Warren Gatland rubbed salt into England’s wounds by claiming they and Wales are “poles apart” after his side jumped above Eddie Jones’s team into third place in World Rugby’s rankings.
England under Jones have lost their past six matches and are in disarray both on and off the field with only 15 months before next year’s World Cup in Japan. There are no such concerns for Gatland and Wales, however, after they sealed a first series win in Argentina since 1999. Victory also made it a clean sweep of three successive summer tour successes this month. No wonder Gatland was delighted.
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“The difference between where we are and where England are is poles apart,” the Wales head coach said. “New Zealand are still pretty good, there’s Ireland, and South Africa look like they’re coming good, too.
“But we’re in a good place and we know when we put out our best side – what that is at the moment I’m not sure – we’re able to compete with the big boys. We’ve really suffocated Argentina in the last two weeks and that’s been a huge plus.”
With all but two of their first-choice British & Irish Lions stars resting at home with Japan in mind, this tour was all about Wales developing younger players. The gamble has paid off handsomely. After a 22-20 victory over South Africa in Washington, a novice Welsh outfit has taken Argentina to the cleaners in the last fortnight and this series-clinching win in Santa Fe was their best display. Josh Adams and Hallam Amos scored tries and Rhys Patchell kicked 20 points as Wales’ brutal line speed and aggressive defence saw them come out on top. Even a late red card for Ross Moriarty – the No 8 choked Argentina’s fly-half, Nicolás Sánchez – failed to ruin Wales’s good mood.
The Pumas, meanwhile, were woeful again and their head coach, Daniel Hourcade, confirmed after the match that the game against Scotland next week will be his last.
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Gatland had to deal with critics of his squad selection this summer and also faced questions over the validity of his team playing the Springboks in the US. He has proved them all wrong, again. Now his task is somehow to select a World Cup squad from his plethora of returning stars and the next generation which has emerged this month. It is an unenviable task.
“The last two World Cups have shown with the right preparation we can get a good side together,” Gatland said. “We should have made a semi‑final in 2015 – we lost the lead to South Africa with a few minutes to go – and in 2011 we should have reached a World Cup final.
“We’re in the best place we have been in since preceding those last two World Cups and there have been many times when people have been critical of me or the team and then we’ve ended up on the right side of the ledger. You have to be careful of doing that.
“This tour achieved all the things I wanted and it’s put us in good stead for next year. In the past we haven’t had a lot of depth and we’ve spent time just looking for people who can do a job. Now I hope four or five of the loose forwards get injured next year because it’s going to be one hell of a headache trying to narrow that down to five or six based on the way the guys have performed.”