{"id":1103,"date":"2019-09-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/warren-gatland-on-welsh-rugbys-golden-era\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:29","slug":"warren-gatland-on-welsh-rugbys-golden-era","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/warren-gatland-on-welsh-rugbys-golden-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Warren Gatland On Welsh Rugby’s Golden Era"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n Sep 09, 2019 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Warren Gatland On Welsh Rugby’s Golden Era<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Coaching & Development<\/a>, Leadership & Culture<\/a> <\/div>\n
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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/warren-gatland-on-welsh-rugbys-golden-era\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n
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Warren Gatland explores why his Wales teams are able to over-achieve at the highest level.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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Warren Gatland believes that the level of performance that led Wales to a Six Nations Grand Slam earlier this year will fall short at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan this autumn.<\/h4>\n
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By John Portch<\/h6>\n

\u201cIf we want to do well in the World Cup then a Grand Slam is not going to be good enough,\u201d he tells the Leaders Performance Institute down the phone. \u201cWe\u2019ll need to improve from there, get better, and work even harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Grand Slam is completed in the Six Nations when one of the competing teams \u2013 Wales, England, Ireland, France, Scotland and Italy \u2013 beats the other five during the competition that takes place annually between February and March. Each year one nation will lift the Six Nations trophy but relatively few teams do so while also winning a Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

Gatland, however, has achieved the feat three times on the four occasions he has won the Six Nations with Wales across 12 years and, with that third and final Grand Slam behind him, Leaders Performance Institute\u00a0finds the New Zealander taking a break from laying the groundwork for what will also be his third and final World Cup as Wales Head Coach. His side, which is currently ranked second in the world, will arguably be better prepared than in either of his previous World Cup campaigns in 2011 and 2015.<\/p>\n

Those preparations include the production of a motivational video that the Wales coaching staff will use to welcome squad members to training ahead of their World Cup warm-up matches against England and Ireland. A section of the video will include former England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson discussing his own experience of winning a Grand Slam before proceeding to win the World Cup in 2003.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of building on the Grand Slam and not being afraid to hear what other people have to say,\u201d Gatland begins in explanation. \u201cJonny was asked about Wales after our Grand Slam and referred to his own time with England. He won the Grand Slam and said that was great but they knew to win the World Cup they had to improve and get better. We\u2019ve cut that as part of the video because Jonny is well respected in the game, it\u2019s a pretty powerful message and we\u2019ll show that to the players. We need to continue to improve, get better and work even harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wales will touch down in Japan with as good a chance of winning the Webb-Ellis Trophy as any team beyond the reigning double world champions New Zealand and, in that respect, it is perhaps best to have a Kiwi at the helm.<\/p>\n

