Sir Clive Woodward says Warren Gatland committed ‘cardinal sin’ in Wales’ loss to England
Sir Clive Woodward believes Wales head coach Warren Gatland made a mistake which proved costly in his team’s defeat to England in Saturday’s Six Nations Test at Twickenham.
The visitors made a good start to the match and held a 14-5 lead at half-time thanks to a penalty try and another five-pointer from Alex Mann.
Scored no points after half-time
Wales did not capitalise on that dominance, however, and failed to add to their points tally as England eventually sealed a hard-fought 16-14 triumph.
And Woodward feels Gatland‘s decision to replace Elliot Dee and Keiron Assiratti with Ryan Elias and Archie Griffin in the 55th minute ultimately cost them the result.
“Wales’ scrum and line-out was going very well. But then Gatland decided to take off hooker Elliot Dee and tighthead prop Keiron Assiratti on 55 minutes,” Woodward wrote in his Daily Mail column.
‘Big mistake’
“It was a big mistake because from there, the Welsh scrum and line-out unravelled.
“England’s forwards got on top and it allowed George Ford to control the game and get his team over the line. I just shake my head when coaches make decisions like that. Dee had to stay on the field. When he and Assiratti came off, it didn’t look like they’d gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson! They could and should have carried on.
“Gatland didn’t need to make that call and arguably, it cost Wales the game. In last year’s World Cup semi-final with South Africa, (Steve) Borthwick did the same thing and it cost England badly.”
‘Major error’
He added: “It was a major error and now Wales and Gatland have committed the same cardinal sin. Coaches have to realise that it is not easy for replacements to get up to speed quickly.
“Gatland clearly wanted to give rookie prop Archie Griffin a debut and Test experience but I think if he could have his time again, he would have kept Dee and Assiratti on.
“England might still have won the game even if those two players had continued. But we will never know.”
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