Job on the line: Under-fire Gatland focused on Boks Test, not Wales future

Warren Gatland has insisted he is focused solely on Saturday’s daunting Test against South Africa and not talk of his future as Wales stare down the barrel of a win-less calendar year.

In his second stint as Wales coach, Gatland has overseen 17 defeats from 23 Tests.

A loss to the Springboks on the weekend would leave the national XV without a victory this year, for the first time since 1937.

Wales’ last victory came against pool opponents Georgia at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.

A raft of senior players retired after that tournament and Gatland on Wednesday pleaded for more time for his inexperienced playing squad to bed in under the harsh glare of international scrutiny.

‘Performance and results’

“We’ve been pretty clear in terms of the plan that we’ve had. We know we’ve got a group of young players that need a bit of time,” said Gatland.

“On this journey, we’ve needed a bit of time.

“But I’m fully aware that international rugby is about performance and results.

“We can only continue to work as hard as we’ve done so I’m aware of the pressures and that decisions could be made outside of my control, so we just have asked for a little bit of time, whether we get that time or not, we’ll have to wait and see.

“I think with Welsh rugby, you’re going to have some troughs and some highs, and that with, sometimes, a limited talent pool which takes a little bit of time to develop,” he added.

Gatland’s first stint as Wales coach between 2008-19 saw the New Zealander guide the national team to four Six Nations titles, including three Grand Slam sweeps, plus two World Cup semi-final appearances.

But last week’s 52-20 defeat by Australia was a record-setting 11th consecutive Test loss for Wales.

Again asked first if he would resign if he thought it was in the best interests of Welsh rugby and then whether he had a strong desire to continue, Gatland replied to both: “Absolutely.

“It’s for us just focusing on this weekend, and probably post-weekend, that’s something we could talk about in terms of discussion.”

One game at a time

The Kiwi, who said there was no indication he wouldn’t be in charge after Saturday’s game, added: “I take it one game at a time.

“It’s not something I’ve thought about. I’m focused on this week,” he said when asked whether he thought he’d still be Wales coach come next year’s Six Nations.

“I’m just focused solely on preparing the team for this week to do the best job we can.

“If you start thinking about other things and going outside and talking about other things, then it’s a distraction that you don’t need.

“You’ve just got to focus totally on preparing the team the best we can.”

Gatland said Wales had nothing to lose against Rassie Erasmus’ loaded Bok side, which boasts a massive 970 caps to the 334 of the Welsh match-day squad of 23.

“We’re just going to work incredibly hard over the next couple of days and hopefully go out there and give a performance,” he said.

“Hopefully we can go out there and surprise a few people because there’s not a huge amount of expectation on us, and sometimes that enables you to take the shackles off and play with a little bit more freedom.”