To think they sacked him.
Cringe for Sean OâBrien
Gatland started off his post match interview stating âwe didnât look too tired did we!?â The interviewer suggested it was in response to something Eddie Jones said and Gatland was too much of a gent to comment further.
Sidney
March 16, 2019, 5:37pm
32
Gatty was being slaughtered by so called âknowledgeableâ rugby posters here last year. He apparently was nothing compared to Joe Schmidt.
Thatâs 14 test victories in a row now for Wales.
11 test victories in a row. A record for Ireland
Its absolutely fascinating to read the praise for Gatty, Eddie, gregor and conor o shea on here. The praise for the French joie de vivre for throwing a few kids into the mix.
Not a word of praise for Joe Schmidt and the IRFU. God bless the Irish player welfare system and all who sail in her
Thankfully at least one knowledgeable poster was much less doubtful as to Gattyâs merits as a world class coach.
Gatty gets praise because he has a proven record of getting it right when it matters, allied to his fearless decision making and open, combative and genuinely humorous interview style.
Schmidt, for all his nice guy schtick, is a proper bitter little bollix when the mood takes him and the Irish squad is controlled to the nth degree in terms of media.
I think you made a lot of other peopleâs points for them when referring to the British Loinsâ tour.
This is the second time in a row Ireland have won the Six Nations in a post-British Loins year and they also won the Triple Crown in 2006, another post-British Loins year.
The Irish set up is particularly suited to giving players the rest they need coming back from a British Loins tour - far more so than with England and Wales. That matters a great deal in a Six Nations tournament.
Preparation for a World Cup is a much different ball game with a long lead in time and Ireland have a pretty poor history in this regard. Gatty is the master here. Wales upped it several notches for the last two World Cups and put in the best performances of any northern hemisphere team, while Ireland were still playing the same conservative, boring Joeball. Ireland have done what they had to do in this tournament, but have looked very vulnerable at times. Next week is a different ball game altogether, and the World Cup even more so. History says other teams have much greater room for improvement between now and then.
The following posts are looking fairly prescient now. Wales may have just won a Grand Slam, but they also have a history of raising their game even further for a World Cup.
One team I would put money on to reach the semi-finals of the next World Cup is Wales. As I said earlier, Gatty can be trusted to extract the maximum from them when it really matters.
While Australia will probably beat them as usual, and Fiji are always tricky opponents, the Welsh should secure at least second spot in Pool D, where they will meet the winners of the England/France/Argentina pool of death.
England play France in the final group match on October 12th and that could decide the winners of that group.
Whoever comes through that will be sitting ducks for the crafty Welsh seven days later. Nobody is better at getting one over on the English than Gatty.
At the next World Cup, itâll likely be Ireland v South Africa in the quarter-final. South Africa have just appointed Rassie Erasmus, who is an excellent coach, so they are only going to improve significantly over the next 18 months. Even under South Africaâs previous lame duck coach Allister Coetzee, they still managed to beat Ireland in a three match test series in 2016.
Would anybody put much money on Ireland beating a rejuvenated South Africa in a World Cup quarter-final? Nah, neither would I.
2 Likes
Iâve been a long time admirer of Gatty myself. @gilgamboa was blinded by his hatred
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Gatty was getting a good bit of stick in Wales for a few years. They hadnât won a Championship under him since 2012, I think there was possibly only the one second place finish last year and a less than stellar record against Southern Hemisphere opposition. They do have a nice World Cup draw and unlike Ireland itâs a younger age profile and theyâre not heavily reliant on players well in to their 30âs.
Sidney
October 20, 2019, 9:40am
35
Not the greatest Welsh performance today, but theyâre in the semi-finals and thatâs all that matters
I do hate to do this again, butâŚ
11 test victories in a row. A record for Ireland
Its absolutely fascinating to read the praise for Gatty, Eddie, gregor and conor o shea on here. The praise for the French joie de vivre for throwing a few kids into the mix.
Not a word of praise for Joe Schmidt and the IRFU. God bless the Irish player welfare system and all who sail in her
Gatty gets praise because he has a proven record of getting it right when it matters, allied to his fearless decision making and open, combative and genuinely humorous interview style.
Schmidt, for all his nice guy schtick, is a proper bitter little bollix when the mood takes him and the Irish squad is controlled to the nth degree in terms of media.
I think you made a lot of other peopleâs points for them when referring to the British Loinsâ tour.
This is the second time in a row Ireland have won the Six Nations in a post-British Loins year and they also won the Triple Crown in 2006, another post-British Loins year.
The Irish set up is particularly suited to giving players the rest they need coming back from a British Loins tour - far more so than with England and Wales. That matters a great deal in a Six Nations tournament.
