwards.