Six Nations: Wales coach Warren Gatland is confident that England clash will go ahead

Jared Wright
strike action Wales head coach Warren Gatland has remained confident that the Six Nations clash against England will go ahead despite the dispute between his players and the Welsh Rugby Union.

Wales head coach Warren Gatland

Wales head coach Warren Gatland remains confident that the Six Nations clash against England will go ahead despite the dispute between his players and the Welsh Rugby Union.

Gatland was forced to delay his team announcement as the players threaten strike action over the contract dispute. The players have given the WRU until Wednesday to finalise the deal.

The Wales coach fronted the media after he delayed the team announcement that was supposed to take place on Tuesday lunch time. 

No assurances

He was asked whether he was confident that the game would go ahead.

“Absolutely, yeah. I’m hearing positive things from both sides,” Gatland said. “I’m confident that with the discussions taking place, that it will get resolved today. There have been half a dozen meetings over the last few days or so.”

Asked if he had been given assurances the round three match at the Principality Stadium would take place, Gatland replied: “Not at the moment.”

Gatland admitted that the dispute could provide additional motivation as Wales look to claim the first victory of their campaign and his second tenure in charge.

Wales succumbed to back-to-back defeats in the opening rounds, going down to Ireland and Scotland, but will want to turn things around against England.

Dispute to galvanises the players

It is the first time in 16 years that Wales failed to win either of the first two games – the last happening when Steve Hansen was in charge of the side during the 2003 Six Nations.

“Hopefully, everyone will turn up on Thursday raring to go on Saturday. It’s been a bit of a challenge, but sometimes that galvanises people and brings them together,” Gatland said. 

“In fairness to the players, at training this morning, they put their training heads on and trained well. We had a good week last week in terms of working the players incredibly hard, and they responded well to that.

“There are big things going on, we’re aware of that, but we’re pleased with how they’ve trained.

“Discussions are taking place today, and hopefully, the players will be happy with the outcome.

“Things will hopefully get resolved today, and we can just focus on the game on Saturday.”

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