As Jonathan Davies entered what is called the mixed zone, a gauntlet lined with reporters who players have to walk through to get from their dressing room to the after-match buffet, following Wales’s semi-final defeat to South Africa, he was asked how he was feeling.
The response was a disbelieving stare followed by “How do you think?” Davies carried on walking as fast as his left leg, which had been in a supporting cast during the match, would allow him. The question had been asked with his fitness in mind, after he had missed the quarter-final victory over France having been injured against Fiji, but the hurt was narrowly missing out on a place in the final for the second time in three tournaments and it was at its most raw. Four years of toil and pain had ended in heartbreak.
Warren Gatland started planning for this weekend the moment Wales’s 2015 tournament ended, also to a late South Africa score, in the quarter-final at Twickenham. He became increasingly bullish about his side’s prospects at the World Cup as New Zealand’s grip at the top of the world rankings loosened to the point where Wales and then Ireland took over before the tournament, and the capacity his side had developed since 2017 to finish matches strongly – a weak point until then, especially against the might of the southern hemisphere countries – took them to Sunday’s semi-final.
They were never in the lead against South Africa but after three times coming from behind to draw level, they were where they wanted to be with six minutes to go, in possession and working their way to their opponents’ 22, well within penalty goal range.
Their captain, Alun Wyn Jones, was in possession when he was hauled down and Francois Louw moved in for a turnover. Wales were prevented from clearing him out by Franco Mostert, who was on their side of the ruck, but the Springboks were awarded the penalty. Within a minute, Handré Pollard was lining up the kick that won the match.
There was to be no dream ending for Gatland against the team who provided his first opposition with Wales: England. His players were 16‑6 down at half-time in 2008 but recovered to record their first victory at Twickenham for 20 years on their way to the grand slam. The resilience and fighting spirit showed that day became more defined over the years to the point where they became a formidably hard team to put away, one that seemed to add up to rather more than the sum of their parts; not pretty, but pretty effective.
They met the wrong opponents at the wrong time. South Africa are reborn under Rassie Erasmus, the director of rugby who has taken charge of the national side until he identifies a head coach. Injuries had started to catch up with Wales, who lost two more players in the first half, and the Springboks devised a gameplan that minimised the impact of Wales’s greatest asset, defence. They played no rugby in their own half and, as Japan had done to Ireland a month before, forced their opponents to go off script.
Gatland has one more match in charge, against his native New Zealand in Friday’s play-off here, now called the bronze final in an invocation of the Olympic spirit which recognises finishing third as an achievement. While victory would achieve another first as he has not savoured victory over them for Wales, a sideshow was not how he had planned to bow out.
Gatland will return to Waikato as arguably the most influential coach Wales have had. The danger is that he will take his legacy with him. Whereas Eddie Jones is able to use Saracens as his foundation, Joe Schmidt had Leinster and Steve Hansen has the Crusaders, Hurricanes and the Chiefs, Gatland has been so feebly served by the regional system in Wales that he has developed many of his own players in training. The latest of them, the prop Rhys Carré, arrived here with one cap, against Ireland at the end of August, and not many more league starts for the now Saracens new boy’s former region, Cardiff Blues.
Another New Zealander, Wayne Pivac, is taking over from Gatland. He was appointed after guiding the Scarlets to league success and a European Champions Cup semi-final, but he will face a rebuilding programme for the 2023 World Cup. He has a two-year break clause in his contract, along with his coaching team, which includes Stephen Jones, who took over as attack specialist from Robert Howley here, and while his style is different to Gatland’s, laced with more adventure and risk-taking, he will need the ability of his predecessor to squeeze every last drop out of his players, finalise selection and detect potential.
Wales’s injuries here meant that their replacements against South Africa barely had more caps between them than Alun Wyn Jones, whose body will surely not last another four years, while Jonathan Davies, Liam Williams, George North, Dan Biggar, Leigh Halfpenny, Ken Owens and Justin Tipuric, Lions all, will probably need replacing by 2023.
Pivac has a crop of young players who have gained experience in the past two years, including the flanker Ellis Jenkins, who missed this tournament through injury, but he will have to develop depth and be given time in a country not renowned for its patience: Gatland faced calls to be sacked two years after arriving.
Wales, like Ireland, face transition under a new head coach at a time when England have reached the World Cup final while still on the up, unlike 2003 when they had peaked. England have the potential to dominate the Six Nations in the next four-year cycle, unless Fabien Galthié unites France’s warring factions, with Eddie Jones having rebuilt his side over the last year. Gatland succeeded despite the system in Wales and Pivac, who has been here as an observer, will need to repeat the trick – or the heartache will come sooner.