Preparation for a World Cup is a much different ball game with a long lead in time and Ireland have a pretty poor history in this regard. Gatty is the master here. Wales upped it several notches for the last two World Cups and put in the best performances of any northern hemisphere team, while Ireland were still playing the same conservative, boring Joeball. Ireland have done what they had to do in this tournament, but have looked very vulnerable at times. Next week is a different ball game altogether, and the World Cup even more so. History says other teams have much greater room for improvement between now and then.
One team I would put money on to reach the semi-finals of the next World Cup is Wales. As I said earlier, Gatty can be trusted to extract the maximum from them when it really matters.
While Australia will probably beat them as usual, and Fiji are always tricky opponents, the Welsh should secure at least second spot in Pool D, where they will meet the winners of the England/France/Argentina pool of death.
England play France in the final group match on October 12th and that could decide the winners of that group.
Whoever comes through that will be sitting ducks for the crafty Welsh seven days later. Nobody is better at getting one over on the English than Gatty.
But weâve heard all this before about Ireland in 2007 and in 2014 and 2015. We heard it in 2009 after Ireland finally won the Grand Slam and then beat South Africa at Croke Park in November. Ireland were supposedly in the top three in the world all these times and were going to do the devil and all in the following World Cups. It never happened.
The Six Nations is an annual tournament in which pretty much always, for whatever reason, ie. injuries, form or disorganisation etc, at least two of the big four teams are well below their best and teams often arenât that bothered about losing matches. The nature of the tournament is that championship wins are spread around the different teams.
Gatty, quite obviously, wasnât that bothered about Wales losing to England and Ireland this year, he knew Wales were below strength and was looking at performances and developing new players with a view to the World Cup.
Eddie Jones will probably be a bit more worried than Gatty after Englandâs defeats in Edinburgh and Paris, but he won a Grand Slam two years ago and winning another one isnât that big a deal for England. He was brought in specifically to get England challenging for the World Cup and thatâs what heâll be judged on.
This year, England and Wales were badly affected by a hangover from the British Loins tour in a way that Ireland werenât. France have showed some improvement this year but theyâre only gradually awakening from their longest slumber in living memory.
As has been pointed out ad nauseum, the IRFU do a better job than the English, French or Welsh in managing their players throughout the season which means Ireland have managed to remain pretty consistent year on year. But I think this misleads a lot of Irish rugby supporters.
The World Cup is a totally different ball game. There is a long lead in time from the end of the previous season in May and other teams for once have an opportunity to really rest their players and get them right, so the advantage Ireland generally have during a normal season goes out the window.
On what basis are Ireland 5/1 to win the World Cup and Wales 20/1? Those are laughable odds which donât reflect reality at all.
4 Likes
Ireland have never recovered from prematurely sacking Gats.
2 World Cup semi finals for him now from three tournaments, Ireland still 0 from 9.
1 Like
Bandage
October 20, 2019, 12:07pm
39
Could it actually be that the lauded IRFU player welfare system is ultimately counter productive? It might be beneficial in February/March when well rested Irish players come up against fatigued opponents in the Six Nations, but maybe those guys are battle hardened and better able to cope with 7 successive weeks of tournament rubby come world cup time?
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Bandage:
Could it actually be that the lauded IRFU player welfare system is ultimately counter productive? It might be beneficial in February/March when well rested Irish players come up against fatigued opponents in the Six Nations, but maybe those guys are battle hardened and better able to cope with 7 successive weeks of tournament rubby come world cup time?
Itâs a bit of a conundrum @Bandage
Bandage:
Could it actually be that the lauded IRFU player welfare system is ultimately counter productive? It might be beneficial in February/March when well rested Irish players come up against fatigued opponents in the Six Nations, but maybe those guys are battle hardened and better able to cope with 7 successive weeks of tournament rubby come world cup time?
Interesting graphic on that point
Entire Irish pack played more in last 12 mths than opposite no. 10/15 in total. Of the 5 who didnt Sexton, Henshaw, Earls all injury prone players who missed spells.
Wasnât what id have expected
Sidney
October 27, 2019, 11:14am
42
12 unbelievable years in charge of Wales
Those players today were moulded in his image
Alun Wyn Jones, Ken Owens, Jonathan Davies, Leigh Halfpenny, warriors to a man
A credit to the game of rugby union football, to his home province of Waikato and to Wales
1 Like
Heâd have got Ireland to multiple RWC semi finals if he had not been disgracefully sacked.
A real sliding doors moment for Irish rugby football. What could have been. They must be kicking themselves ditching the greatest coach in world rugby football.
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Did an amazing job with Wales. Future NZ coach?
He underachieved with wales in my opinion. Heâs absolutely hated in New Zealand too. Pretty sure theyâve called out his style on multiple times. Heâd have to probably coach a super rugby franchise first to have any chance.
