6:37 don't despair you are a great analyst, you are funny, you bring joy to countless rusted on rugby fans and you are also able to bridge the gap between generations and the individual ways they consume our sport. Please please keep it up ❤❤❤
I really don't get Wales. In 2019 they wins Grand Slam, reach World #1, make the semi-finals where they lose in the dying minutes against one of the greatest teams in the history of the sport. Fast forward to 2021 where they achieve a Triple Crown while winning the Six Nations. Then we got 2022, where they beat the Boks at home for the first time ever. Skip ahead again to 2023, where they absolutely smash Australia at a World Cup, where they narrowly lost to one of the greatest Argentina sides ever. Whereas the story of the last few years unquestionably had been _The Rise of The Irish®_ it can be argued that 2019-2023 was an absolute purple patch for the Welsh. Then comes 2024 and they can't seem to buy a win. Wales are better than this. Gatland is better than this. And my guess is that soon, things will click into place and the Welsh are going to open up a giant can of hurting on some unlucky side. Stay the course, guys.
I wouldn't call 2019-2023 a purple patch. Wales were awful and honestly fluked those two titles. Who can forget Frances capitulation in the second half of the opening game of 2019. Wales didn't even get a single BP in a championship involving a terrible Italian side. 2021 wasn't called a near Jam Slam for nothing, that needs no explaining.
@@liamwilliams6651The top three most successful teams in the Six Nations are England, Wales, and France, in terms of the number of titles won: England With 29 outright titles, England is the most successful team in the Six Nations. They also hold the record for the most Grand Slams with 13. Wales Wales has won 28 outright titles and 11 shared titles, for a total of 39 titles. Wales has also won 12 Grand Slams. France France has won 18 outright titles and 8 shared titles, for a total of 26 titles. France has also won 10 Grand Slams.     Ireland has won 16 outright titles and 9 shared titles, for a total of 25 titles. Ireland has also won 4 Grand Slams.   Scotland and Italy have never won the Six Nations title. Italy's highest finish was fourth place in 2013.
@@liamwilliams6651 So you’re saying a side of 3millions people the smallest, won the entire tournament against greats** without a bonus point? Doesn’t this prove how good wales were then? To be able to win without bonus points. 😂 cry more England fan.
@@LERJ_Gaming I'm not even English but whatever. No other side has won the 6N without a bonus point, not even the 2021 Welsh side, so that should tell you everything. How do you even flex not getting bonus points wtf haha.
No one will ever fluke a 6N win dude, you finish top of those 6 sides across home and away games, you deserve it. Or fluke getting to world no1 for that matter. That 2019 side were immense
This is the exact reason. Edwards was the prime man to carry on after Gatland, and the WRU appointed Pivac. The WRU are to blame for EVERYTHING tbh. Grassroots is in a mess, regions, and now the international. WRU have always been bad. Now they are useless.
I’d be keen to see this kind of video for Scotland. As a Scot, I feel things have slightly slowed into a plateau. With Townsend leaving at the end of this season, and lots of interesting options for a new head coach (Franco Smith, Ronan O’Gara, Dave Rennie, & Michael Chieka all line up for when their contracts end), I’d be keen to see the Squidge analysis on it all and what needs to change.
Personally I have thought for years that Scotland need to raise their standards and expectations. Too often we see a Scotland captain or coach (or fans) after a close game the should've won talking about the positives and how proud they are of the performance and how they're building moving forward etc. And at the World Cup it was all down to the tough group (which is nonsense, you have three years to prepare for those opponents). So a future Scotland coach needs to cut out the excuses and very clearly state that anything less than a Six Nations win and a RWC quarter final means failure
Ireland so good - crazy they have not gone deep at any World Cup… imagine that’ll change… however WC is 2.5 years away and any team can easily fall off by then!!
I still say Warren Gatland is the one of the best coaches we have had and I want Warren to stay he has done so much for Welsh rugby, I know we have lost games lately but this is a new team and it will take time and this team will step up to the mark might take a year or two but we will get there. The legends have gone , Alun Wyn Jones, Leigh Halfpenny , Justin Tipuric, Ken Owens, Dan Bigger, Goerge North, and many more they all come at the same time and they have all gone. This is a new team and it will take time. I'm with Wales all the way , I was with them in the wins and with them in the loses and I will never give up on our team, this is just my thoughts not what should happen.
Brilliant! I haven't watched any of your vids for a long time (nothing to do with the quality, all to to with having 2 kids under 3 leaving very little time for rygbi). This is the reasoned and sensible analysis that's missing from the print media. Loving the new streamlined presentation - I only paused twice!
The WRU has damaged the game beyond repair I think. When they divided the national game into the four regions it killed the local rivalry which fuelled development. Great teams that punched well above their weight such as Neath, Newport, Pontypridd etc were reduced to 'feeder' teams and derbies which would draw in 1000s has faded away. Money, investment and player numbers and quality equally diminished. The last of a Welsh golden generation which were able to paper over these cracks has now gone and their successors are sadly not of the same calibre. This isn't Australia where rugby union is the 5th most played sport, this is the national game of Wales and its a damn shame to see and this is coming from an Englishman.
The reality was that these teams were never going to survive as professional entities, and nobody can say they didn't try. They entered into the early additions of the celtic league ( now URC ) and get hosed week in week out by the Scottish and Irish sides and this was before any of them were strong. Add that to being commercially unviable with to few people in Wales per team. Like it or not this was a problem that was always to have to be tackled with the advert of professionalism. However they made a dogs dinner of it anyway. And maybe it was only ever going to be messy.
