OPINION – The Rugby World Cup is a once in a lifetime opportunity for some players and coaches – a tournament where players get the chance to play exotic nations and strut their stuff on the biggest stage.
Coming around once every four years, no re-appearances are guaranteed for anyone involved, coach or player.
Someone needs to tell that to Wales Coach Warren Gatland who has been nothing but grizzly in his demeanour with the media because at one stage sooner than later, he’s going to have to begin enjoying the tournament as it may be some time before he’s at another one, if ever.
It’s not an overstatement to say that Gatland hasn’t particularly endeared himself to the British media since he began his tenure as Wales coach.
From making complaints to the BBC about journalists to just dismissing questions, Gatland has positioned himself in a very “me against the world” role, or be it “Wales against the World”.
In all fairness, in the past three weeks Wales has lost more players to injury than I’ve had hot dinners. Combine that with the questions about changing game plans because of injury to his main man Leigh Halfpenny and Wales, as recently as Thursday, being handed a warning from Rugby World for “breaching the spirit of the Rugby World Cup” and I’d be pretty grumpy too.
But the fact is that Gatland needs to lighten up and he can take a page or two out of All Blacks’ coach Steve Hansen who has gone from approaching press conferences as anyone would a root canal to using it as an opportunity to speak openly about his team.
There’s no doubt Gatland is a good coach but Wales is winning very few fans through his grizzly manner.
Yes, he’s fed up with the constant chatter about what Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb’s absence means for his team. Yes he’s sick of Welsh rugby being tagged as England’s little brother and yes he must be tired of answering the same questions about the same trying issues day in, day out.
But at the end of the day, it’s part and parcel of being an international rugby coach and there is nothing to achieve by being grumpy, short and sarcastic.
Gatland did give some insight into his thought process, albeit rather grumpily delivered with a very sarcastic undertone.
“Not bad to be 5-5 against the richest Union in the world,” when he was asked about Wales’ record against England.
Gatland will probably have enjoyed how his words and his grizzly demeanour has come off this week and it will likely be part of some bigger master plan.
However in reality, the way he’s fuelled these mental games will mean very little if Wales emerge from Twickenham with nothing tonight and perish at the pool stage. And if that did materialise, surely Gatland would want Wales’ World Cup campaign to be remembered for more than their atrocious injury count and their coach’s grumpiness.