Warren Gatland will go to where he has never been before at the Principality Stadium on Saturday and he is not sure how to get there. The man who has been Wales’s head coach for the last 12 years until three weeks ago will have to locate the management box for the away side as he says farewell to the Cardiff faithful in a Barbarians’ jacket and tie.
“I have no idea where the away box is,” Gatland said after announcing the invitation club’s side for the uncapped match against a Wales team that is being coached by his successor, Wayne Pivac, for the first time and includes 16 players who were involved in the World Cup campaign in Japan. “Someone will have to show me so that I do not get lost.”
The match, which clashes with a Pro14 weekend, was intended to be Gatland’s final one in charge of Wales, a celebration of the country’s most successful coach. He talked the Welsh Rugby Union into making it Pivac’s debut and asked the Barbarians if there was any chance he could oversee their preparations.
“I did not think it was right for it to be my last match with Wales,” he said. “I was finished after the World Cup and it was a great chance for the new coaching team to come in and get some time with the players to help them build for the Six Nations. I thought that was really important and so rather than the Barbarians asking me I had to ask them if I could please coach them against Wales so that I was involved.
“I have enjoyed this week, working with players and coaches for the first time, and it is an opportunity for me to say thank you to the Welsh fans and public for 12 brilliant, amazing years. The place has grown on me and I do not think I can lose either way on Saturday, but we are here to play some rugby and give a good performance. The competitive side is coming out of me now and it is about getting ourselves right and winning.”
Gatland knows where the away dressing room is, although he will have to remember to turn right at the top of the stairs rather than the familiar left, because when he arrived in Wales at the end of 2007 it was where the home team used to change.
“Even though it was a bit bigger than the away changing room and had a larger warm-up area, I felt the configuration of it was not right. I asked the players if they were prepared to switch and as it had hardly been incredibly successful, they agreed. The change was good for us and it has been a while since we lost at home in a competitive game.”
It will probably be for a while longer that Gatland refers to Wales as we and Pivac faces a doubly demanding task: getting a team that is not underpinned by successful professional teams to play at a consistently high standard, as his predecessor did, and following a coach who became an institution.
Gatland said: “I have not been in contact with Wayne. This is his team now and I have stepped back because it is important that he takes the reins. He was at the World Cup for a couple of weeks and had a look. It was funny on Tuesday because I went back to my apartment and drove past when they were training. It felt a bit weird so I made sure I did not look out of the car window and my apartment overlooks the ground. I did not watch them train and felt a bit awkward. It was too dark, anyway. It is an unusual situation on Saturday but one to look forward to. I am sure both sides will want to play.”
Pivac has added Sam Warburton, one of Gatland’s captains, to his management team. “I do not know if he has a bright future because I have not seen him coach,” Gatland said. “Some of the players were there when he was captain and the separation from playing and coaching can be challenging, but people tell me he is pretty excited about it and he has earned a huge amount of respect. I hope he does a good job.”
Wales have included the wing Johnny McNicholl in their starting lineup, with the New Zealander qualifying for Wales through residency. He is one of seven Scarlets, the region coached by Pivac until May, in the side, with an Osprey, Justin Tipuric, the captain.
“Johnny brings a lot of x-factor and I hope he sees the ball,” Pivac said. “Warren and I being up against each other is a side issue. His are big footsteps to walk in and we want to get as much as we can out of the game. What I want is a no-excuse environment so that you do not blame others.”
