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No rest for Warren Gatland as he heads to Chiefs training straight off plane from Wales

Warren Gatland. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Incoming Chiefs head coach Warren Gatland isn’t taking any breaks before taking up his new role with the Hamilton-based Super Rugby franchise.

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The 56-year-old wrapped up his 12-year tenure with Wales on Saturday, taking charge of the Barbarians in an exhibition match against his former side, which was being coached by his successor Wayne Pivac for the first time, at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.

The match was celebrated as Gatland’s farewell from Welsh rugby, with a gate at the stadium renamed in his honour prior to kick-off to commemorate the achievements he accrued with Wales, including a world No. 1 ranking and numerous Six Nations titles.

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However, the former All Blacks hooker is ready to move on and return to Waikato, the province of which he played 140 times for and coached to a domestic title over a three-season spell between 2005 and 2007.

In fact, Gatland is so eager to begin his four-year deal with the Chiefs that he departed the United Kingdom earlier this week to head straight to a training session in Hamilton today, despite there still being a month to run on his contract with Wales.

“My WRU contract doesn’t actually finish until the end of December, but I’m gone,” Gatland said after the weekend’s 44-33 loss to Wales.

“I am so indebted to the people of Wales for the opportunities that I’ve had.

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“Hopefully we’ve had a chance to put a smile on people’s faces. To be able to do that has been pretty special.”

He’ll be hoping to do the same for Chiefs fans over the coming season, and to ensure that, he’s getting stuck into his work immediately.

‘I’ll get picked up by a friend from Auckland on Tuesday, go and pick up my car and then have a shower and go to training – that’s Tuesday for me,” Gatland said.

“I’m really excited about Super Rugby and what challenges that poses.”

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Gatland’s contract with the Chiefs will see him take charge of the franchise until 2023, although he will take a year off in 2021 to coach the British and Irish Lions on their tour to South Africa.

The Chiefs kick-off their 2020 Super Rugby campaign against the Blues at Eden Park in Auckland on January 31.

In other news:

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Flankly 2 hours ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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