All hail the Gat

So the expected announcement has been made and Wales have a new coach: Warren Gatland.

WRU chairman David Pickering said:

We have acted decisively and got a top world talent on board; some might say arguably the best coach in the world and we certainly think so. We have been charged with getting the best possible man for the job, and we have brought in someone with a proven record of turnaround situations. He’s done it with Ireland, he’s done it with Wasps. He took them over and left them in a far better state than when he joined them. We have got someone who’s a hard-working, tough guy, who will be the boss. We have someone who is strong enough to cope with the pressure of living in the goldfish bowl of Welsh rugby. We have someone with a proven record of turning around situations for the benefit of national and club teams at the highest level. Not only that, Warren is hungry to get back into international sport. We believe he is the leading candidate and he is the best fit for Wales as we see it.

On the whole — a little hyperbole aside — you can’t argue with that: Gat certainly is a ‘top world talent’ with the skills, experience and toughness to hack the job. They’d have probably given the same spiel, changing only the examples, if Jake White had been appointed. So what. In general, I don’t buy ‘best fit’: the point is that there were a few possible really good fits and Gat is undoubtedly a really good fit.

But what I really liked was Gat’s realism and hosing down of expectations:

I am asking people not to expect miracles from day one. It is going to take a little bit of time, putting things in place. But give me a few months and hopefully you will see a turnaround and some pretty good rugby played by a reasonable Welsh team… As far as I’m concerned it is a clean slate for everybody… Being 10th in the world is too low a ranking, and I intend to try and improve that… The challenge for me is to leave Welsh rugby in a better state than when I arrived. That’s what I’ve aimed to do in past jobs and I’m totally committed to doing the best job I can and to put a team out that the Welsh people will be proud of.

the Ray Gravell Cup

On the 24 of November Wales play South Africa at Cardiff for the Prince William Cup. The WRU say that prince William ‘kindly agreed to the establishment of a new trophy in his name celebrating 100 years of history between the rugby nations of Wales and South Africa in 2007′.

It seems to have escaped the WRU’s attention that the said prince William, despite being a Welsh Rugby Union Vice Royal Patron, is far more comfortable wearing an English shirt (and why not as he’s English). So why not name the cup after someone who embodied all the good things about Welsh rugby (including wearing the shirt with pride and winning).

Sign Cambria magazine’s ipetition to get it renamed the Ray Gravell Cup.

RIP: Ray Gravell

Ray Gravell died suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack last night while on holiday in Majorca with his wife and daughters.

A Strady legend, Ray was a great centre who played for Llanelli between 1969 and 1985 — as captain from 1980 to 1982 — and was a member of the team that beat the All Blacks in 1972. He was capped 23 times for Wales, and was a member of Welsh teams that won the Grand Slam and the Triple Crown. He also played for the Lions in 1980.

He had gone through a rough year — having first two toes and then part of a leg amputated because of diabetes-related infections — but recently he seemed as active as ever, organising a number of events in aid of Diabetes UK Cymru.  He was due to hand out the shirts for the game against South Africa later this month.

Gareth Davies summed him up:

People talk about his rugby — there have obviously been great rugby players and there will always be — but I think it’s his personality that people should really remember… he was a very, very good player. But his personality and character are once in a generation characteristics.

My thoughts are with Mari, Manon and Gwennan. 

update 14/11/2007: the public funeral service for Grav will be held at Stradey at 13:00 on 15/11/2007 (Gates open at 11:00). Full details, including route of the funeral procession through Llanelli, are on the BBC website.

dotCYM

This blog supports the dotCYM campaign for a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) on the Internet for those organisations, companies and individuals, throughout the world, that express themselves in the Welsh language and/or wish to encourage Welsh culture.

The case for dotCYM is directly comparable to the case for a Catalan dotCAT — the successful puntCAT campaign showed both that the case is justified and that ICANN can be persuaded. Besides, if the Isle of Man (dotIM), Gurnsey (dotGG) and Pitcairn (dotPN) can have their own Country Code-Top Level Domains why shouldn’t we have a sTLD.

Jake White for Wales

After the political pressure-cooker of South African rugby, Jake White would take the pressures of Welsh rugby in his stride. He’s available, having turned down the insulting opportunity to re-apply for his own job — with a closing date the day before the World Cup final! He’s delivered a World Cup. And now he’s the IRB’s International Coach of the Year — surprise, surprise — for the second time. And apparently he would not see taking on Wales as step down.

So who else, is available before the Six Nations, and can tick all the boxes of ability, success, authority and willingness to tackle the mis-match between the players’ potential and team performance?

update 24/10/2007: South Africa, at least, are rethinking his departure. The BBC reports South African president Thabo Mbeki as saying:

It would indeed be odd that, in the moment of victory which comes after a period of preparation, you say ‘Thank you for your services, White, goodbye’.

This team went through the whole tournament undefeated. We end up with player of the year, the coach of the year and the team of the year. Drop the coach – why?

Why indeed? Of course, it may be a time for a considered parting of the ways, and for Jake to seek a new challenge. But treating him as if they couldn’t wait to drop him is exactly what SA Rugby have been doing. If they now loose him, they have no one else to blame but themselves. 

rugby world cup: the final

England 6—15 South Africa: the Boks ground out a victory and ground down England in a match that was effectively over by half-time: though the score was only 3—9, England were beaten before Mark Cueto’s ‘match-changing’ non-try (and yes, his foot did brush the line before he lifted it, though I wouldn’t have wanted to make that call in real-time). Defiance and team spirit had done a remarkable job in transforming a bunch of nondescript no-hopers into quarter-finalists, semi-finalists, and ultimately finalists: it wasn’t enough when faced with a side who could match their commitment and physicality, and out play them

And what of Brian Ashton: was he hero or villain in this remarkable — and almost universally unexpected — revival? Did he lose the dressing room or administer brutal shock treatment to force the players to take responsibility on the pitch? We’ve heard the rumblings about that players’ meeting, and today’s Telegraph article will no doubt be the first of many articles on the ‘players’ revolt’. I’ve no idea, but I suspect that, however the players now interpret it, someone must have administered a red hot poker.

update 22/10/2007: a less than resounding endorsement of Brian Ashton continuing as coach from Lawrence Dallaglio to the BBC:

There are system changes that need to be made — whether that’s personnel is not my decision. Everything isn’t rosy just because we got to a World Cup final… Brian Ashton turned things around, but then again so have the players and all the coaches. I think a review will be done, by the right people. Rob will head it up and I’m sure he’ll make the right decisions.