The Hamilton-born Gatland played as a hooker for his local team Waikato and wore the All Blacks jersey on a number of occasions. His playing career saw him work with some of the finest New Zealand coaches of the era, including Alex Wyllie [who led the All Blacks to World Cup success at the inaugural tournament in 1987] and Glenn Ross, who worked with Gatland and both school and club level. Their approaches have rubbed off on him in different but complementary ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlex Wyllie was tough and trained us pretty hard and that\u2019s what I took out of the experience with him,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThe teams I\u2019ve coached have always worked pretty hard; it\u2019s not rocket science as far as I\u2019m concerned. Then there was Glenn Ross, whose coaching skills were excellent and who was very organised. Trying to pick out the best attributes of those coaches then trying to add that to your own mix and personality has really led my development as a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gatland is not the only player from that Waikato team to enjoy coaching success: Andrew Strawbridge, like Gatland, has returned to the club as Head Coach, while John Mitchell is currently working as Defence Coach with England men\u2019s, and Ian Foster is an assistant with the All Blacks. This trio, to name but three, might never have reached the heights with the All Blacks, but Gatland believes this may have been central to their coaching rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you see a lot of superstars as players and they don\u2019t really know why they are superstars and they don\u2019t understand the process of improving all the time and all the different aspects of a team,\u201d he told The 1014 Rugby <\/em>prior to this year\u2019s Six Nations. \u201cSometimes players have had to work hard while sitting on the bench and actually end up making better coaches; my experience has definitely been like that because I had to sit on the fringes and look and evaluate and look at players in front of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Proximity to the All Blacks also had an impact. Gatland tells Leaders Performance Institute: \u201cOn tour, one of the senior players said something to me that really resonated: \u2018you\u2019re better off never being an All Black than being a considered a bad one\u2019. It was simple things, such as values in life, too. When the coach said \u2018run to the line and back\u2019 you ran to the line and put your foot on the line, not over or in front of the line, you didn\u2019t stop six inches short. If we were running around the field, you didn\u2019t cut the corner, you ran around it \u2013 the players policed this themselves. When people ask why did it matter, if you take shortcuts to training, and just little shortcuts under pressure, does that mean that during a game you\u2019re going to take a potential shortcut or the easy option? Really simple values were instilled in you that made a big impact in terms of me as a player and eventually as a coach as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gatland announced last year that he would walk away from Wales at the conclusion of their World Cup campaign. It will bring the curtain down on one of the most successful periods in Welsh rugby history. His stock has never been higher and, if his exploits with Wales were not enough, Gatland has also led the combined British & Irish Lions touring side to a series victory in Australia in 2013, as well as a creditable drawn series in his native New Zealand in 2017. He will take the Lions\u2019 reins for a record third time on their 2021 tour of South Africa.<\/p>\n

Those triumphs loom large but Gatland is anything but self-aggrandising. \u201cI\u2019m not the type of coach who knows everything about the game,\u201d he admits when Leaders Performance Institute\u00a0asks about his efforts to challenge players in training. \u201cA player will come and ask me about and I\u2019ll just go \u2018yeah, that\u2019s a good question, I don\u2019t know the answer to that, what do you think? Let\u2019s work it out together\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gatland’s attitudes have been shaped by a coaching career that reaches back three decades to the late-1980s when still in his mid-20s he combined playing and coaching duties at the Taupiri Rugby Club in Waikato. He later took a dual role when crossing the world to play at Galwegians on Ireland\u2019s west coast. Gatland was gradually building his reputation and successful coaching stints followed at New Zealand\u2019s Thames Valley, Connacht back in Ireland, Wasps in London, all before returning to Waikato. Gatland also enjoyed an initial foray into international rugby with Ireland between 1998 and 2001. Each experience, he feels, has helped make him a better coach.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cAs a coach I think my strengths are really understanding how to prepare the team for the week and get the best out of them in terms of knowing how hard to push them, when to pull back a little bit, when to give them a break, when to push the buttons in terms of the expectations and what we do. That\u2019s definitely one of my strengths, being able to change and adapt, not get too uptight, and be as fluid as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the distinct flavour Gatland has brought to his work with Wales, Leaders Performance Institute\u00a0explores how he has thrived in the goldfish bowl that can be Welsh rugby to continually produce teams that over-achieve at the highest level.<\/p>\n