@DM-rp9ik 100% correct, where the WRU and Welsh Rugby clubs in general have failed is in understanding what it takes to compete in a professional environment. The parochial and tribal nature of rugby which provided some measure of success during the amateur era, would never cut it in a professional game. Where the WRU have consistently failed is in development of junior players, they have a hands off lessez fair attitude, which in itself, shows that they are not a serious professionally run organisation. They run the game on hope rather than by design. It is a legacy of its amateur roots and a complete inability to adapt to a changing game, taking into consideration the economic woes of Wales, where much of its youth have to leave their communities and country to find work. In such an environment, structures need to be put in place to develop Rugby players from U13s forward, the WRU seem uniquely oblivious to their own incompetence in this regard. As they say in business, you adapt or die, in the case of Welsh Rugby, it's simply die, as its governing body is incapable of adapting. Regardless of who they employ at the helm, it is still at its core, a game run by old men happy to dine out on the glories of the past, while doing nothing to safeguard the future of the game. I would like to think that the WRU are planning to put measures in place at a grass roots level, to establish a conveyor belt of players to feed the semi-pro, pro and international teams. I doubt it, so I won't hold my breath.
Even the greatest Leaders have a season. You become known by your enemy, your best creativity wanes, your ammo runs out, you lose the ability to surprise, the team dont listen to you with the same excitement and intensity as they did. Pass the ball from the ruck while the pack is moving forward; not when it stops. Same with coach continuity.
Never should have took him back... two things . 1 it doesn't work to go back . 2 the first time he had brilliant players already and he got then playing. This time its different
In all seriousness, if you want to add something very interesting to your analysis (perhaps not publicly, given how unkind it is), have a look at points scored with Costelow at 10 vs when he’s not there. It’s genuinely fascinating, particularly as it’s often two halves (ish) of the same match.
Yep, I blame Pivac for his horrendous player management in the way he blooded people! My personal hope is that Gatland will bring a young wales team through to being a great team again, and then the WRU really think through who they replace him with… I would see if Pat Lam is interested personally
Sounds like Gatlands player management is also piss poor. I didn't hear about the waterboarding at the time, and not backing his players during the contracts, it's all a bad look. As squidge says, if players decide they don't want to fight for him because of him not having their back, I wouldn't blame them at all
Ja, it's a tough one... Gatland was a good coach, verging on great! I think things went backwards for him when the Chiefs started going backwards. I don't think he has recovered emotionally or mentally. And that transfers to his players. And after the Pivac years, Wales needed someone with a bit of momentum on their side, excitement, and enthusiasm for the job. Gatland came in with scars and baggage. It was always going to be a tough call. I hope Wales can find a way back. I love Union for its arms wrestles. And Wales was amongst the best of those teams.
I think the main issue with Wales is the WRU and lack of investment, the difference between the investment in the grass roots between Ireland and Wales is crazy!
I know there are a lot of questions that people want to ask coaches. But I'm disappointed that no journalist has yet asked a coach, "Do you watch Squidge Rugby?" What self-respecting journalist wouldn't want to ask this question?
Thank you so much for this. I think his time is up with us. The incidents you mention and his demeanour in general just seem like he's doing us all a favour here. We need a whole rebuild of professional rugby, not just the nation side. I don't think he is right for that. Give me someone like Stuart Lancaster. Help us rebuild but also help improve our regional set up too.
the WRU board need to spend a week or 2 in the Leinster set up and take notes of how well the game is structured over there. Perhaps they'd learn a thing or 2...or a 1000 lol
They’d learn that Leinster spend £30 mill a SEASON. Ireland can’t get past a quarter final even though they’re throwing a fortune at their club and international teams.
Paul O'Connell said back in the 2000s passion and effort used to be the whole cake, nowadays it's only the icing on the cake. Wales need a new identity they can't just expect a 15 year old game plan to be enough! Tactically Wales used to be a pressure side, aggressive defense, aggressive breakdown. Nowadays they are soft defensively and dont have the backrow to attack breakdowns like they did
I think we have to aim for 2 wins out of 3 in the autumn, if we don't achieve that then we have to seriously think about going in a new direction. We don't naturally have massive ball carriers in our pack and we waste needless energy carrying for multiple phases basically going backwards. We need to develop the kicking game and play our rugby in opposition territory, make them make mistakes with the ball deep in their half rather than us in our own half. Like you said the 2 tests in Australia were lost on individual errors rather than game plan errors, we should have won definitely the second test and possibly the first. If we build on that and cut out the mistakes I can see us getting the results we need and getting back to a decent ranking in preparation for next world cup. Next summers tour to Japan can be our re-do of 2018 to Argentina where we can try new combos and give test experience to fringe players and up and coming players who are doing well currently like macs page, Joe Westwood and others. This next 12 months is crucial for Wales to get on the right path heading towards the 2027 world cup.
To answer the question posed by the title: probably not, simply because he and his influence main reason they struggled to move on with Pivac: his fellow Kiwi sought to introduce a more dynamic, attack focused playing philosophy into a team hardened into dour, methodical tackling machines by 12 years of Gatland. The WRU's recall of Waz amounted to desperate retreat into an established comfort-zone of toiling mediocrity, and will likely keep them there.
@davidgormley7990 he wants to move into international coaching but is outside the current Ireland setup. The chances he gets offered as head coach position at say Ireland or France where the ship is stable is quite low, for a first gig at that level. With Wales it's less of a stretch and given the similarities of Wales and Munster's traditional straight talking, hard work ethics there seems to be some common currency. If it can work out well for either party it can work out well for both. ROG will obviously have a very clear understanding of what would be a good move for him, I'm just speculating.
@trignals All fair points. I just think that the writing is on the wall for Wales and I'm not sure that there's a way back. The WRU is a joke, the Welsh clubs aren't much better. That said, ROG is a man who likes a challenge. I think he'd need to be a miracle worker to make a success of that job though...
