Loose Pass: Six Nations ‘madness’ and Warren Gatland’s firefighting job
Marcus Smith celebrates England's Six Nations win over Ireland while Wales head coach Warren Gatland looks on.
This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with the Six Nations…
How long is ‘time’?
Last week, it was mentioned in these lines that all Steve Borthwick needed to get his team up to speed with all the new concepts required for England to be better was a bit of time. Turns out that a bit of time can – at least in England – now be defined as a week. Or maybe a fortnight.
The win over Ireland was excellent in almost every way; in fact, there’s no obvious way in which England were not good on Saturday. Cynics might point to the non-expulsion of Ellis Genge for what was very clearly a no-arms clearout at best on Tadhg Furlong, but that’s an incident in a game, not a facet. England were good physically, they defended well, and the attacking lines and support lines were superb. They at least matched Ireland in every facet of the game. It was a huge lift on the performance a fortnight ago.
It was a performance that very much damned whichever ‘leak’ or ‘source’ had complained about England barely training attack enough or over-focussing on some things. Ben Earl was – surprisingly considering this is a chap who spends much of matches screaming and shouting so much that you sometimes think he’s about to burst – eloquent and understated after the match, but made the very succinct point that while England had not been where they wanted to be a couple of weeks ago, it was not for the want of either thinking or working hard at the problems. It just needed a bit of time.
Time has been a theme for all the teams so far in this bizarre tournament, though. Warren Gatland, for example, has set his stall out to develop a bunch of talented youngsters, for which he clearly needs time measured in seasons rather than weeks. Gonzalo Quesada has achieved extraordinary results in a remarkably short space of time. At the other end of the spectrum, time looks to be ticking a little on the reigns of Gregor Townsend and Fabien Galthie – although the latter’s slightly belated willingness to give game-time to some younger and fresher talents may have bought him a little extra time to turn things around.
A lot can happen in a short space of time; this tournament has given us the best of it.
Waspish Warren Gatland in an unenviable position
Ask anyone who coaches rugby to any reasonable level: the last thing you want to do after a game, not least a game in which you’ve just been well-beaten yet which you could have won, is publicly facing critical questions and opinions from those outside your camp.
It does come with the territory, and it is a necessary evil for the game, but castigating Gatland for exiting as the bear itself, rather than being pursued by such, is to forget just how bewildering and drawn-out some of these post-match interviews can be. You can count on one hand the number of times a player or coach, particularly from the losing team, is not to be seen getting visibly impatient to get back to his mates and start the real work of getting the defeat out of the system. You can count, unfortunately, on several hands the number of times those players and coaches face questions either baited with inferences to officiating or pertaining to the next game (‘Are you going to pick a team to win next week?’ was a classic from Sunday), which is generally as far from their minds as it is possible for anything to be.
For the record, Gatland did not simply storm off in a huff. He did get impatient with the wait for the studio to cut to him, but rather than waste time standing still, he headed off to do a different interview with Welsh-language channel S4C, which was ready to shoot. Then he returned to do his BBC interview.
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Gatland has faced some tough times as Wales coach, but none can be as tough as this one currently. His supporting cast of regions is as cash-strapped and as insecure as has ever been. A whole squad full of young and promising players is being pushed through the system far, far faster than would be ideal. It’s a virtual given that not all of them will rise to the standard required, just as it is a virtual given that Gatland is likely, in the short-term, to be judged on those who don’t rather than those who do.
There are fires everywhere. If ever there was a coach equipped mentally to cope with a multiple firefighting job, it is Gatland. So, we should be neither surprised nor outraged if he occasionally lets loose when he feels his time is being wasted.
One of the best editions ever
We head into the final weekend of the Six Nations – Super Saturday – in the unenviable position of having 66% of the teams involved in a position to win it.
Admittedly it stretches credibility to imagine either Scotland or France overturning the 76 points of difference between themselves and Ireland but still, it’s there. England have a slightly more realistic shot, but only slightly. It is still Ireland’s to lose.
And yet. Over the past few weeks we’ve seen Italy nilled by Ireland, but then go on to beat Scotland, the same Scotland who sent England into such a tizzy by beating them so well. That’s the England which just beat Ireland. And we’ve not even touched on France’s inconsistencies yet.
So those scenarios are improbable and it is still Ireland’s to lose. But it would be fitting in with the madness that this tournament has sometimes been if it were to happen.