\u2018Wales\u2019 best coach\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wales fly-half Gareth Anscombe was emphatic in his appraisal of his national Head Coach before Wales defeated Ireland to win the Grand Slam in March. \u201cHe has got to go down as Wales\u2019 best coach,\u201d he said of Gatland. \u201cIt is hard to go past his record and what he has accomplished \u2013 the fact that we are going for another Grand Slam that would be his third.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has just got the ability to get the best out of everyone and, as a player, one thing he does do is give you a belief to win. He really does leave no doubt in your mind that the team will get the job done. He has been down a long time, and will probably be a little bit emotional as it will be the last time in the stadium with this on the line. He deserves to go out with this. But likewise, everyone deserves it with the work we have put in and the commitment we have shown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anscombe is not alone in his praise of Gatland and there are players and coaches alike who say this is the best Wales group they have worked with. Leaders Performance Institute\u00a0puts this to Gatland, who is thoughtful in his response.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they mean by that is that we\u2019ve got a group of guys who are prepared to do anything for anyone else in the squad. There\u2019s just no negativity. The Welsh have a great saying about somebody being a \u2018sapper\u2019 \u2013 somebody who sucks the energy out of something \u2013 I\u2019ve been involved with teams where there\u2019s been sappers within the squad; they can be negative and have a negative impact on the group as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is an echo of Anscombe\u2019s words in his description of his playing group: \u201cThis group of players is incredibly positive and there\u2019s a great mix of really experienced older players and some youngsters who have come through.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe picked up a lot of injuries at the 2015 World Cup so the whole focus from 2015 was building depth in the squad and greater competition. That\u2019s created a real desire and the players in the squad are not comfortable because you\u2019ve got players in lots of positions that are all good enough to take to the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very lucky with the group of young men that we\u2019ve got at the moment. They work incredibly hard and, for me, it\u2019s about them putting on that jersey and wearing it with pride. As a coach, it\u2019s not always about winning for me \u2013 it\u2019s about when you put that jersey on and you give 100% and you come off the field and you can look yourself in the mirror and can say I tried really hard today. I am happy enough with that because at times you\u2019re going to get beaten by other teams and those teams can be better than you on the day, but the effort can be the most important thing. One of the things that I say to the players whenever we come into a campaign is how privileged we are to be involved in professional sport and the opportunity that gives us.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the most important thing for you as a player is your family. If there\u2019s any issues at home or any problem we can help support you with that. If players are happy at home then I\u2019m going to get the best out of them. That\u2019s one of the values I keep stressing to the players and there\u2019s no point just talking about it, you\u2019ve got to live it. When a player comes to me and says his wife\u2019s got a scan on the Tuesday when we might be training, I never refuse their request to be with their partner. I look at it like they\u2019re injured; if they\u2019re injured then they won\u2019t take part in a session either, which happens to a lot of players over a campaign. Those family values are really important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Empowering coaches and staff<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wales enjoys one of the most distinctive rugby-playing cultures in the world, which goes some way to explaining their continual over-achievement on the world stage. Gatland has created an environment where pride in the shirt has flourished alongside those aforementioned family values but what of the players themselves? What sets Welsh rugby players apart?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of cultural differences that I\u2019ve noticed in my time coaching in Ireland, Wales and England. They\u2019re all different and Welsh players are very skilful.\u201d Gatland chooses his next words carefully: \u201cSometimes you don\u2019t have a lot of natural leaders and they\u2019re not always vocal in team meetings, but they\u2019ve got an incredible work ethic and will run through a brick wall for you.\u201d It is therefore key to accentuate that strength. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to look at some of the positive cultural aspects of players and where you can potentially get the best out of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