@@davidgormley7990 yeah I'm also not sure it's the type of challenge that necessarily suits ROG. Honestly Gats seems the best placed in terms of respect, reputation and involvement to drive the general rebuilding needed in Wales. Then it's not really a head coach role but more like what Rassie did as director of rugby in SA. There may be a long period of rebuilding but Wales has good rugby bones. When I started watching rugby Ireland were well behind Scotland. Consistent good decisions can achieve great results given time.
For as long as Welsh fans demand a top class test side without supporting the teams supplying the squad, nothing will change. Ospreys are getting half the attendances they were a decade ago. The others have similar, if not quite as drastic, drops. Gatland had competitive regions to pick players from at the peak of Wales’ success. As those regions started to slide, he kept it together for a few years but the wheels came off in Pivac’s second year. Gatland used to make the best of a decent squad. The best of a middling squad just won’t cut it.
Squidge we need a video on Morgan Morris. Wainwright and Faletau are injured, with Wainwright looking like hes getting rushed back in to play next week. Plumtree is a good 6, but arguably not an 8. Gatland says that Morris isnt as good defensively as he is offensively. Is this accurate? Richie Rees brought up a fantasic point that one of Cardiff Blues best ever players was Xavier Rush and he did very little defensively. Just seems odd that Wales massively struggle to get ball carriers over the gaine line but dont pick arguably the best ball carrier in Wales, Morris.
Fun fact: the first choice back row of (6) Plumtree, (7) Morgan and (8) Wainwright have never played together for full 80m + barely any minutes. I feel that these 3 starting will change Wales fortunes.
It's already been said below, but if you add a certain man from Wigan as defence coach, they will draw out whatever talent is in there and be as successful as possible. Look at London Wasps when Gatland/Edwards got hold of them. Unreal. And the current French team are the perfect example of Edwards being the magic ingredient.
The massive problem with your argument? Wales simply do not have the players. Yes, vintage Warren ball Wales worked their socks off but they also had a group of world class players. I don't see anywhere near that in Welsh club rugby right now.
There's something to be said about who the Welsh Rugby Union chose to face in the Summer and Autumn internationals, Scotland have played Fiji and Portugal as games to mix things up for example. Wales problem is at the moment a game against Fiji is a 50/50, there really would be something to be said in having a game against a significantly lower ranked team a la Canada, USA, Portugal, Georgia, at least once in each tour.
Gatland needs to go - but results won't improve until the Welsh union sorts out its club sides. Wales don't have the players to field four competitive sides in the URC. They need to reduce their sides to three or even two, concentrate most of their talent in one or two teams, and give that talent lots of playing time together in the way that, e.g., Leinster's Irish contingent have. Wales then need to appoint a young coach with innovative ideas and give him time to build something. Gatland is the last person you want building a new style and generation of talent. He is too old, too dour, and too negative, both in terms of playing style and in terms of general demeanour. He's also insufferably arrogant, which never pays off in the long run - hence the long string of abject performances for every side he's ever coached. I personally think the players get sick of him, but beyond that he doesn't seem to have the capacity to think outside the box. Look at what Farrell has done with Ireland and Rassie with South Africa. Wales will never have the players to match those nations, but nor should they be getting trounced by the likes of Italy.
I think gatland could do more from a DoR position. Shaun edwards or howley taking over as head coach would probably be the best fit after that. The other option is a conpletely fresh start with brand new coaches who build a new welsh way. Thats riddled with risk though
@@Toefingas They don’t see themselves as underdogs. They think they have a right to be at the top table because of the 1970s. As an Irishman it’s funny as f&ck watching them enraged by Ireland’s success. Despite them winning a ton of stuff themselves over the last 20 years.
@Dreyno Personally I love the Irish success. The fact the NH now has a team that can regularly beat the giants of the south and it ISN'T England is great in my opinion - I just wish it was us 😁
Gatland going and Wales getting a new coach would make no difference. The pool of players for Wales as of 2024, has seen the vast majority of the grand slam squads and quality players we had have retiring or leaving, Edwards the coach is also gone. Gatland can't use Warren ball and his hands are tied with a bunch of players and coaches who need years more experience playing together. Meanwhile all the other teams have got better.
Yeah, you loose the players you've lost the team you've lost the test match. There is no way he should stay unless he's done some serious back peddling and apologising for how he's treated the players over the years. If your players aren't behind you it doesn't matter what tactics you play, you're toast.
We havent had a front 5. Still missing Jenkins, Fender and now Carter. But, We now have a squad who are individually good enough. If we had a single competent Tight head last year, we would have pipped ENgland, Scots and Australia. Thats single position meant constant penalties and no momentum. Add in the mix and match second rows, and there is no platform.
Ultimately, the game moves on Wales got a lot of success when NH rugby was quite honestly just a lower standard to SH rugby with the 2015 World Cup the middle of this. The turgid style of games finishing 9 - 18 in the six nations with lots of kicking and either one or no tries ended in 2022 for NH teams Ireland and France started leading the way showing how you can play good high speed modern rugby and score tries like SH sides traditionally did. Wales with Gatland use the 2019 play book. You just won't score enough points to win games today with that style.
The fact that the TNT sports coverage cut to Gatland about 75 times in this afternoon's match makes it clear they think he's a dead man walking. We'll be 12 straight defeats by the end of the Autumn. If Gatland doesn't make another offer to Tierney to go tonight, which she must accept if he does, he'll be gone at the end of this Autumn series as his position has become untenable. I said the moment he was re-appointed it was a mistake. You should never go back. That's been proven time and time again.
