Wales head coach Warren Gatland has hit out at critics of the lopsided Rugby World Cup draw, suggesting that nations unhappy about facing tough opposition have “just got to deal with it”.
A draw made based on rankings from almost four years before the tournament determined the pools for this year’s event in France, and has a left the four top-ranked nations in the world vying for only two semi-final spots.
Scotland, meanwhile, entered the World Cup ranked fifth in the world but are already out of the tournament after suffering a bruising loss to South Africa, before being humbled by Ireland to exit in the pool stages.
But Gatland believes that teams would be wise to learn from Wales’ silence when handed a similarly unfavourable pool alongside England and Australia in 2015.
Gatland’s side and the Wallabies advanced at the hosts’ expense eight years ago.
“I’d just say to the other teams they should have done better in the last World Cup,” Gatland stressed when questioned ahead of Wales’ last eight meeting with Argentina.
“That’s where the draw comes from. It’s not our fault that it has happened. If teams had got better performances and results at the last World Cup there would be a different draw.
“You didn’t hear us complaining in 2015 when we got Fiji, Australia, England and ourselves in the same pool. We didn’t complain about that.
“You are dealt a hand, you’ve just got to deal with it. I understand that there has been a lot of complaining and I agree with the sentiment that the draw may have been done too early. It was probably done too early before 2019 as well. Whether the people in control of that next time can put the pools together later, that’s up to them.
“We can’t change what has been done. All I can say is we are only in control of what we are doing. We are happy with the progress we’ve made given a lot of people said we wouldn’t get out of our group. We can only play and do what is in front of us.”
The draw does raise the prospect of the four semi-finalists all being from the northern hemisphere for the first time in World Cup history.
Gatland believes that this is good for the game, with England still the only European nation to lift the Webb Ellis Cup.
“I think the first step was all of the northern hemisphere teams finishing top of their pools,” the veteran coach said of a potential scenario that would see Wales face Ireland and England take on France on semi-final weekend. “That’s never happened before.
“It’s a real postitive for the game considering how much the southern hemisphere have dominated World Cups in the past. I can only see it as positive for the game if it potentially does happen.
“I’m not looking too much at the other games. We are just focussing on ourselves and not looking too far afield or far ahead in terms of the potential of what might happen. We are aware of it but it’s not in the front of our minds too much.”
Wales face Argentina in Marseille on Saturday.