He compares his players to the children he used to teach in New Zealand in the days when rugby union was still an amateur sport. \u201cKids in a classroom can concentrate for 20 minutes and that\u2019s what players are like,\u201d he observes. \u201cMy teaching background has helped me with planning and preparation. I think you\u2019ve got to keep it simple, focusing on three or four priorities. It\u2019s easier for the players to understand in reviews and there\u2019s no point covering 20 or 30 points when four or five is enough. The players want to know the focus areas that we\u2019re working on in training for the week and it\u2019s the same with the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a risk of over-coaching. That\u2019s a big thing because, having been involved in teams in the past where players are excited, coaches are excited, then all of a sudden, you\u2019ve done ten extra minutes in a session, then another five. It doesn\u2019t seem a lot but over a week it\u2019s an extra hour and a half on the training pitch and you\u2019ve covered another four or five kilometres.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to create an environment where players want to come in every day, work hard, and go away feeling it\u2019s been a positive day and they\u2019ve got something out of it and look forward to coming back.\u201d Gatland explains that he has fostered an environment where the players are comfortable challenging and even disagreeing with him. \u201cI don\u2019t want the players to be afraid to express their opinions about things; you don\u2019t always accept their opinions but them being comfortable and being able to express themselves creates that open environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to be very honest with players. I don\u2019t always have the answers when they come to me about selection. Sometimes the answer is that you\u2019ve just got to keep working hard, you\u2019re not too far away you\u2019ve just got to wait for an opportunity, that\u2019s all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the way sport is sometimes, then there may be players whom you give specific things that you want them to improve and work on. I don\u2019t try to give them an answer that they may want to hear, it\u2019s kind of giving them the most honest appraisal of where you think they\u2019re at and sometimes you just don\u2019t have an answer.\u201d Gatland is reliant on his coaching staff, with individuals such as Rob Howley, Shaun Edwards and Robin McBryde some of the most sought-after coaches in the game. The trio, who all join their Head Coach in departing for pastures new at the conclusion of the World Cup, have long been trusted lieutenants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first start coaching with a team,\u201d Gatland begins, \u201cI\u2019ll drive it a lot of it myself then try to pull back and allow the other coaches to flourish, to empower them to take responsibility and ownership. One of the things for me as a coach, is that I am never afraid to be challenged by the other coaches; we\u2019ll have discussions and disagreements and I think that\u2019s incredibly healthy. I\u2019m going to challenge them and talk about things and I want them to challenge me and be comfortable doing that; this is about us as a collective and a coaching group. We all need to look at improving, I\u2019ve got an insatiable appetite for knowledge and don\u2019t know everything about the game, want to continue to improve as a coach and I want the same for them as well. We have differences of opinion about selection at times and the way we want to play the game; we\u2019ll discuss that and we\u2019re pretty open about that, but once we make a collective decision then we back each other 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n

This does lead to some difficult conversations with the players, as Gatland freely admits: \u201cA lot of coaches would say the hardest thing about being a coach is delivering the news to a player that\u2019s not starting or not been picked for the starting XV, or he\u2019s on the bench or he\u2019s not involved in the 23 at all. It\u2019s not always the hardest thing for younger players where their expectation isn\u2019t quite as high. It\u2019s like everything; players will have their own personal goals that they\u2019re setting, those change depending on where you are in the team; when you\u2019re a younger you happy to be in the squad and then you might get selected on the bench, so you\u2019ve achieve those goals and you might want to be in the starting XV. Your goals keep changing and you want to be a good player in that squad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOften the conversations aren\u2019t long but you\u2019re giving them time to reflect on the decision and giving them an opportunity to come back to you. Then there has been times, and I\u2019ve experienced this in the past, where we don\u2019t talk to players about selection \u2013 we might just announce the team and say to them if there\u2019s anyone who wants to come and talk to the coaches we\u2019re available for them to come and talk to us afterwards because you want them to take some responsibility and approach us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gatland is also mindful of maintaining the authority of the coaching staff in matters of selection. \u201cIf you\u2019re always going to the players then it can potentially put them in a position of power. They can finish the conversation on their own terms when they want to because we made the initial approach, but if it\u2019s the other way around and they\u2019re coming to you and seeking information then the roles are reversed. It\u2019s assessing the situation of where you are, where the squad is, and potentially where the players that may have missed out are at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coaches are, however, ultimately in service of the players, who under Gatland\u2019s instruction form a leadership group ahead of every campaign. As Wales outside-half Dan Biggar said of the team\u2019s leadership group at the 2018 Six Nations: \u201cWe have a responsibility to drive standards and make sure that we look after the group and get a sense of what they are feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gatland is also proud of his players when they refuse to take the soft option. \u201cWhen we played Ireland for the Grand Slam, for example, I gave the players the option of a single session on the Thursday instead of a double and I thought they\u2019d take that option,\u201d he says. \u201cThey did the single session ahead of the England week but they came back to me and said, no, they want the double session. For me that\u2019s massive. It\u2019s always harder doing a double session than a single session, certainly when you\u2019ve warmed up and you\u2019ve had to cool down and then go and do it again later in the week. But I saw that as a huge positive of where they were at as a group but also the amount of trust they had in the whole setup and the staff, conditioners and medical team as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sending subtle messages<\/strong><\/p>\n