Interesting point regarding the emotional state of the team being a key component of 'Warrenball'. It begs the question for me as to the role played in this regard by Shaun Edwards. Thoughts?
before i watch it... stay. we dont have a player pool big/good enough to make a difference. At least a Gatland welsh team will be fit and leave it out there
Almost all the things mentioned in the video coud have easily applied to 2016-2021 italy teams. Kicking on the back foot, the mental thing etc. You'll get out of it, Welsh friends. Scarlets looked very good against Zebre you have talent coming through. Now just change the rules and allow overseas players to be called and you are ok (Joe Hawkins...)
It depends on the perspective I suppose. Like are asking if Gatland should stay or go like is it worth his time trying to make more of this team? Or should Gatland stay or go like should we find a manager that is new and can offer something different to a now different team? in the end we all want wales to come back to the fold
Gatland started in early 2002 at Wasps, and won 6 out of 8 games that season, then losing in the playoffs at Sale. The next 3 seasons he won the Premiership, then he left Wasps. Where does this fantasy losing streak come from ?
I realise you are trying to squeeze as much text as possible in the vid, by speeding up your audio. But there are so many unintelligible passages - e.g. 9:45 - 9:50. You are not communicating any more, and surely that is the point of going to the trouble of making a video.
@@RemyGold No I didn't. Thanks for your understanding and generous reply. I guess you have not thought of the obvious response - why bother doing it too fast to understand? If you intend people to slow it down, why bother speeding it up?
(post annihilation from Australia) I'll preface this by saying I'm Irish. We have similar populations (comparatively) and a similar club structure. What I see is Welsh regions being unable to match the systems elsewhere. Regional teams aren't the way forward for Wales. I think they should be allowed to leave the URC if they want too. Disband the regions and return the old clubs to their former glory. If they merged with England then they would have less travel to pay for, and more clubs feeding the nations player pool. Fans would flock to games and I think morale would lift. It would leave the URC in a weird position but ultimately I think we would adapt. Wales has always been a community game and I think the regions killed the competition all for short term success. Welsh regions win occasionally in the URC but it's sad to see their decline. Wales has a seat at International Rugby that they don't have in any other sport. This is why we are all worried for the game there. I always saw Wales as a game we could feasibly lose no matter the form when I was a child. It's not like that anymore. I do hope it can return to being a competitive team and I think we need a good Wales the same as we need South Africa or New Zealand.
It’s a non-starter - the English have considered the idea and don’t want them. They only merger they are interested in is with the wider URC. And even if the Welsh did somehow make it happen, the clubs wouldn’t remotely be able to compete financially.
Gatland tactics are 10 years out of date. He trying to play Warren ball but we don't have the players for that style of play. Our attack play has gotten worse since he brought Howley back.
So with Warrenball in this era of international rugby, I don't know if it'll work still. With defences getting much quicker, and a predisposition for a double tackle into jackal, I'm not convinced the grind is as effective as it used to be. Though on the other hand, the new directive that will stop escorts on kick receiving really benefits the box-kicking strategy that the gameplan promotes.
![The Complete Story of Destiny! From origins to Shadowkeep [Timeline and Lore explained]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9mbDXvDNqTU/mqdefault.jpg)
a 26 minute squidge video about wales out nowhere. we are blessed
6:37 don't despair you are a great analyst, you are funny, you bring joy to countless rusted on rugby fans and you are also able to bridge the gap between generations and the individual ways they consume our sport. Please please keep it up ❤❤❤
Got to this video so early Warren Gatland hasn’t ruined his legacy yet
I have been waiting for this video for a while
And not sharing that thought was too overwhelming to bare?
@@itistrue101cheer up grumpy git
@iti
Hello and welcome to youtube. You’ll love it here. It’s like a platform where people can upload videos n things.
Love your Wales vids mate. You can feel the passion and frustration all coming through 😂👌🏼
I really don't get Wales. In 2019 they wins Grand Slam, reach World #1, make the semi-finals where they lose in the dying minutes against one of the greatest teams in the history of the sport.
Fast forward to 2021 where they achieve a Triple Crown while winning the Six Nations.
Then we got 2022, where they beat the Boks at home for the first time ever. Skip ahead again to 2023, where they absolutely smash Australia at a World Cup, where they narrowly lost to one of the greatest Argentina sides ever.
Whereas the story of the last few years unquestionably had been _The Rise of The Irish®_ it can be argued that 2019-2023 was an absolute purple patch for the Welsh.
Then comes 2024 and they can't seem to buy a win.
Wales are better than this. Gatland is better than this. And my guess is that soon, things will click into place and the Welsh are going to open up a giant can of hurting on some unlucky side.
Stay the course, guys.
I wouldn't call 2019-2023 a purple patch. Wales were awful and honestly fluked those two titles. Who can forget Frances capitulation in the second half of the opening game of 2019. Wales didn't even get a single BP in a championship involving a terrible Italian side. 2021 wasn't called a near Jam Slam for nothing, that needs no explaining.
@@liamwilliams6651The top three most successful teams in the Six Nations are England, Wales, and France, in terms of the number of titles won:
England
With 29 outright titles, England is the most successful team in the Six Nations. They also hold the record for the most Grand Slams with 13.
Wales
Wales has won 28 outright titles and 11 shared titles, for a total of 39 titles. Wales has also won 12 Grand Slams.
France
France has won 18 outright titles and 8 shared titles, for a total of 26 titles. France has also won 10 Grand Slams.




Ireland has won 16 outright titles and 9 shared titles, for a total of 25 titles. Ireland has also won 4 Grand Slams.


Scotland and Italy have never won the Six Nations title. Italy's highest finish was fourth place in 2013.
@@liamwilliams6651 So you’re saying a side of 3millions people the smallest, won the entire tournament against greats** without a bonus point? Doesn’t this prove how good wales were then? To be able to win without bonus points. 😂 cry more England fan.
