He wasnāt playing in the crucial game. Removed by Gatland and brought back after the disaster.
That isnāt giving a player a chance.
It isnāt a debate.
Gatland had his favourites and didnāt pick younger players.
Itās been a feature of his management.
That may be broadly true over the course of his career but @Aertel220 has proven you completely wrong in relation to example ye were discussing above.
2 Likes
No he hasnāt.
Stringer and o Gara little or no chance under Gatland.
OāGara was a Lion in 2001, it isnāt right to say he didnāt get a crack.
What did it for Gatland was that tour and what came back from Wood and OāDriscoll. There were those in the IRFU looking for excuses and they had OāSullivan yapping in the background but Gatland didnāt help himself. The Scottish game as mentioned was a disaster and many held him responsible.
Gatty obviously never forgot or fully forgave them and no harm in that. He got better though. He isnāt the same coach without Edwards.
Budge poutney one of the great Scottish rugby names like Findlay Calder , doddie Weir and ivan Tukalo.the knowledgeable rugby folk will remember the time Calder absolutely sparked Jim Staples with a forearm smash.
1 Like
That is tremendous bullshit.
Budge Pountney was a great bit of stuff.
1 Like
To be fair to him. If you think back to the 2011 World Cup heād built a very young Welsh team. Sam Warbuton was captain at 23. George North, Leigh Halfpenny, Toby Falateu, Dan Lydiate, Jonathan Davies all 23 or less. Rhys Priestland and Jamie Roberts were young enough lads too. He allowed that team to grow old together but didnāt really have much of an alternative given the current dearth of talent in Wales.
From an Irish perspective he called Gordon DāArcy in to the squad when he was only in Leaving Cert. A 21 year old Brian Oā Driscoll scored his hat-trick of tries against France under Gatland.
He has his favourites and thatās it.
O Driscoll is one of the greatest players of all time.
Giving him a start isnāt really anything to write home about.
He got rid of darcy as quickly as he could too.
He did have a good young welsh side but he hung onto them too long and didnāt really make any effort to develop any other players.
He was still going back to them again for this World Cup.
Iām amazed how lads desperately try and defend everything around Gatland.
Heās hated everywhere he goes as far as I can see and plays a terrible brand of rugby. That last lions tour was the stuff of nightmares and he made an absolute bollocks of the 2017 tour too when they should have won easily.
Where did this happen?
Gatland did a decent job with Wales. He did have a good generation of players though and Mike Ruddock did a lot of the groundwork bridging the 27 year Grand Slam gap in 2005 back to the great team of the 1970ās. That was a big release of psychological pressure for Welsh rugby.
https://x.com/gordonwdarcy/status/1720173294349877625?s=46
Iām very surprised Darcy has come out and said that.
Darcy has no skin in the game - heās in finance now. Nucifora kept the status quo going and main players in the provinces - that was it
But he had absolutely outstanding players.
Jenkins, jones, awj, warburton, tipuric, lydiate, Toby f, Phillips, biggar, priestland, Davies, roberts, halfpennny, Webb, north and a few more really decent players.
The way people talk about his time is that he turned water into wine.
If anything he underachieved.
He is on second captains sometimes and Iād be wondering has he even watched the game at all heās talking about.
1 Like
His IT articles are a bit like the Jim McGuinness gaa ones. Iād say heās giving Gerry thornley or Cumiskey a few sound bites and they fill in the rest
AKA The Landers approach
3 Likes
Dunno I know landers knows a little more than he lets on about certain things. Heās a tricky enough customer. Good at playing the clown.