CARDIFF, Wales (AP) — Warren Gatland confirmed he's committed to coach Wales for the next four years after inspiring a condemned national team to the quarterfinals of the Rugby World Cup in France.
“That's the plan,” he said on Wednesday at a news conference on his return to Wales.
“We’ve got to look at how we develop our young players like Sam Costelow and Taine Plumtree. When you look at the potential, we can be really excited about what we can achieve over the next four years.”
When fellow New Zealander Wayne Pivac was fired for a 3-9 record last year, Gatland agreed last December to a second stint with Wales with the ability to continue to the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia. He's taking the option.
Wales was written off before the World Cup by a 2-6 record this year, but it enjoyed a lucky win against Fiji, crushed Australia, and navigated past Portugal and Georgia to win Pool C unbeaten.
Favored against Argentina in the quarterfinals last weekend, Wales led 17-12 until the 68th minute and lost 29-17. Gatland said if they had won and advanced to the semifinal against New Zealand this Friday, they would not have had available injured backs Gareth Davies, Dan Biggar, Josh Adams, Louis Rees-Zammit and Liam Williams.
“I'm disappointed because I thought the way we progressed we didn't quite match it against Argentina,” Gatland said. “On reflection that's where we are at the moment. We've seen where we can potentially get to.”
“We will take a lot of learnings. For us the benchmark was how we managed the game against Australia was outstanding. How do we get to a situation where we are consistent?”
His answer was better cooperation — especially in regard to players' fitness — with regional sides Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets, who survived contract talks last season by agreeing to slashed budgets.
“There's an opportunity for us to build some closer relationships with the regions,” Gatland said. "That hasn't always been the case in the past because those relationships have been stressed.
"But I'm encouraged at getting on the same page as the regions. We've shown we can improve and we've got an opportunity to play at a higher level.
“We are starting from a relatively low base but we've got to have a significant amount of improvement in the whole game here in Wales. It's not all about winning but potentially overachieving. The regions have to be ambitious about putting in the hard work and continue to develop players.”
Change in the squad is inevitable. Biggar has retired and key backs Williams and Gareth Anscombe are unavailable after signing with Japanese clubs.
Other veterans Leigh Halfpenny, Dan Lydiate, Gareth Davies and Ken Owens haven't declared their intentions. Gatland said he wasn't going to start a youth revolution, and appeared keen for No. 8 Taulupe Faletau to continue when the arm he broke two weeks ago was mended.
He said he won't pick a full squad for a Wales match against the Barbarians in Cardiff on Nov. 4, in a tribute to former captain Alun Wyn Jones.
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