@@LERJ_Gaming I'm not even English but whatever. No other side has won the 6N without a bonus point, not even the 2021 Welsh side, so that should tell you everything. How do you even flex not getting bonus points wtf haha.
No one will ever fluke a 6N win dude, you finish top of those 6 sides across home and away games, you deserve it. Or fluke getting to world no1 for that matter. That 2019 side were immense
The missing link is Edwards. He made the side fit the plan
Agreed.
They should have made Edward's head coach instead of Pivac.
This is the exact reason. Edwards was the prime man to carry on after Gatland, and the WRU appointed Pivac. The WRU are to blame for EVERYTHING tbh. Grassroots is in a mess, regions, and now the international. WRU have always been bad. Now they are useless.
I’d be keen to see this kind of video for Scotland. As a Scot, I feel things have slightly slowed into a plateau. With Townsend leaving at the end of this season, and lots of interesting options for a new head coach (Franco Smith, Ronan O’Gara, Dave Rennie, & Michael Chieka all line up for when their contracts end), I’d be keen to see the Squidge analysis on it all and what needs to change.
How far do you wanna go back? Could go all the way back to 1995 with advent of professionalism and how the SRU messed it up back then.
You mean, where can you pick up a few more southern hemisphere players?
I plan to make one on the Scottish rugby 'rebuild' from the last decade, but I'm waiting on the autumn tests before I start making it
Be good if Gregor would pick Scottish players instead of having the united nations of Scotland.
Personally I have thought for years that Scotland need to raise their standards and expectations. Too often we see a Scotland captain or coach (or fans) after a close game the should've won talking about the positives and how proud they are of the performance and how they're building moving forward etc. And at the World Cup it was all down to the tough group (which is nonsense, you have three years to prepare for those opponents). So a future Scotland coach needs to cut out the excuses and very clearly state that anything less than a Six Nations win and a RWC quarter final means failure
It was so cool to see you in chasing the sun! South africa loves Squidge!
Great balanced analysis of where things currently stand for us. C’mon Cymru 🏴
Yes 🙌🏻 finally a video about Wales. I've been waiting so long!
Ireland fan here.... Whats a semi final?
😂😂😂
It's a thing leinster win every year... but ends there for the last 3 seasons 😢😅
Ireland so good - crazy they have not gone deep at any World Cup… imagine that’ll change… however WC is 2.5 years away and any team can easily fall off by then!!
England fan here - it's colloquial term for the last game you play, i believe the competition ends there actually
@@jsp__ Welshman here. You forget about the 3rd place playoff.
I still say Warren Gatland is the one of the best coaches we have had and I want Warren to stay he has done so much for Welsh rugby, I know we have lost games lately but this is a new team and it will take time and this team will step up to the mark might take a year or two but we will get there. The legends have gone , Alun Wyn Jones, Leigh Halfpenny , Justin Tipuric, Ken Owens, Dan Bigger, Goerge North, and many more they all come at the same time and they have all gone. This is a new team and it will take time. I'm with Wales all the way , I was with them in the wins and with them in the loses and I will never give up on our team, this is just my thoughts not what should happen.
Your best, most thoughtful video in a long time. Thank you.
Brilliant! I haven't watched any of your vids for a long time (nothing to do with the quality, all to to with having 2 kids under 3 leaving very little time for rygbi). This is the reasoned and sensible analysis that's missing from the print media. Loving the new streamlined presentation - I only paused twice!
The second time around is (almost) never the same. Soccer taught me that. And it seems to hold for things as different as politics and rugby union.
The WRU has damaged the game beyond repair I think. When they divided the national game into the four regions it killed the local rivalry which fuelled development. Great teams that punched well above their weight such as Neath, Newport, Pontypridd etc were reduced to 'feeder' teams and derbies which would draw in 1000s has faded away. Money, investment and player numbers and quality equally diminished. The last of a Welsh golden generation which were able to paper over these cracks has now gone and their successors are sadly not of the same calibre. This isn't Australia where rugby union is the 5th most played sport, this is the national game of Wales and its a damn shame to see and this is coming from an Englishman.
The reality was that these teams were never going to survive as professional entities, and nobody can say they didn't try. They entered into the early additions of the celtic league ( now URC ) and get hosed week in week out by the Scottish and Irish sides and this was before any of them were strong. Add that to being commercially unviable with to few people in Wales per team.
Like it or not this was a problem that was always to have to be tackled with the advert of professionalism. However they made a dogs dinner of it anyway. And maybe it was only ever going to be messy.
@DM-rp9ik 100% correct, where the WRU and Welsh Rugby clubs in general have failed is in understanding what it takes to compete in a professional environment.
The parochial and tribal nature of rugby which provided some measure of success during the amateur era, would never cut it in a professional game.
Where the WRU have consistently failed is in development of junior players, they have a hands off lessez fair attitude, which in itself, shows that they are not a serious professionally run organisation. They run the game on hope rather than by design. It is a legacy of its amateur roots and a complete inability to adapt to a changing game, taking into consideration the economic woes of Wales, where much of its youth have to leave their communities and country to find work. In such an environment, structures need to be put in place to develop Rugby players from U13s forward, the WRU seem uniquely oblivious to their own incompetence in this regard.
As they say in business, you adapt or die, in the case of Welsh Rugby, it's simply die, as its governing body is incapable of adapting. Regardless of who they employ at the helm, it is still at its core, a game run by old men happy to dine out on the glories of the past, while doing nothing to safeguard the future of the game.
I would like to think that the WRU are planning to put measures in place at a grass roots level, to establish a conveyor belt of players to feed the semi-pro, pro and international teams.
I doubt it, so I won't hold my breath.
I TOTALLY agree with senior player shouts
But seriously who are they!?
