The final word from coaches and players ahead of the All Blacks and Ireland quarter-final showdown at Stade de France in Paris. Video / Rugby World Cup Limited via SNTV
Three games left between now and winning the Rugby World Cup – which coach would you want leading your side?
Jacques Nienaber (and Rassie Erasmus) obviously have the experience from 2019. Andy Farrell and Fabien Galthie started this Rugby World Cup cycle with solid foundations and a talented group ofplayers, and have produced two incredible sides fully capable of becoming the first Northern Hemisphere tournament-winners in 20 years.
And then there is Warren Gatland who, as each week of this Rugby World Cup has passed, has appeared increasingly bullish about his side’s prospects, a prizefighter who is becoming increasingly hard to beat.
Signs of Gatland approaching peak form keep popping up: throwing in a swipe at those who predicted Wales would go out of the tournament in the group stages – “We embraced that” – smiling at Michael Cheika’s suggestion that Wales would be favourites on Saturday (they are, just, by around 3.5 points), and cracking a joke about Jac Morgan’s kicking prowess that fell entirely flat, which Gatland had to explain to delayed laughter in his press conference.
What about supporters of those teams on the other side of the World Cup draw to Wales who have been complaining about the lopsided nature of the quarter-finals? “I just say to the other teams, they should have done better in the last World Cup, shouldn’t they? It’s not our fault that it happened. If teams had better performances and results from the last World Cup, they would probably be in different pools.
Warren Gatland looks on during the Wales captain's run at Felix Mayol Stadium in Toulon, France. Photo / Getty Images
“You didn’t hear us complaining in 2015 when we had Fiji, Australia and England in the same pool - we never complained about that. You are dealt the hand and you have just got to deal with it.”
Message sent.
Save for Erasmus this week and his grenades about France and “simulation”, this has been a tournament relatively low on verbal snipes from head coaches. Cheika, much like his Argentina side, had been relatively quiet until last Sunday’s win over Japan. Eddie Jones, always reliable in this area, is already back home in Australia after the shame of the Wallabies being knocked out of the pool stages for the first time.
Jones played nice in the build-up to Wales against Australia, whereas Gatland in these pages was considerably more pointed. “A big part of the success that I have had as [a] coach is developing players over a period of time and creating an environment that they want to be part of. I am not sure Eddie has always had the same philosophy.”
Which leaves Gatland somewhat on his own. Not necessarily seeking anyone to spar with, but feeling assured and confident about what his side can achieve. The 2011 and 2019 semifinals saw Wales go desperately close to reaching the big game for the first time, losing by one and three points respectively. Is this side as talented as either of those groups? Perhaps not, particularly in the pack now that Taulupe Faletau has been ruled out of the tournament. But momentum and belief are funny things, and Wales right now are rolling.
They were the first team to qualify for the quarter-finals despite a year leading up to this tournament which has been chaotic, to put it kindly. There was Wayne Pivac’s departure, a contract dispute with players threatening to go on strike in the build-up to a home game against England, and the resignation of chief executive Steve Phillips following a BBC Wales investigation which raised allegations of misogyny, sexism and racism within the Welsh Rugby Union.
Now they are favourites to reach another Rugby World Cup semifinal - with Argentina in their way on Saturday - potentially their third in four tournaments, having narrowly missed out in 2015 to South Africa.
Gatland has been here before, and the way he spoke this week about his personal enjoyment of the World Cup format was notable.
“It’s the only time you get to feel you are a club side, in terms of getting our detail done and having an off-season and feeling like you can make a huge amount of progress,” he explained, with Wales having been to both Turkey and Switzerland over the summer.
“After the challenges [this year], some coaches would joke, ‘What is going to happen today? What is going to be the next thing that is thrown at us?’ I think there has definitely been a line in the sand that has been drawn under that, and if we can make the semifinals, it would be a huge achievement for this group of players and the coaches, who have done a great job.
“I know there are some people in some teams out there who won’t want to face a Wales team when they start playing with confidence and start having momentum. That is when we are at our most dangerous - we are starting to look that way at the moment.”
