Will Springboks end Gatland’s Wales career?

A strong Springbok side is widely expected to clinch a comprehensive win over Wales this weekend, which would be their 12 consecutive Test defeat.

It’s been an incredible fall from grace, especially considering Wales were ranked No 1 in the world as recently as 2019, but they have now fallen to 11th.

After returning as Wales’ head coach, Warren Gatland has seen the side lose 17 of the 23 Tests played, and the last victory was over pool opponents Georgia in the 2023 World Cup when they went on to reach the quarter-finals.

If Wales suffer a heavy defeat on Saturday, it’s likely that the WRU will have little option but to bid farewell to Gatland, who has conceded he would be at peace with whatever decision is deemed best for the national team.

“In Welsh rugby, you know it’s going to be a seesaw of highs and lows because there is a limited talent pool which takes a long time to develop,” he said this week.

“I’m not the only one feeling the pain. It’s also the players, the rest of the coaching staff and the management team.

“We could surprise people because not much is expected of us,” he added. “Sometimes, that helps you to loosen the shackles and play with more freedom.”

Gatland has also found an unexpected ally in Rassie Erasmus after the two butted heads during the 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa.

“Warren can’t all of a sudden become a bad coach with his track record,” said Erasmus. “The players that they have, if you look at them individually, there are some world-class players in there.

“I know the record of losing 11 on the trot is obviously not great (but) whenever we play a team that’s backs against the wall… we take ourselves back, just before I took over in 2017, I think we lost 57-0 in New Zealand.

“The next weekend we lost to the same team at Newlands by two points. That was a weekend apart.”

Erasmus added: “I just know Warren is a great coach and I know they’ve got great players. It’s not clicking quite there. He is a guy who has fixed things before.”

THERE IS A GULF BETWEEN THE SPRINGBOKS AND WALES IN THE WORLD RUGBY RANKINGS

RANK	COUNTRY	POINTS
1	South Africa	92.78
2	Ireland	90.78
3	New Zealand	90.09
4	France	88.08
5	Argentina	85.40
6	Scotland	82.70
7	England	82.31
8	Australia	82.17
9	Fiji	80.07
10	Italy	78.92
11	Wales	74.01
12	Georgia	73.85
13	Japan	72.95
14	Samoa	72.68
15	USA	68.90
16	Portugal	68.82
17	Spain	67.10
18	Uruguay	65.94
19	Tonga	65.46
20	Romania	64.13

Springbok record against Wales:
Played 42; Won 34; Lost 7; Drawn 1; Points for: 1 112; Points against; 671; Tries scored: 131; Tries conceded: 55; Highest score: 96-13; Biggest win: 83 points; Win %: 80,9%