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Wales' Warren Gatland issues response to Jamie Roberts' criticism

By PA
Warren Gatland (left) and Jamie Roberts in happier times with Wales (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Warren Gatland has claimed he takes with “a grain of salt” comments fired at him from former players following Wales’ record-equalling 10th successive Test match defeat. Gatland also revealed that he has not thought about stepping away after beginning his second stint as Wales head coach ahead of the 2023 Guinness Six Nations.

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Former Wales centre Jamie Roberts, an independent non-executive director on the Welsh Rugby Union board, and scrum-half Mike Phillips were among the critical voices after a 24-19 defeat against Fiji.

“Losing 10 on the bounce – that’s the worst Wales have been in the professional era,” Roberts said, in his role as a match-day pundit for S4C. “I understand the spin Warren is trying to give, but sorry, I don’t think Wales have moved forward.”

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Wallaby centre Len Ikitau and lock Jeremy Williams

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Wallaby centre Len Ikitau and lock Jeremy Williams

Wales tackle Australia in Cardiff on Sunday, when another loss would see them arrive at an all-time low by surpassing their previous worst results sequence set under Gatland’s fellow New Zealander Steve Hansen in 2002 and 2003.

“I haven’t really thought about it [his own position], we will see what happens. It is not in my mind at the moment,” Gatland said. “I hadn’t seen the comments. My son rung me about that this morning and said, ‘Have you seen the comments?’ He was probably more upset about them than I was.

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“I take some of those comments with a little bit of a grain of salt. I don’t have any issues with it. He [Roberts] is paid to do a job from a punditry point of view, and there are no issues from my perspective.

“I know there are a couple of people who have contacted him and sent him messages and said he was a bit out of line, but that is their opinion as well. Am I happy with where we are at the moment? No. Is there pressure? Yes.

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“It is a different kind of pressure. It is a pressure that potentially I don’t like, but I am not uncomfortable with because I understand where we are at.”

Australia have beaten Wales nine times from their last 11 Cardiff visits, and have arrived in the Welsh capital following a spectacular victory over England. “We can only continue to work as hard as we’ve been doing, and hopefully we will get across the line,” Gatland added. “Do I believe in what we are doing? 100 per cent.

“The conviction is there, and if the conviction is there it probably takes away a little bit of some of the noise that is coming towards us. My job is making sure we are all on the same page as a group of coaches, and developing some confidence and self-belief in the players in what we are doing. We have not thrown in the towel in any way.

“How do I take the pressure and be comfortable with it on me and take it away from the players so they can go and play with some freedom, back their skills and ability and not feel the pressure about the performance and the result. I am comfortable with the pressure being on me.”

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NB 20 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Nice bit if revisioniusm but that's all it is JW.


For your further education, I found the following breakdown of one prominent club's finances in the Top 14 [Clermont].


For Clermont (budget of €29.5 million for 2021-2022) :

- 20% from ticket sales

- 17% from the LNR (includes TV Rights, compensation from producing french internationals and other minor stuff)

- 5% from public collectivities (so you're looking at funds from the city of Clermont, the department of Puy-De-Dôme and the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)

- 4% from merchandising and events

- 3% from miscellaneous

- 51 % from sponsorships and partnerships. They've got 550 different partners. The main ones are CGI, Groupama, Limagrain/Jacquet, Omerin, Paprec, Renault and of course Michelin (not surprising since they're actually the founders of the club).


As you can see nothing comes from the FFR at all. The LNR is a separate entitiy to FFR and their aims frequently do not accord.


It is also why the European breakaway plotted by LNR and PR back in 2013 had nothing to do with the governing bodies of either England or France - and it most certainly did not have their blessing https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story/_/id/15331030/jean-pierre-lux-anglo-french-cup-detrimental-european-rugby


And from the horse's mouth [ex AB skipper Sean Fitapatrick] about the comp between Top 14 and Super Rugby:


"The Top 14 in France is probably the best rugby competition in the world at the moment, purely for the week-in, week-out.”


“I think the quality of players. They are bigger, they are faster, they are stronger. Which then carries on into the international game.”

Take it from someone who knows JW😅

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