IRB to review Gatland ‘cheating’ comments

THE International Rugby Board is to review Warren Gatland’s claim he considered cheating in Wales’ defeat by France in the World Cup semi-finals.

Gatland admitted he considered asking a prop to fake an injury, which would have led to uncontested scrums.

That would have helped Wales, as their pack was already a man down following the dismissal of captain Sam Warburton.

The IRB is “privately stunned” by Gatland’s comments and will review them.

It guards against faking by having doctors at pitch-side to assess injuries.

Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Roger Lewis said Gatland should actually be praised for choosing not to claim a fake injury though.

“Warren Gatland should be applauded in this professional era where tough things and tough decisions are made that he didn’t go into that particular zone,” said Lewis.

“That was something that was considered… and the guys said ‘we are not going there’.

“In professional sport there is always an opportunity to manipulate the laws and that opportunity could have presented itself.

“But we did not go there and I think it is a tribute to Warren that he honestly expressed that. Warren Gatland is a brutally honest rugby coach. He is a very serious thinker and he tells it as he sees it.

“He said very honestly today: ‘One could have considered the possibility of taking a prop off and going to uncontested scrums’.

“But Warren honestly said: ‘Yes, we knew that was an option and it was an option we didn’t consider because the semi-final of a World Cup is so important, we have got to play the game.’”

Gatland had already seen prop Adam Jones depart with a calf injury, and then eight minutes later Wales captain Sam Warburton was sent off by Irish referee Alain Rolland.

Gatland, still disappointed by the referee’s decision, revealed that in the wake of the red card the coaches talked about faking an injury.

“I know a lot has been spoken about the red card,” Gatland said. “In retrospect, I can understand in any game under the letter of the law there are a number of decisions referees can make. I just thought on that occasion, given the significance of a World Cup semi-final, to give a yellow card would have been an appropriate decision.

“That is why they are appointed as the top referees in the world, because they make the right decisions.”

Gatland continued: “I will give you an example with what happened after that. We’d already lost Adam Jones, and we discussed in the (coaches) box whether we would fake an injury to one of our props and go to uncontested scrums. But morally, I made the decision it wasn’t the right thing to do.

“We could easily have done that in the first 25-30 minutes, but in the spirit of the game, in the spirit of a World Cup semi-final, I didn’t think that was the fairest or the right thing.

“That is why I honestly believe Alain Rolland made the wrong decision. Under the rules and regulations he was perfectly entitled to give a red card. But every game is different.

“You have to take the circumstances of the situation and the intent, and in that situation, given his experience and the role he was given, a yellow card was the right decision to make.”

Now Gatland and Wales must turn their attention to Friday’s bronze medal match against Australia at Eden Park.

WALES (v Australia, Friday, 8.30am Irish time): L Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues); G North (Scarlets), J Davies (do.), J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), S Williams (Ospreys); J Hook (Perpignan), M Phillips (Bayonne); G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues, capt), H Bennett (Ospreys), P James (do.), B Davies (Cardiff Blues), L Charteris (Dragons), D Lydiate (do.), T Faletau (do.), R Jones (Ospreys).

Replacements: L Burns (Dragons), R Bevington (Ospreys), A-W Jones (do.), A Powell (Sale Sharks), L Williams (Cardiff Blues), S Jones (Scarlets), S Williams (Scarlets).