Gatland’s plans head south
Warren Gatland’s rest and rotation policy at the Chiefs has hardly been dreamed up on the whim of a Waihi Beach wave. Just five games into his first season as a Super Rugby coach, Gatland has made a splash with his selection strategy, happily tinkering with his lineups in a bid to keep troops fresh as well as create competition for places.
No less than 38 players have so far taken the field for the Chiefs this season, in which they have a 4-1 record and sit at the top of the New Zealand conference.
While management of player workloads is now in vogue, Gatland was a man before his time in this department, and clearly knows what he’s doing from previous experience.
The 56-year-old’s deliberate approach to mix and match combinations, and also get players away from the game, was first forged almost 20 years ago during his successful spell at English club Wasps.
In Gatland’s book released last year, ‘Pride and Passion – My Autobiography’, there is a tale which carries decisive relevance to his current campaign with the Chiefs. Wasps had just scored a big coup in signing Wales international Rob Howley, but the week after making his debut in the 2002-03 season, the brilliant halfback was put on the bench, and in a state of panic about what he’d done wrong.
‘‘Rob, it’s September’’, Gatland would explain. ‘‘The Premiership final is in May and I intend us to be in it. I want you to play 22 or 23 games tops and a lot of those will be off the bench until I need you to start a bunch of matches in a row.
‘‘Oh. I’m used to playing every week,’’ Howley said, the penny dropping ever so slowly.
To which his coach replied: ‘‘At this club you will definitely not be playing every week.’’
It’s clear Gatland has arrived at the Chiefs with much the same philosophy. Prop Aidan Ross is the only player to have started all five games, while hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho, lock Naitoa Ah Kuoi (no starts) and midfielder Alex Nankivell are the only others to have got on the field in every fixture. ‘‘It’s kind of thinking about further down the road,’’ Gatland said last week.
‘‘The experience I’ve had before in club rugby is that you have to make sure you keep the players motivated and interested and feeling like they’ve got an opportunity, particularly at the start of the year.
‘‘We’re aware that we can’t keep picking the same team weekin, week-out.
‘‘Because all of a sudden three or four of them pick up injuries and people will say: ‘Why haven’t you given others an opportunity early on?’’’
‘‘It’s something the Crusaders have been able to do for years, and been able to deliver performances.
‘‘If you want to be in contention in this competition you’ve got to have confidence in your squad.’’
While it’s a bit different at the international level because it’s largely all about picking your best side for the dozen or so test matches in a year, Gatland still indeed had instances of rotating, or pulling to the sideline, some high-profile personnel during his 12-year stint with Wales prior to his Chiefs gig.
But in the week-to-week grind of a domestic campaign, that’s where the man-management really comes in.
That style was certainly honed at Wasps, where, following his sacking as Ireland coach, Gatland was taken on board in 2001. The following season he took over as Director of Rugby and went on to win three successive Premiership titles, along with European Challenge Cup and Heineken Cup titles. And that success was built on a deep caring relationship between coach and players.
Gatland noted in his book that his players were given more time off than any of their Premiership rivals. They were guaranteed eight weeks away from the club in summer and when they returned they were on carefully constructed individual plans for the entire season, with six-week blocks of intense activity, followed by non-negotiable breaks of four days.
‘‘Whether you were Lawrence Dallaglio or an unknown wing on a rookie contract, you could plan ahead and book trips away with the family.
‘‘It was as much about mental freshness as physical wellbeing.’’
While All Blacks rest weeks have been the bane of some Super coaches, for Gatland, this idea is nothing new, and he would have actually rested his big dogs on his own accord anyway, in a competition which runs for 21 weeks (including two byes and playoffs), where he knows time off the playing and training field is crucial for work-life balance.
He went through a similar process with national team coach Clive Woodward ahead of England’s ultimately successful 2003 World Cup win.
The national reps had Monday and Tuesday trainings, and while some were required back at their clubs at 7am Wednesday, Gatland was happy to have his lads report back on the Friday ahead of a Sunday game.
‘‘It was a fascinating experience, building that Wasps environment,’’ Gatland wrote in the book. ‘‘And it left a mark on me: during my long spell with the Wales team, I used many of the same ideas and techniques to create a sense of togetherness where the players were quite happy to give everything of themselves because they knew the feeling was reciprocal.’’
Upon arrival at the Chiefs, Gatland made an immediate impact in cutting trainings to shorter and sharper sessions, which has been well received by the players. And it sure looks like they are intent on paying him back, should they be good enough to force their way into the side.