Warren Gatland will face off against the man who was the cornerstone of his Wales side tomorrow morning on the other side of the world.
Juggernaut centre Jamie Roberts is now plying his trade at the Waratahs in Super Rugby Pacific and he's been named on the bench for tomorrow's quarter-final against Gatland's Chiefs.
Roberts was released from his contract at the Dragons by mutual consent in January and moved to rejoin his partner, Aussie Nicole Ramson, who had already returned to Australia a few weeks prior. He was then picked up by the Sydney-based Waratahs and made his debut within a month of leaving Welsh rugby.
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Gatland returned to New Zealand after the 2019 Rugby World Cup to take up a head coaching role at the Chiefs. After a sabbatical to take charge of the 2021 Lions tour, he returned to the franchise in the role of Director of Rugby.
When the two teams met in April, the Chiefs won 51-27 but this time the loser will be heading to the beach, while the winner advances to the semi-finals. The game will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK but kicks off at 5:35am.
Earlier this week, Roberts told reporters: “In sport you have to live for the moment, hearing people talk about developing for next year breaks me. Sport is about the present and winning, being at the business end, there and then.
“This group won’t play together again after this season – I won’t be here again – a lot of the players won’t be, because they’re moving on.
“When you make games like this, you have to understand and realise they might not come around again.
“Certainly from experience and what I’ve been through in my career, when you play in big games like this, and the more you do it, the more you appreciate that, and maybe a lot of younger players in this group don’t. They might be thinking, ‘we’ll build for next season, we’ll build for the season after’, all you end up doing is having the same conversations, year on year."
Roberts played 94 times for Wales, with every single cap being dished out by Gatland between 2008 and 2017. During that time, Wales' gameplan was largely built around Roberts sending his sizeable frame over the gainline. He formed a formidable partnership with Jonathan Davies, who added subtlety to Wales' midfield.
During their time together, Gatland, Roberts and Wales won two Grand Slams and a further Six Nations title in 2013. Roberts also featured under Gatland in all three Tests on the 2013 Lions tour of Australia, which the tourists won.
