By Mark Gleeson
PARIS (Reuters) – Wales produced an impressive comeback at the Rugby World Cup from a litany of recent woes and, although they ultimately crashed and burned in Saturday’s quarter-final, leave the tournament in a better place than when they arrived in France.
In the months leading up to the tournament, Wales fired their coach, were beset by off-field controversy, won one of five games at the Six Nations and left coach Warren Gatland wondering whether he had done the right thing by returning to take charge of the side.
But now Gatland is offering to stay on, impressed with what he can work with in the future, even after they let a 10-point lead slip and went out 29-17 to Argentina in Marseille.
“There’s some exciting players coming through, players who aren’t here. Hopefully they’re inspired by this,” he said after Saturday’s quarter-final defeat
“We’re all gutted about that as it slipped away from us. But you’ve got to take learnings. We’ve made some really good strides. We don’t want to go backwards. That’s a good challenge to accept.”
Gatland has seen Wales through previous highs and lows, although more highs in the time he coached from 2007-2019, finishing his first stint by taking Wales to the semi-final at the last World Cup in Japan.
He signed a five-year deal on his return in December which allows him another tilt at the next World Cup in Australia four years from now and Wales will surely keep him on, given his undoubted acumen.
“I absolutely want to see this group through, but if the union want to get rid of me, then they’re completely entitled to do that. That’s up to them,” he added.
UNDERCOOKED
Wales were decidedly undercooked on arrival in France although with some confidence from beating England in a warm-up test but fortunate to beat Fiji in their Pool C opener in Bordeaux. But they gathered momentum after that and a 40-6 pasting of Australia in Lyon meant they were the first side to book a quarter-final place.
“There were a lot of people writing us off, saying we wouldn’t get out of our group. That was the first thing to ensure we did,” Gatland said.
Going into Saturday’s quarter-final, they would have been confident of getting past Argentina, and into a third semi-final in the last four World Cups, quickly taking the lead but then letting slip their grip on the game.
“This group of players have worked incredibly hard to get what they’ve achieved. They’re down, but they should hold their heads up. We’ve got to make sure we continue to grow as a team,” the coach added.
(Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
