WALES HEAD COACH Warren Gatland insists he has not been contacted by England officials over the possibility of replacing Eddie Jones as Red Rose boss.
Gatland, 55, will stand down from his Wales role following this year’s World Cup in Japan.
The New Zealander has had a successful 12 years in charge of Wales. This season he guided the side to a Grand Slam during his last Six Nations in charge.
There has long been speculation he could succeed Jones as England coach after the World Cup.
But Gatland, speaking after announcing his World Cup training squad, said that while he had been contacted about potential jobs following the World Cup, there had been no word from England’s governing Rugby Football Union.
“I have had quite a number of approaches from different sources,” said Gatland. “It is a matter of making the right decision at the right time, so it’s just weighing those things up.”
Gatland added: “To be honest, my whole focus is about the next six or seven months, Wales and the World Cup.
“I haven’t spoken to England at all. I think they were quite clear in what they were doing in terms of they wouldn’t be making any appointments or talking to anyone until post-Rugby World Cup.”
Jones’ England contract runs until 2021 but there is a break clause in the Australian’s deal which could be activated after the World Cup.
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I wondor what Gatland could have achieved with Ireland if he was allowed remain in the job back in the day. It was a pity that Eddie O Sullivan & Kieth Woood could not wait for his tour of duty to finish.
@Locojoe: we can only wonder. Different dynamics at the time. Saying that, Ireland is in a good place and performing very well, so as good as he is and has been, there’s no idea where we’d be now if he stayed. It makes for good debate though
@Locojoe: I was under the impression that it was the ould lads running the IRFU at the time that got rid of him. Supposedly their micromanaging was ridiculous
@Locojoe: he was a very different coach back then . Far from the finished article . Going to Wasps and McGeechan was very good for him. Completely changed the time spent on the pitch in training . Short intense sessions , lots more indoor sessions , reviews etc etc . He’s a very successful coach now and in part it’s because of what went on before .
@Rudiger McMonihan: Yeah I heard him speak about it at an OTB thing a while ago. He used have to meet the committee the Friday before a game to get his team selection endorsed and explain his tactics. Then he’d meet them again on a Wednesday post game for the debrief. Apparently the lads on the committee hardly ever reviewed the game tape and just spent hours rattling on about how the game was played in their day.
@Eddie Hekenui: It sounded like such a jokeshop back then. How times have changed!
@Rudiger McMonihan: Yeah that is true, even up to the Kidney era. He used to have to justify his team selection on the Friday before a game to the blazers, some of whom had very little rugby pedigree. Had to do a de-brief etc after the game aswell. When Schmidt was in the interview process, a major part of the negotiations was him refusing to do that anymore and wanting to report into a proper rugby person who would run the operations side of Irish rugby. So basically, Schmidt insisted that Nucifora’s Performance Director role be created after he came in and that he would answer to him.
God help everyone else if England get Gatland. What he could to with the English players and potential is scary