Crucial to Wales\u2019 success under Gatland has been their ability to perform under pressure. He says: \u201cIt\u2019s all well and good doing things on the training pitch but when a player runs out in front of 75,000 people that\u2019s a totally different experience. You try to replicate things as much as you possibly can in training; you want your training to be at a higher intensity potentially at certain times. We run lots of situations where we put the players in a stressful situation by fatiguing them; doing a fitness and conditioning block then going into a skill session or a decision-making session. They hopefully improve in those situations and you\u2019ve got to make the right decisions on the field and you have the experience of executing or making decisions under severe fatigue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gatland drew attention for his comments before Wales opened their 2019 Six Nations campaign in Paris. He said that were they to win on that Friday evening they would go on to win the tournament. It was born of an effort to motivate his players and draw on the positives of a favourable draw. \u201cWhat I was trying to do was send a subtle message that if the coach is coming out and saying that, if that has one percentage of impact on the players\u2019 confidence and self-belief, then I\u2019ve done my job,\u201d he explains. \u201cAnd that might be one of the small percentages that you need to go on and build the confidence and hopefully win.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the event, Wales found themselves 16-0 down at half-time at the Stade de France. Yet neither Gatland nor the team panicked. \u201cIt was very calm and relaxed. I said the message that we\u2019ve got to score first in the second half and we did. We felt that as a team that we were a lot fitter than the French team and finished strongly in the second half.\u201d The messaging proved important, especially at a moment where their Six Nations campaign appeared lost barely 40 minutes after it had started. But Wales did score next, the match was won 24-19, and Italy were then dispatched 26-15 in Rome in their second match. \u201cWe made ten changes against Italy and were able to win that game, so people from the outside weren\u2019t really sure where we were as a side,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThen in the down week we trained the players incredibly hard; for us it was as much mental as anything. We had everything in the bank in terms of what we wanted to do, where we were going, building for the England game [in match week three], and then the message to the players that week was that England have which Welsh team is turning up at the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were continually referring back to the hard work we put in, that the hard work was in the bank and the message to the players that week was \u2018no one is training harder than us\u2019 \u2018there\u2019s no way Ireland or England are training harder than us\u2019 \u2013 whether that was right or wrong I don\u2019t know! When you talk about how hard they\u2019re working then you can turn that into a real positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the event, both England [21-17] and Ireland [27-7] were defeated in Cardiff while Scotland were beaten on the road [18-11]. Attention now turns to the preparations for Japan where Wales will be among the favourites. \u201cHopefully we\u2019ll be able to give the players self-belief and confidence,\u201d adds Gatland. \u201cIn previous World Cups we\u2019ve turned up as definitely one of the fittest teams and there\u2019s no doubt the same focus will be there in Japan. We\u2019ve created more depth and competition in the squad and you also need that little bit of luck to go your way \u2013 every side is going to need that. The biggest goal for us is to reach the quarter-finals and then \u2013 and I know it\u2019s a clich\u00e9 \u2013 but taking it one game at a time and having confidence and belief.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe exciting thing about World Cups is the amount of time you get in terms of your preparation. We can really go into detail about skill development and game-planning and work on so many more aspects of the game than in the typical two weeks you get with the players during the Six Nations or Autumn Internationals.\u201d<\/p>\n

It promises to be an emotional swansong for Gatland, who initially planned to stay for just the four years of his first contract but, save for two sabbaticals when he took the reins of the Lions, here he is 12 years down the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two sabbaticals with the Lions were really good for me mentally, to have that break and get away and have the opportunity to coach the Lions and be away with other players and coaches. That really refreshed me coming back into the Wales setup. I don\u2019t think I would have lasted that long if it hadn\u2019t been for how friendly, welcoming, and hospitable the Welsh have been. They have been incredibly generous to me and my family when they have been here and that makes it easier, particularly in a small nation like Wales when you can give them some success and see what it means to the fans, public and nation as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s more than winning matches, just seeing how important it is to the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

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