The latest rugby news from Wales and around the world
Here are the latest rugby headlines on Wednesday, June 25.
Gatland: I stopped enjoying being Wales coach
Warren Gatland has revealed the coaching job he would like to do next after admitting he stopped enjoying being Wales head coach.
The 61-year-old left his role with Wales midway through this year’s Six Nations following a disastrous second spell in charge. Under Gatland, Wales lost 14 Test matches in a row – plummeting outside of the top 10 in the world rankings.
Since leaving the Wales job four months ago, Gatland has yet to find a permanent coaching role elsewhere. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
He will fill his time this summer working as a pundit during the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia.
He also recently spend a few weeks with Uruguayan outfit Penarol as they clinched their third Super Rugby Americas title.
However, as he looks for his next coaching job, he revealed that he would like to help a team out ahead of the 2027 World Cup – having been denied the chance of coaching at a fifth World Cup with Wales.
“One of the things I’m most proud of is what we achieved at World Cups,” he told the Rugby Paper. “I’ve been thinking about doing some consultancy work and then maybe working with a team in the two-three months heading into a World Cup.”
Gatland enjoyed a strong record at World Cups with Wales, reaching the knockout stages in each of his four tournaments.
Semi-final appearances in 2011 and 2019 were sandwiched either side of a quarter-final appearance in 2015 after knocking out hosts England in the pool stage.
Wales also reached the quarter-final in France in 2023, after Gatland had taken over from Wayne Pivac the year before.
However, the pool stage match against Georgia in October that year marked the last time Wales won at Test level – with Gatland paying the price for over a year without an international victory with his mid-Six Nations departure this year.
Wales are still yet to appoint a new head coach, with Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt once again taking interim charge for the summer tour of Japan.
The head coach search has coincided with more off-field issues, with the real prospect of going down to fewer professional teams.
“Those issues have been there for a long time — we were just papering over the cracks,” he added. “We kept saying that when the dam burst, it would take a long time to fix it.
“I’m the first to admit that international rugby is about performance and results but it just felt like there was so much negativity in the media. In the end, I just wasn’t enjoying it.”
Crunch meeting called over simmering Lions row
Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh will hold talks with British and Irish Lions counterpart Ben Calveley in Perth today in a bid to settle a dispute over the availability of Wallabies players for the Lions’ 2025 tour matches.
The row was sparked earlier this week when Calveley warned that Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt could be in breach of the tour agreement if he failed to make Test-calibre players available for the provincial fixtures.
The Lions kick off their nine-match Australian tour on Saturday night against the Western Force in Perth.
Responding to Calveley’s remarks, Schmidt defended his position, insisting Super Rugby teams would be well stocked with Wallabies talent and highlighting the fact that the Lions themselves won’t be fielding their full-strength Test squad in every game.
According to WA Today, Rugby Australia maintain there is no threat of breaching the agreement, which is framed around the commitment to field “the best possible” provincial sides featuring players of Wallabies standard. Waugh is expected to reaffirm this commitment in his meeting with Calveley.
Schmidt has already named five Wallabies squad members to feature for the Force this weekend and said around 25 players will be “quarantined” to prepare for the first Test against Fiji in Newcastle on July 6, ahead of the Lions Test series later in July.
Calveley welcomed the strength of the Force line-up but stressed he would continue discussions with Waugh to ensure Wallabies players are also released for matches against Queensland and New South Wales, as stipulated in the agreement.
Lions star surprised team-mate is not ‘a d***head’
By Duncan Bech, PA Rugby Union Correspondent, Perth
Enemies have become friends on the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia after Dan Sheehan revealed that Ireland target Ellis Genge is now a valued team-mate.
Previously front-row rivals, Sheehan and Genge have joined forces on the 10-fixture expedition Down Under with both players strong contenders to start the first Test against the Wallabies on July 19.
Sheehan’s Ireland would hunt down Genge during the Six Nations knowing he is among England’s most impactful players, but since coming into camp the Leinster hooker has seen a different side to the fiery prop.
“It’s mad how fast you can go from despising people to hanging around with them and going for coffee!” Sheehan said.
“It’s probably just that rugby blokes are good blokes and you can turn on the hatred when you want it. But getting to know people has been one of the most enjoyable parts of the last few weeks.
“Genge would be a good one. He’s obviously a passionate, animated player for England and someone who we, as Ireland, would consider as a talisman and someone, in an Irish jersey, we’d need to target.
“Now he’s one person you enjoy having on the team. And he’s a funny bloke off the pitch. Everyone loves him. You can see the passion he brings to meetings, on to the pitch and in the scum.
“He’s very real and says it how it is. He’s definitely someone that surprises you that he’s not a d***head.”
Craig Casey backed to thrive as stand-in Ireland captain
By Ed Elliot, PA
Stand-in Ireland captain Craig Casey possesses “all the leadership qualities” required to spearhead his country’s summer tour, according to interim attack coach Mike Prendergast.
With 15 Ireland players involved with the British and Irish Lions and regular skipper Caelan Doris sidelined, Munster scrum-half Casey will lead a youthful squad into next month’s Tests against Georgia and Portugal.
The 26-year-old, who is also coached by Prendergast at provincial level, has accumulated 18 caps since making his debut against Italy in 2021 but only six of those appearances have come as a starter.
“He’s full of energy, he’s a student of the game,” Prendergast said of Casey, according to the Irish Examiner.
“Guys will listen because he’s a guy who is incredibly diligent.
“He’s all over his stuff and you always want people to follow that. So he hasn’t been any different than what he would be down in Munster.
“Obviously through the week and through next week that will ramp up from his point of view, I would imagine.
“But he brings a really good calmness to people as well. It’s great to have him within the squad and as a captain. He has all the leadership qualities that you ask for from a person.”