Even the greatest Leaders have a season. You become known by your enemy, your best creativity wanes, your ammo runs out, you lose the ability to surprise, the team dont listen to you with the same excitement and intensity as they did.
Pass the ball from the ruck while the pack is moving forward; not when it stops. Same with coach continuity.
Never should have took him back... two things .
1 it doesn't work to go back .
2 the first time he had brilliant players already and he got then playing. This time its different
You didn’t watch the video did you…
I wish you were employed within the Welsh team. The detail you see, I feel you could make a significant impact in the squad!!
Strapping in for this one...
In all seriousness, if you want to add something very interesting to your analysis (perhaps not publicly, given how unkind it is), have a look at points scored with Costelow at 10 vs when he’s not there. It’s genuinely fascinating, particularly as it’s often two halves (ish) of the same match.
Yep, I blame Pivac for his horrendous player management in the way he blooded people!
My personal hope is that Gatland will bring a young wales team through to being a great team again, and then the WRU really think through who they replace him with… I would see if Pat Lam is interested personally
Sounds like Gatlands player management is also piss poor. I didn't hear about the waterboarding at the time, and not backing his players during the contracts, it's all a bad look. As squidge says, if players decide they don't want to fight for him because of him not having their back, I wouldn't blame them at all
Ja, it's a tough one...
Gatland was a good coach, verging on great!
I think things went backwards for him when the Chiefs started going backwards. I don't think he has recovered emotionally or mentally.
And that transfers to his players.
And after the Pivac years, Wales needed someone with a bit of momentum on their side, excitement, and enthusiasm for the job.
Gatland came in with scars and baggage.
It was always going to be a tough call.
I hope Wales can find a way back. I love Union for its arms wrestles. And Wales was amongst the best of those teams.
I think the main issue with Wales is the WRU and lack of investment, the difference between the investment in the grass roots between Ireland and Wales is crazy!
Yet the IRFU CEO says that they are effectively bankrupt and without hundreds of millions of state aid they would have folded some years ago.
Big difference is; in 2012 Ospreys won the Celtic league and Scarlets won it in 2017 and were in the final in 2018.
Scarlets are looking sharp this season aswell. They might get playoffs
I know there are a lot of questions that people want to ask coaches. But I'm disappointed that no journalist has yet asked a coach, "Do you watch Squidge Rugby?" What self-respecting journalist wouldn't want to ask this question?
Thank you so much for this.
I think his time is up with us. The incidents you mention and his demeanour in general just seem like he's doing us all a favour here.
We need a whole rebuild of professional rugby, not just the nation side. I don't think he is right for that.
Give me someone like Stuart Lancaster. Help us rebuild but also help improve our regional set up too.
We will more than happily take him in Canada. A bad Gatland is better than any Jones
As a welsh-Canadian immigrant, I would be very interested in this move.
the WRU board need to spend a week or 2 in the Leinster set up and take notes of how well the game is structured over there. Perhaps they'd learn a thing or 2...or a 1000 lol
They’d learn that Leinster spend £30 mill a SEASON. Ireland can’t get past a quarter final even though they’re throwing a fortune at their club and international teams.
Great vid Squidge thank you and good luck in the autumn.
Mate, great video. Fair play👍
This aged well
I hope Rassie hands Cameron Hanekom his debut against Wales🤣
The video hits harder after the defeat against Fiji last weekend
Incredible video, would love to see a detailed reflection on the golden age of wales
Paul O'Connell said back in the 2000s passion and effort used to be the whole cake, nowadays it's only the icing on the cake. Wales need a new identity they can't just expect a 15 year old game plan to be enough!
Tactically Wales used to be a pressure side, aggressive defense, aggressive breakdown. Nowadays they are soft defensively and dont have the backrow to attack breakdowns like they did
I can't believe that he doesn't at least put Morris in the squad? Morris is probably the best 8 in Wales
I think we have to aim for 2 wins out of 3 in the autumn, if we don't achieve that then we have to seriously think about going in a new direction.
We don't naturally have massive ball carriers in our pack and we waste needless energy carrying for multiple phases basically going backwards. We need to develop the kicking game and play our rugby in opposition territory, make them make mistakes with the ball deep in their half rather than us in our own half. Like you said the 2 tests in Australia were lost on individual errors rather than game plan errors, we should have won definitely the second test and possibly the first.
If we build on that and cut out the mistakes I can see us getting the results we need and getting back to a decent ranking in preparation for next world cup. Next summers tour to Japan can be our re-do of 2018 to Argentina where we can try new combos and give test experience to fringe players and up and coming players who are doing well currently like macs page, Joe Westwood and others. This next 12 months is crucial for Wales to get on the right path heading towards the 2027 world cup.
To answer the question posed by the title: probably not, simply because he and his influence main reason they struggled to move on with Pivac: his fellow Kiwi sought to introduce a more dynamic, attack focused playing philosophy into a team hardened into dour, methodical tackling machines by 12 years of Gatland. The WRU's recall of Waz amounted to desperate retreat into an established comfort-zone of toiling mediocrity, and will likely keep them there.
As pure speculation ROG is an interesting suggestion and I could see it being a fit both ways.
Why would he want to do that?
@davidgormley7990 he wants to move into international coaching but is outside the current Ireland setup. The chances he gets offered as head coach position at say Ireland or France where the ship is stable is quite low, for a first gig at that level. With Wales it's less of a stretch and given the similarities of Wales and Munster's traditional straight talking, hard work ethics there seems to be some common currency. If it can work out well for either party it can work out well for both. ROG will obviously have a very clear understanding of what would be a good move for him, I'm just speculating.
@trignals All fair points. I just think that the writing is on the wall for Wales and I'm not sure that there's a way back. The WRU is a joke, the Welsh clubs aren't much better. That said, ROG is a man who likes a challenge. I think he'd need to be a miracle worker to make a success of that job though...
