Warren Gatland
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| Warren Gatland | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Warren David Gatland | ||
| Date of birth | 17 September 1963 | ||
| Place of birth | Hamilton, New Zealand | ||
| School | Hamilton Boys' High School | ||
| College | Waikato University | ||
| Occupation(s) | Schoolteacher | ||
| Rugby union career | |||
| Current status | |||
| Position(s) | Head Coach | ||
| Current team | Wales | ||
| Playing career | |||
| Position | Hooker | ||
| All Black No. | 892 | ||
| Provincial/State sides | Caps | (points) | |
| 1986-1994 | Waikato | 140 | |
| National team(s) | |||
| 1988-1994 | New Zealand B | 17 | (8) |
| Coaching career | |||
| 2007-present 2005-2007 2002-2005 1998-2001 1996-1998 1994-1996 1989-1994 |
Wales Waikato London Wasps Ireland Connacht Rugby Thames Valley Galwegians RFC |
||
Warren David Gatland (born 17 September 1963), is a former New Zealand rugby footballer and the current head coach of the Wales national team.[1]
Gatland was born in Hamilton, New Zealand and educated at Hamilton Boys' High School and Waikato University. His first game as an All Black was in 1988, when he is said to have introduced a part-Australian Rules, part-Gaelic football game to the training sessions, which was well received by the other players.
Gatland became the record-holder of the most games for Waikato near the end of the 1994 season. He finished the season with 140 games under his belt and announced his retirement before the start of the 1995 season.
Gatland currently has a 100% win record coaching Wales after achieving a Grand Slam by winning all 5 games of the 2008 Six Nations Championship and taking the Triple Crown.
Contents |
[edit] Coaching in Ireland 1998-2001
During the off-season Gatland spent time coaching in Ireland and later coached in Scotland before taking up a position as player/coach at Galwegians RFC. Eventually Gatland went on to serve as director of rugby at Connacht where he achieved enormous success with limited resources. His achievement in guiding them to the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup, which included two victories over Northampton Saints, was quite remarkable.[2] In light of his success at Connacht he was appointed coach of Ireland on 24 February 1998, following the resignation of current England coach Brian Ashton.[3] Gatland's tenure as coach of Ireland was a difficult one, marked by a disastrous 1999 World Cup campaign in which they failed to make it to the finals after losing to Argentina. He continued until being sacked and replaced by his assistant coach Eddie O'Sullivan in 2001. Gatland's Irish team almost achieved a historic upset victory against the touring 2001 All Blacks.
[edit] London Wasps 2002-2005
He joined London Wasps in 2002 in a coaching position before taking over as Director of Rugby when Nigel Melville left to join Gloucester. He took the team from the bottom of the English championship to safety in his first few months. After this success he went on to lead Wasps to three consecutive Zurich Premiership titles (2003, 2004 and 2005) and the Heineken Cup in 2004.
[edit] Return to New Zealand
He returned to New Zealand in 2005 to coach Waikato in the National Provincial Championship (NPC). After the NPC was superseded by the Air New Zealand Cup in 2006, Gatland took Waikato to the first title of the new competition, beating Wellington in the final. He joined the Chiefs Super 14 team in 2006 as technical advisor.
[edit] Appointment as Wales coach
On 9 November 2007 Gatland was named head coach of the Welsh national rugby team and took up his position on 1 December 2007.[4]
Gatland's first game as coach of Wales in the opening week of the 2008 Six Nations Championship resulted in an historic victory, as Wales caused a major upset by defeating England 26-19 after trailing 19-6 with nearly sixty minutes played.[5][6] With the game seemingly over, England fell away and Wales took full advantage to fight back and steal an improbable first victory at Twickenham since 1988. The following weekend Wales beat Scotland 30-15 in Cardiff, and defeated Italy 47-8 two weeks later. Wales then went on to defeat the then Triple Crown holders Ireland in Croke Park 16-12, thus winning the Triple Crown themselves. In the final round of fixtures, Wales beat France at the Millennium Stadium 29-12, to clinch their 10th Grand Slam title, exactly 100 years after they won their first. Shane Williams score his 41st try in this game and became the all-time leading try scorer for Wales.
| Preceded by Brian Ashton |
Irish national rugby coach 1998 - 2001 |
Succeeded by Eddie O'Sullivan |
| Preceded by Nigel Davies |
Welsh national rugby coach 2007 - present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
[edit] References
- ^ "Gatland unveiled as Wales coach", BBC Sport, 2007-11-08. Retrieved on 2007-11-08.
- ^ "IRFU turns to the West as Gatland takes over hot-seat", Irish Independent, 25 February 1998. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
- ^ "Gatland takes over as Ireland coach", BBC Sport, 24 February 1998. Retrieved on 2008-02-05.
- ^ BBC SPORT | Rugby Union | Welsh | Gatland unveiled as Wales coach
- ^ Official RBS 6 Nations Rugby : Wales shock England
- ^ BBC SPORT | Rugby Union | England 19-26 Wales
[edit] External links
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Warren Gatland |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | New Zealand Rugby union footballer. |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4 November 1963 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hamilton, New Zealand |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
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