Questions Gatland needs to answer

THE day after offering his resignation, Warren Gatland appeared on BBC Wales’ flagship rugby programme, Scrum

V. A shame that two questions went unanswered because they were never asked.

One, how did Immanuel Feyi-Waboso slip from the grasp of his native Wales and fall, like a misdirected box-kick, into England’s grateful arms? A specialist outside centre, ‘Manny’ had been tearing it up at under-age level in a position where Wales had long suffered from a chronic shortage before George North’s anti-climactic exit.

Gatland has admitted that he did not speak to Feyi-Waboso at a time of widespread conjecture over the player’s dual-nationality. Steve Borthwick did speak to the 21-year-old Welshman and the upshot of their conversation has been there for all to see.

Two, why, having picked just about every available tighthead prop in Wales, did Gatland not pick the one acknowledged by common consent as the most destructive scrummager in Wales, Tom Botha?

The 33-year-old South African, eligible through residence, has built his reputation on the strength of 114 matches for the Ospreys in six seasons. Since Gatland’s return, Wales have picked just about every other available tighthead, including England’s Henry Thomas, without solving their problem on that side of the scrum.

Two of the five chosen during the Six Nations, Archie Griffin and Harri O’Connor, did so despite playing a combined total of nine first-team matches for their clubs: Griffin’s four for Bath, O’Connor’s five for the Scarlets.