Wales 20-52 Australia: Dragons suffer RECORD 11th consecutive defeat as more pressure piles on coach Warren Gatland

After the toughest time of his career, Warren Gatland will this week hold crunch talks with both his Welsh Rugby Union bosses and his family as he weighs up whether or not to continue under the severe heat that has engulfed his second spell as Wales head coach.

Gatland is clinging to his job after Wales’ 11 consecutive Test defeat. It is a new record low for a proud rugby nation and on Sunday, Gatland admitted he needs to ask himself the question as to whether the flak he is taking is worth it. In 2002/03, Wales lost 10 international games in a row.

The country’s class of 2024 have now gone past that mark after this 52-20 hammering by a revived Australia. The reality is that the end feels nigh. But will Gatland go?

That decision rests with the WRU chief executive Abi Tierney, chairman Richard Collier-Keywood, and embattled executive director of rugby Nigel Walker.

Gatland offered to resign in March when Wales were beaten at home by Italy in the Six Nations, but it looks unlikely he will walk away from his position currently.

‘I want the best decision to be made for Welsh rugby,’ said Gatland. ‘If that’s me going, then make the decision. I’m comfortable with that.’

Gatland described the past seven days as the ‘most challenging’ of his time in coaching. He added: ‘What will be will be. I’ll have a chat with a few people about what happens from here.’ 

These are the darkest of days for what is a proud rugby nation. Welsh rugby is in a hole, both on and off the field. It’s a perfect storm. What is supposed to be the country’s No 1 game – you could make a good argument to say it is now football and not rugby – is struggling badly. Gatland rightly pointed out that all the problems aren’t down to him.

Even if the WRU did decide his position was untenable, any potential successor would inherit the same problems – a lack of playing depth, a squad low on confidence and structural and governance problems, among many, many other things. Welsh rugby is no quick fix currently. No respected coach would take on the job as things stand.

Gatland held emergency talks with Collier-Keywood and Walker in the Wales changing room immediately after this eight-try hammering.

It feels like the next week will be decisive.

Gatland added: ‘Who are you going to get to come in and who will make a change? All I’m saying is how do we mitigate some of the negativity? Maybe a change will do that.

‘But will it improve the game? Are we better off sticking our head down?’

Gatland seemed to wobble as he was quizzed incessantly on what the future holds, initially on television and then in the post-match press conference.

But, essentially, his message was “back me or sack me.”

There can be no doubt Gatland achieved extraordinary things in his first, trophy-laden spell with Wales between 2008 and 2019. But since returning to Welsh rugby’s biggest job late in 2022, he has won only six of 23 games at a success rate of just 26 per cent. The current 11-Test losing streak is not something Gatland could have ever foreseen.

‘I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t ask myself some questions. You do get criticised,’ said Gatland, who has taken plenty of heat from his former players too.

‘That performance hurts.’

And so it should.

In their 10 previous losses, Wales have always been competitive. But at Principality Stadium on Sunday, they were outpowered and outplayed by Australia.

Outstanding Wallaby full-back Tom Wright and hooker Matt Faessler both scored hat-tricks and Nick Frost and Len Ikitau also went over. At times, it was one-way traffic.

Wales’ young players did respond impressively to an awful start which saw them fall 19-0 down. However, their struggles were laid bare when Australia went down to 14.

On his 50 cap, giant Wallaby centre Samu Kerevi hit Jac Morgan high. Initially, he was shown a yellow card. It was retrospectively upgraded to red. But in the time Wales had a man advantage, they shipped 21 points and were never going to recover from there.

‘It’s tough. You don’t want to go into the history books for the wrong reasons, but that’s unfortunately where we’re at,’ said a downbeat Wales captain Dewi Lake.

It is hard to escape the feeling that Wales and Gatland look set to part ways in the near future. However, it remains unlikely that will come this year.

Despite the prospect of crunch discussions with the WRU, it is still likely Gatland will be in charge for the daunting prospect of facing back-to-back world champions South Africa on Saturday. If Gatland chooses not to walk away, sacking him now would cost the WRU compensation they simply cannot afford. It is a tricky situation.

But no-one is winning from the current status quo. Wales tries came from Aaron Wainwright and Ben Thomas. But Gatland’s side produced far too many errors and to leak as many points as they did when Kerevi was off the field, was unforgivable. It must be said though that while it didn’t influence the final result, Kerevi’s tackle was worthy of a straight red card.

Had referee James Doleman delivered one, Australia wouldn’t have been able to eventually replace Kerevi as they did under World Rugby’s new 20-minute red card trial.

This new law is giving officials an easy out on tough decisions. Doleman should have sent Kerevi off immediately.

Australia coach Joe Schmidt said he said absolute sympathy for Gatland.

‘We both shrugged our shoulders at the end and said: “Who’d want to be a coach?” Schmidt said. ‘It’s tough. The scoreboard exaggerates the difference between the two sides.’

When Ikitau danced round Cameron Winnett and Wright raced the length of the field to rub further salt into Welsh wounds, the sad reality was home fans had already begun to file out of Principality Stadium. This was another day to forget. There have been many this year.

And there could still be more to come.