Warren Gatland is one of the most influential men in Welsh rugby history, as well as being a brilliant New Zealand rugby player in his time. So did Gatland get any caps for the All Blacks?
How many caps did Warren Gatland get? Warren Gatland never won an international cap as a rugby player, instead playing 17 non-international matches for the All Blacks. Gatland did receive 140 caps for Waikato.
While Warren Gatland has become one of the best international rugby coaches of all time, he did not have the same stellar playing career. Having started playing provincial rugby in 1986 at the age of 23, he got on the radar of some of the All Blacks selectors, eventually being called up to the New Zealand squad for the first time in 1988.
In total, Gatland would play 17 times for the All Blacks, however, none of these came in test internationals. Instead, they were all non-international matches and therefore Gatland never won a cap for the All Blacks. However, he did win a lot of caps for his region.
When Warren Gatland decided to retire from playing rugby in 1994, he was the player with the most caps for Waikato. In total, Gatland won 140 caps for his region, being part of an iconic Waikato team of the 1980s and 1990s that featured Ian Foster, Graham Purvis and Steven Gordon.
That record was later overtaken by Foster, who finished his career with 148 games for Waikato. But Gatland still sits fourth all-time in Waikato records for most appearances, being part of a small group to have won a century of caps for the region. But he still retired from rugby without winning a cap for New Zealand.
How many 6 Nations did Warren Gatland win?
At the time of writing, Warren Gatland has won three Six Nations with Wales as the team’s head coach. The very first of those titles came in 2008. Gatland had been Wales coach for just one year at this point and it was his first Six Nations tournament. They began in 2008 with a massive upset win against England at Twickenham.
Wales would run through the rest of the competition and claim their 10th Grand Slam in Gatland’s first tournament as Wales head coach. It was a brilliant start to his managerial career with this Welsh team. The result was wrapped up in front of their home fans, with Wales winning 29-12 against France at the Millennium Stadium.
After a couple of years of bad results, Wales were once again on top in the 2012. Having gotten to the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup a few months prior, they came into the tournament in good form. A Jonathan Davies double gave Wales the perfect start to the tournament.
After wins over Scotland, England and Italy, Wales once again faced France at the Millennium Stadium with a chance to win the Grand Slam. It was an incredibly close game, with Alex Cuthbert’s 20th-minute try turning out to be crucial in the end. Wales 16-9 victory secured their second Grand Slam in four years.
After a year away with the British and Irish Lions, Gatland returned as Wales head coach from the end of 2013 onwards. But over the next five years, Wales could not get higher than second, finishing runner-up in 2016 and 2018.
But 2019 turned into the breakthrough year that Wales were looking for. A George North pair was the difference in the first game. Against Italy, Wales did not dominate as expected and the game was close towards the end. But a victory in Italy was followed by a brilliant comeback over England.
Scotland proved to be an incredibly difficult test for the Welsh team, despite scoring twice in the first 30 minutes. Scotland were able to get back into the game late, but the Welsh defence held out to set up a massive final game against Ireland. Wales got off to the perfect start, with Hadleigh Parkes scoring after just two minutes.
The Welsh defence were able to hold on very impressive against an Irish team featuring guys like Johnny Sexton, Rob Kearney, Rory Best and CJ Stander. The game ended 25-7 as Wales were able to consistently add penalties throughout the rest of the game. This gave Wales and Warren Gatland his third Six Nations title.
What is Warren Gatland doing now?
Warren Gatland is known for being the head coach of the Welsh rugby team for more than a decade. However, some people are not sure what he is doing now.
Warren Gatland has actually returned to his previous position as the head coach of the Welsh national team. The WRU were not happy with the job that previous boss Wayne Pivac had been doing. Poor performances in both the Six Nations and Autumn internationals meant the WRU were thinking about a different coach to lead Wales to the Rugby World Cup in the Autumn of 2023.
In December 2022, Warren Gatland returned as the head coach of Wales on a contract that would end after the 2023 Rugby World Cup. However, there is an option for his contract to last until the 2027 Rugby World Cup, which will likely be triggered if Wales perform well at the Rugby World Cup.
At the moment it does not look like the appointment was a good one. Wales struggled in the 2023 Six Nations, So Gatland will have a big job on his hands going forwards.
Who was the Wales coach in 2007?
There was actually two different coaches for the Welsh rugby team in 2007. The year began with Gareth Jenkins as the team’s head coach, who had been appointed to the job in the middle of the 2006 Six Nations campaign. Jenkins was the team coach for the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
However, after failing to advance past the pool stage, he was replaced by New Zealander Warren Gatland. Gatland was appointed not long after the world cup, however, his first game was not until 2008, so Gareth Jenkins was the only person to coach the Welsh team in 2007.