@@davidgormley7990 yeah I'm also not sure it's the type of challenge that necessarily suits ROG. Honestly Gats seems the best placed in terms of respect, reputation and involvement to drive the general rebuilding needed in Wales. Then it's not really a head coach role but more like what Rassie did as director of rugby in SA. There may be a long period of rebuilding but Wales has good rugby bones. When I started watching rugby Ireland were well behind Scotland. Consistent good decisions can achieve great results given time.
Dream job £500k a year with zero expectations while you deliver zero results
For as long as Welsh fans demand a top class test side without supporting the teams supplying the squad, nothing will change. Ospreys are getting half the attendances they were a decade ago. The others have similar, if not quite as drastic, drops.
Gatland had competitive regions to pick players from at the peak of Wales’ success. As those regions started to slide, he kept it together for a few years but the wheels came off in Pivac’s second year. Gatland used to make the best of a decent squad. The best of a middling squad just won’t cut it.
Squidge we need a video on Morgan Morris. Wainwright and Faletau are injured, with Wainwright looking like hes getting rushed back in to play next week. Plumtree is a good 6, but arguably not an 8. Gatland says that Morris isnt as good defensively as he is offensively. Is this accurate? Richie Rees brought up a fantasic point that one of Cardiff Blues best ever players was Xavier Rush and he did very little defensively. Just seems odd that Wales massively struggle to get ball carriers over the gaine line but dont pick arguably the best ball carrier in Wales, Morris.
Fun fact: the first choice back row of (6) Plumtree, (7) Morgan and (8) Wainwright have never played together for full 80m + barely any minutes.
I feel that these 3 starting will change Wales fortunes.
Love the channel dude ! Croeso is spelled incorrectly in the description 😉
It's already been said below, but if you add a certain man from Wigan as defence coach, they will draw out whatever talent is in there and be as successful as possible. Look at London Wasps when Gatland/Edwards got hold of them. Unreal. And the current French team are the perfect example of Edwards being the magic ingredient.
The massive problem with your argument? Wales simply do not have the players. Yes, vintage Warren ball Wales worked their socks off but they also had a group of world class players. I don't see anywhere near that in Welsh club rugby right now.
Looks like Gatland is getting involved with clubs. This is only why to fix this. Start to URC been much beter than last year. Lots to get done.
There's something to be said about who the Welsh Rugby Union chose to face in the Summer and Autumn internationals, Scotland have played Fiji and Portugal as games to mix things up for example. Wales problem is at the moment a game against Fiji is a 50/50, there really would be something to be said in having a game against a significantly lower ranked team a la Canada, USA, Portugal, Georgia, at least once in each tour.
Cheer up, Squidge .. you're a marvel ... and you could be working in a call center!!
Gatland needs to go - but results won't improve until the Welsh union sorts out its club sides. Wales don't have the players to field four competitive sides in the URC. They need to reduce their sides to three or even two, concentrate most of their talent in one or two teams, and give that talent lots of playing time together in the way that, e.g., Leinster's Irish contingent have.
Wales then need to appoint a young coach with innovative ideas and give him time to build something. Gatland is the last person you want building a new style and generation of talent. He is too old, too dour, and too negative, both in terms of playing style and in terms of general demeanour. He's also insufferably arrogant, which never pays off in the long run - hence the long string of abject performances for every side he's ever coached. I personally think the players get sick of him, but beyond that he doesn't seem to have the capacity to think outside the box. Look at what Farrell has done with Ireland and Rassie with South Africa. Wales will never have the players to match those nations, but nor should they be getting trounced by the likes of Italy.
I think gatland could do more from a DoR position. Shaun edwards or howley taking over as head coach would probably be the best fit after that. The other option is a conpletely fresh start with brand new coaches who build a new welsh way. Thats riddled with risk though
Edwards, Howley???
@phillipsugwas yeah they'd be the best fit with gatland
Get Sean Holly in as head coach mun, he knows his stuff and been there and done it
If any northern hem. team were to win a WC I'd love for it to be Wales
Why?
@Dreyno dono ...just feel they were hard done by us saffas in the 2019 WC
Love an underdog as well
@@Toefingas They don’t see themselves as underdogs. They think they have a right to be at the top table because of the 1970s. As an Irishman it’s funny as f&ck watching them enraged by Ireland’s success. Despite them winning a ton of stuff themselves over the last 20 years.
If?? 2003 too long ago?
@Dreyno
Personally I love the Irish success. The fact the NH now has a team that can regularly beat the giants of the south and it ISN'T England is great in my opinion - I just wish it was us 😁
Even Gatland cant make a silk purse out of a sows ear.
Gatland going and Wales getting a new coach would make no difference. The pool of players for Wales as of 2024, has seen the vast majority of the grand slam squads and quality players we had have retiring or leaving, Edwards the coach is also gone. Gatland can't use Warren ball and his hands are tied with a bunch of players and coaches who need years more experience playing together. Meanwhile all the other teams have got better.
The harsh reality is that even if Gatland brought wales back to their glory days, it’ll fall apart all over again once he leaves.
Is Simon Raiwalui still without a job? That would be chaos but it would be fun as hell
I think one of the main issues right now is our squad isn't very good
Before I watch the video the answer is no he's an issue but the bigger issue is with the wru
As a Bok fan, I'm dreading the upcoming arm wrestle..
Yeah, you loose the players you've lost the team you've lost the test match. There is no way he should stay unless he's done some serious back peddling and apologising for how he's treated the players over the years. If your players aren't behind you it doesn't matter what tactics you play, you're toast.
The only tier one team in a more precarious position than Wales, is the Wobbalies (but I suppose a less precarious coach)
Squidge! I came here looking for answers and you've only left me with more questions!! Can't you just do the job?
