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More details revealed on Warren Gatland's role with the Chiefs

Warren Gatland. (Photo by Jeremy Ward/Photosport)

The Chiefs will enter the 2022 season with a re-jigged coaching structure following the departure of forwards guru Neil Barnes and the return of Warren Gatland after his ‘sabbatical’ with the British and Irish Lions.

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Gatland was brought in as head coach on a four-year deal beginning in 2020 but after Clayton McMillan so successfully took the reins last season while Gatland was overseas, the Chiefs made the decision late in 2021 to shift Gatland into a director of rugby role for the next two years and retain McMillan in his current post.

Speaking to RugbyPass in November, McMillan touched on some of the broader responsibilities Gatland might have this season but the Chiefs head coach has now revealed that Gatland will still be getting his hands dirty on the day-to-day and will work alongside David Hill looking after the team’s defence.

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      Last year, that was primarily McMillan’s responsibility but with Barnes now heading up Taranaki’s NPC side, he’s had to step into a more hands-on role come lineout time.

      “The coaching team is getting on like a house on fire,” McMillan told media on Thursday. “Gats has come in and I think he’s pretty understated but he’s a smart man and we’ve all found our niche pretty quickly, really. We get along pretty well but we all challenge each other pretty hard and we’re all open to growing. The early signs are that it’s going to be a great relationship right across the board.

      “In terms of Barnsey departing, I’ve picked up the lineout and David Hill’s going to take a more active role in the defensive side of the game, which him and I shared last year, and Gats is working alongside him to provide some guidance there.”

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      McMillan also confirmed that Nic White and Roger Randle would retain their role’s from last season as scrum and attack coaches, respectively, while Alan Bunting, the head coach of the new Chiefs Manawa side, will also spend plenty of time working with the men’s side.

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      “We’ve also got Alan Bunting, who’s obviously the head coach of the Manawa, but he’s basically a full-time employee of the Chiefs,” McMillan said. “We’ve done that deliberately. He’s filling the skills coaching role.

      “We accept that when he’s going to be with the Manawa, that will be his priority, but to kind of accelerate his learning and for us to tap into his experience, he’s been in for the whole pre-season and then once Manawa’s over, he’ll re-integrate back in with us.”

      While Gatland’s first year in charge of the Chiefs got off to a strong start, with the team recording three wins from their opening five matches, things took a nasty turn following the Covid-enforced break and the Chiefs lost all eight of their Super Rugby Aotearoa matches.

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      In contrast, the side enjoyed a strong 2021, managing nine wins from 14 matches and narrowly missing out on the Super Rugby Aotearoa title to the ever-strong Crusaders.

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      McMillan says that since returning to the Waikato, Gatland has added value where needed but also maintained a respectful distance so as to learn how the team operates with McMillan in charge.

      “Gats is in here every day so this is not a part-time role for him,” he said. “We want him to be here, we want him to have an active role in everything we do. From my perspective, it’s been awesome.

      “He’s just really… I wouldn’t say sat back, but he’s been really respectful in seeing how I operated because unlike the other coaches, he didn’t really get to see how I operated [last year]. It’s only taken a couple of weeks to all get into our groove and we’re all really happy.

      “I’m really confident that his knowledge, his experience is going to serve us really well in the role that he’s got.”

      The inaugural Super Rugby Pacific competition kicks off on February 18, with the Chiefs taking on the Highlanders a day later.

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      T
      Tom 27 minutes ago
      English rugby pundits and fans really need to get a grip

      However I think the “if their opponents had scored more points then England would have lost” retrospective is pointless at best and silly at worst.

      I completely understand your view on this but England were the worst team in both games and if we're letting the result detract from the evaluation of the performance then we're doing ourselves a disservice. England fans should not get excited because we scraped two fortunate wins, it was a swing in variance and long term that variance will come crashing down on England because they did not play well. Ifs and buts aside I don't think anyone thinks England are better than either France or Scotland. The performance is what matters, results follow performances in the long run.


      You could for sure argue that the games they lost they could have won if the bounce of a ball went differently. In none of those narrow loses did England feel considerably the better team and there weren't moments you'd chalk up to massive amounts of fortune. In the two narrow loses they very much felt like the worst team and there were many moments where the rub of the green went England's way. Ultimately, they've had an uptick in variance which will average itself out to more losses because they're not good. These two results don't mean anything has been fixed. As I say, performances are what I'm looking for, not results, the results come if the performances are good and right now the performance in every game has more or less been dire.

      4 Go to comments
      R
      RedWarriors 49 minutes ago
      France change two for Ireland but stick with 7-1 bench tactic

      I saw Ben Kayser saying the French players would be livid and motivated due to the Ringrose ban etc. Galthie and Ntamack know the exact reason why the bans differ and one must assume the French squad does also. Galthie is playing silly buggers.


      As the red card for Ringrose fell right before a fallow week, he WAS released by Leinster who provided accompanying substantiation. Precedent shows club matches are included in bans in such cases. For Galthie/France alone precedents are Atonio (2023), Haouas (2023), and Danty (2024). Club matches counted for bans.


      Ntamack was different because France were due to play a match the following week (versus England). Therefore Galthie COULD NOT release Ntamack. In the written decision, Galthie tried to argue that Ntamack would be released after England but had to admit that a lot depended on outcome of England match which was unknowable. On top of that Ntamack was the starting outhalf for France.

      The precedents for the Ntamack situation are O’Mahony (2021) where club games did not count, and Willemse (2024) where Willemse had a 10 match ban reduced to 4 and club matches DID count for the suspension.


      So Galthie has had three cases like Ringrose (Atonio, Haouas, Danty) with same outcome as Ringrose. He had one previous case like Ntamack where he succeeded, but he was aware of and even mentioned the O’Mahony case where all the ban was for International matches.


      In a nutshell. Why were those players allowed club matches to count? Because they WERE released for the club games.

      Why did club matches not count for O’Mahony and Ntamack? Because they WERE NOT released for the club games which meant they could not reach the evidential threshold required.


      Why is he demanding a World Rugby inquiry when he knows the reasons for such decisions, has known for years, has benefitted for years? France know this and Ireland knows this.

      Dupont and the French team are honorable. This wont sit well with them. I would argue this is a bigger motivator for Ireland than for France.


      Conclusion: Galthie is under serious pressure to win this match

      31 Go to comments
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