Why Gatland is all wrong for the All Blacks
Having appeared dead and buried at halftime against France in their opening Six Nations fixture, Wales made a miraculous recovery and played their ‘get out of jail free’ card.
After beating the French, Wales’ belief and winning streak grew, and they went on to clinch the grand slam in emphatic style against Ireland.
Wales are not dissimilar to the All Blacks in the sense that they have a knack of digging themselves out of a hole, when required, which is forged by an unwavering belief.
However, what made the Welsh performances so exceptional for me over the Six Nations campaign was that they played with so much intensity for so long and kept their discipline. The biggest variable is whether you can maintain your on-field discipline, and under Warren Gatland they have.
Wales, who have moved up to second in the World Rugby rankings, are genuine World Cup contenders in Japan and the reason is very simple. It’s the way they are playing the game.
What is interesting is that Wales beat both England and Ireland at their own game. If you examine the matches against England and Ireland, Wales won the aerial duels, got the ball back and dominated.
The kicking game, and most especially the aerial battle, is critical and what makes Wales so dangerous is that all of a sudden they are blessed with a few players who are effective in the air. The likes of Dan Biggar, Gareth Anscombe, George North and Liam Williams hit new heights.
With Steve Hansen having announced his decision to vacate the All Black head coaching position after the 2019 World Cup, some have suggested that Gatland’s name should be part of the conversation when it comes to appointing the next All Black coach. The 55-year-old, who has been in charge of Wales since 2007, is an effective manmanager, an experienced coach and is good at what he does.
However, I have reservations as to whether he would prove the right fit for the All Blacks.
When you look at the way Gatland has adapted his coaching style to suit the northern hemisphere, there is nothing in the Welsh performances which you can remotely relate to any All Black displays. The question is: If the Hamilton-born mentor were to be appointed by the men in suits at NZR, would he get the All Blacks to keep playing the amazing brand of rugby they play or would Scott Robertson, who only knows one way – the ‘Crusaders way’– not be a better fit for the men in black?
I believe the suits would be taking a risk if they were to appoint Gatland. It’s not that he is a bad coach but you must understand he had to adapt to win with Wales and has got used to employing a different style. Wales are limited offensively and don’t possess an amazing attack, which is why Gatland would have told his team, ‘‘Listen boys, we have got a good set-piece, we can defend well and if we win the aerial battle we are going to be tough to beat.’’
In contrast, the All Blacks boast the best attack in the game today and having Gatland coach them could be like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Gatland is a threetime grand slam champion, won a Lions series in Australia, drew a series in New Zealand and guided Wales to a World Cup semifinal.
He managed to win the big games but, after 12 years and 100 tests at the helm of Wales, his win ratio is only 51 per cent. The point is not to put Gatland down – he’s a quality coach – but if you stick with people and keep them for a long period of time, in all likelihood you will be successful.
Gatland boasts a brilliant management team around him. However, he’s not going to be able to take that management team with him to New Zealand, and a head coach is only as good as his support staff.
Plenty of credit needs to go to Shaun Edwards, who is a brilliant defence coach. He has a very well-balanced defensive strategy.
However, we have now got to a stage where sound defences are a given and the reason the aerial battle is going to be so important is because that is one way of getting in behind amazing defences.
Everybody talked about counter-attack being broken field, but now people have organised the counter-attack as well on kick returns and in broken field. However, it’s not broken field anymore. Turnovers and the regathering of high balls are set to be the two areas which will be most difficult to defend and what all the good teams are going to be working on.
* South African Brendan Venter is a 1995 World Cup winner and a former assistant coach of the Springboks.