This is more like Connacht and Ireland than Wasps and Wales. They might improve but the players aren't there
Can't wait for the 'So how did the All Blacks hat trick England this year'
Love you squidge
Gatland must stay. Wales recently lost so many good players to retirement. Now rebuilding.
We havent had a front 5. Still missing Jenkins, Fender and now Carter. But, We now have a squad who are individually good enough. If we had a single competent Tight head last year, we would have pipped ENgland, Scots and Australia. Thats single position meant constant penalties and no momentum. Add in the mix and match second rows, and there is no platform.
Ultimately, the game moves on Wales got a lot of success when NH rugby was quite honestly just a lower standard to SH rugby with the 2015 World Cup the middle of this. The turgid style of games finishing 9 - 18 in the six nations with lots of kicking and either one or no tries ended in 2022 for NH teams Ireland and France started leading the way showing how you can play good high speed modern rugby and score tries like SH sides traditionally did. Wales with Gatland use the 2019 play book. You just won't score enough points to win games today with that style.
Maybe, the local teams in the URC are certainly better this year!
Stay if you don’t want to turn your record around ! Get a Saffa or a Felix Jones to turn the tide lads !
ffs - he's got to stay!
Squidge to coach Cymru!
In Wales' case, I think the issue is more the poor player pool - the coach is class
The fact that the TNT sports coverage cut to Gatland about 75 times in this afternoon's match makes it clear they think he's a dead man walking. We'll be 12 straight defeats by the end of the Autumn. If Gatland doesn't make another offer to Tierney to go tonight, which she must accept if he does, he'll be gone at the end of this Autumn series as his position has become untenable. I said the moment he was re-appointed it was a mistake. You should never go back. That's been proven time and time again.
Interesting point regarding the emotional state of the team being a key component of 'Warrenball'. It begs the question for me as to the role played in this regard by Shaun Edwards. Thoughts?
There is life in wales yet . This is a quality side pending…….
before i watch it... stay. we dont have a player pool big/good enough to make a difference. At least a Gatland welsh team will be fit and leave it out there
Go, go, go! But the WRU can’t afford to sack him!
Almost all the things mentioned in the video coud have easily applied to 2016-2021 italy teams. Kicking on the back foot, the mental thing etc. You'll get out of it, Welsh friends. Scarlets looked very good against Zebre you have talent coming through. Now just change the rules and allow overseas players to be called and you are ok (Joe Hawkins...)
yeah i'm convinced. he's got to go
It depends on the perspective I suppose. Like are asking if Gatland should stay or go like is it worth his time trying to make more of this team? Or should Gatland stay or go like should we find a manager that is new and can offer something different to a now different team? in the end we all want wales to come back to the fold
A great analysis Squidge! Glad you're with ITV too
Gatland started in early 2002 at Wasps, and won 6 out of 8 games that season, then losing in the playoffs at Sale. The next 3 seasons he won the Premiership, then he left Wasps. Where does this fantasy losing streak come from ?
To give the 26 second, less enjoyable, answer: go, he’s out of date.
The answer is no
I realise you are trying to squeeze as much text as possible in the vid, by speeding up your audio. But there are so many unintelligible passages - e.g. 9:45 - 9:50. You are not communicating any more, and surely that is the point of going to the trouble of making a video.
You realise you can change the speed of the video...slow it down,or do you just want to complain|?
@@RemyGold No I didn't. Thanks for your understanding and generous reply. I guess you have not thought of the obvious response - why bother doing it too fast to understand? If you intend people to slow it down, why bother speeding it up?
Is a toby booth video going to be planned?
Warren Ball ? Llewellyn 6'5 around 16.5 Stone, Eddie James 6'4 17Stone and Grady 6'6 17.6 Stone on Wing. Totally different prospect to last year
(post annihilation from Australia)
I'll preface this by saying I'm Irish. We have similar populations (comparatively) and a similar club structure. What I see is Welsh regions being unable to match the systems elsewhere. Regional teams aren't the way forward for Wales. I think they should be allowed to leave the URC if they want too. Disband the regions and return the old clubs to their former glory. If they merged with England then they would have less travel to pay for, and more clubs feeding the nations player pool. Fans would flock to games and I think morale would lift. It would leave the URC in a weird position but ultimately I think we would adapt. Wales has always been a community game and I think the regions killed the competition all for short term success. Welsh regions win occasionally in the URC but it's sad to see their decline. Wales has a seat at International Rugby that they don't have in any other sport. This is why we are all worried for the game there. I always saw Wales as a game we could feasibly lose no matter the form when I was a child. It's not like that anymore. I do hope it can return to being a competitive team and I think we need a good Wales the same as we need South Africa or New Zealand.
It’s a non-starter - the English have considered the idea and don’t want them. They only merger they are interested in is with the wider URC.
And even if the Welsh did somehow make it happen, the clubs wouldn’t remotely be able to compete financially.
Asking you to do a video on the wallabies might as well be asking you to move a rainbow.
Wales have nothing to loose, give the hungry youngsters a go.
Gatland tactics are 10 years out of date. He trying to play Warren ball but we don't have the players for that style of play. Our attack play has gotten worse since he brought Howley back.
His support staff are 20 years out of date
2:21 You leave Lyn Jones alone! He is needed across the pond
The man must go
So with Warrenball in this era of international rugby, I don't know if it'll work still. With defences getting much quicker, and a predisposition for a double tackle into jackal, I'm not convinced the grind is as effective as it used to be. Though on the other hand, the new directive that will stop escorts on kick receiving really benefits the box-kicking strategy that the gameplan promotes.
How does listening to sounds of babies crying improve your game?
22:33 - Based.