By Paul Jones
Mike Phillips has called for Wales to get rid of Warren Gatland as head coach.
Former Wales and Lions scrum-half Phillips has claimed Gatland deserves to walk after going over a year – and 10 internationals – without winning.
Phillips – who won 94 caps for Wales and was a key player during Gatland’s first stint in Wales – took to X to blast Gatland’s response to Sunday’s embarrassing 24-19 home defeat to Fiji.
He wrote: “Loads of positives yeah, you’re on 600k a year and don’t even have to win! How the WRU bring this guy back is just nuts! Laughing all the way to the bank.”
Gatland had previously enjoyed a successful tenure as Wales’ head coach from 2008 to 2019, winning more than half of his games and guiding the team to the 2019 Rugby World Cup semi-finals.
Loads of positives yeah, you’re on 600k a year and don’t even have to win! How the WRU bring this guy back is just nuts! Laughing all the way to the bank https://t.co/MsjIcVN3rd
— Mike Phillips (@mikephillips009) November 11, 2024
During that period, Gatland also served as head coach for the British & Irish Lions during their 2013 and 2017 tours and was once again chosen for the role in 2021.
Phillips, who was a crucial part of Gatland’s team for years, made his final appearance in 2015.
But it’s clear that, at 42, he still feels bitter about how his international career ended, taking another jab at Gatland in a follow-up post.
“When I see this guy talking about family makes me cringe. Did he speak to me at the end of my career, did he f! I won for this guy,” he wrote.
“This bloke is only out for himself, and it kills me to see all this bulls*** praise he’s getting. He deserves to be kicked out, like he did to so many quality Welsh players.”
Gatland will be hoping to stem the flow of losses when Wales host Australia at the Principality Stadium on Sunday.
The coach led his team to victory over the Wallabies at last year’s Rugby World Cup, with Australia facing plenty of struggles of their own in recent years.
Wales will end their Autumn Internationals series with the visit of world champions South Africa on Saturday, November 23.
But they will be without wing Mason Grady, who will undergo surgery on an ankle injury and is likely to be out for at least two months.
Grady was helped off just 17 minutes into last Sunday’s defeat to Fiji and has now been ruled out of the rest of the autumn series.
He is also likely to be sidelined for a number of Cardiff matches and may struggle to be fit in time for the start of the Six Nations in February.
Warren Gatland Not Worried About The Sack Despite 10 Defeats And A Year Without Winning
Grady’s loss as a powerful ball-carrier will be a blow to Gatland and limits his options ahead of this week’s Test against Australia as he bids to end a 10-match losing streak.
The departure of Grady against the Fijians’ exposed the weakness of a six-two split between forwards and backs on the Wales replacements’ bench.
It also led to a breakdown in communication between Gatland in the stands and his bench as he later admitted Sam Costelow’s move to the wing was an error and the player he intended to go on was Ellis Bevan.
