. On Wednesday, Warren Gatland reiterated that he would resign as head coach if it was “in the best interests of Welsh rugby”, while also making it very clear that in his opinion it was not.
Gatland says he had the conversations with his family and his employers after Wales lost 52-20 to Australia on Sunday, their 11th straight defeat. Whatever was said, it has left him “focused solely on preparing the team for this week”.
Which brings the ominous prospect of a match against South Africa, the back-to-back world champions. The only thing Wales would gain by making a change at this point is a bad start for whoever they let take over.
Whether Gatland is still there for the first game of the Six Nations, which is away to France at the end of January, is another question. He would not be drawn on it: “If you start thinking about other things, it’s a distraction you don’t need.” But he did confirm here is no break clause in his contract, so the WRU would need to buy him out.
“I do care passionately about Welsh rugby and that’s why I’ve said that if people feel that the best decision is for me to go, then that’s OK, I’ll move on and look for something else,” Gatland said. “I honestly believe that if you make that decision now, what are you going to achieve? Is someone else going to come in there and start again, how long is that process going to take? What players are available to us at the moment that are potentially going to affect results?”
Gatland insists this team is as good as there is out there, because of the dire state of the regional game in Wales and he is right that firing him is not going to fix any of the broader problems. “I know for a number of years that we felt like the success we had with the national team was papering over the cracks that were …
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