Wales head coach Warren Gatland’s future is below intense scrutiny amid Wales’ report 11-match dropping streak in worldwide matches forward of their remaining tie within the Autumn Nations Sequence towards world champions South Africa on Saturday.
Gatland’s aspect have now gone 13 months with out tasting victory after struggling a quarter-final defeat to Argentina within the 2023 Rugby World Cup and in whole have misplaced 17 of 23 video games within the New Zealander’s second stint in cost.
So do Gatland and the Welsh Rugby Union now have some massive choices to make? Sky Sports activities Information reporter James Cole assesses three of the large questions across the state of affairs…
Might Gatland go away after Saturday’s South Africa match?
“It may nicely be his final recreation.
“That is statistically now the worst Welsh aspect in historical past.
“In the event that they lose to South Africa, they are going to have misplaced each recreation within the calendar yr for the primary time because the Nineteen Thirties.
“Now the decision the WRU, or indeed maybe Gatland, has to make is what would life look like without him in the role?”
Who’re the choice choices?
Warren Gatland has not tasted victory in his second spell as Wales head coach since final yr’s World Cup (AP Picture/Rui Vieira)
“The primary challenge is, should you do away with Gatland, who is available in? There aren’t an enormous quantity of world-class coaches on the market.
“Michael Cheika’s identify has been talked about rather a lot. He is on a one-year deal at Leicester Tigers within the Premiership, however would he really need the job? It is a job that lots of people assume is a little bit of a poisoned chalice.
“The second query you have to ask is, whoever is available in, can they do a greater job than Warren Gatland?
“Some may say, well, it’s hard to do a worse job, but they’re going to have the same players, a young squad, inexperienced players.
“In opposition to Australia, Wales fielded a beginning 15 that averaged 19 caps per man. Within the again line, should you take Gareth Anscombe, their fly-half, out of the equation then that quantity drops to 4.
“It’s an incredibly inexperienced group. Wales’ player pool at the moment is not big. They’ve lost a lot of players in a short space of time. Lions, the likes of Dan Biggar, Alan Wynne-Jones, and that is really telling.”
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Wales substitute scrum-half Kieran Hardy scores a match-winning 79th-minute attempt as Warren Gatland’s aspect beat Queensland Reds 36-35 in Brisbane
The monetary query: Can the WRU afford to vary head coach?
“Gatland is reported to be on between £500,000-£600,000 a yr.
“So, to pay him out of his contract is going to cost the WRU around about £1m, unless, there’s a performance-related clause in there or Gatland decides, as he hinted post-match on Sunday, that he may resign.
Scrum-half Tomos Williams sustained a critical shoulder harm towards Fiji so as to add to Wales and Warren Gatland’s woes (Getty Photos)
“The WRU then must weigh up what it was the monetary implications of getting to pay that sum versus the bums-on-seats impact in Wales. On the recreation on the weekend, there have been 56,000 followers in a 74,500 stadium. For Wales v Australia, that’s unimaginable.
“They should weigh all of this up and resolve if life is healthier with out Gatland and have deep conversations.
“No quick decision should be made. It should be a thorough review. They also need to know what’s going on in camp and whether players are still behind the coaching staff.”
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