By Paul Jones
Warren Gatland has admitted it was a terrible idea to make Cory Hill a Wales captain.
The Wales coach said he regretted the decision to give the honour to Hill for the final game of the tour to Australia, what proved to be a one-point victory over Queensland Reds.
Second-row forward Hill withdrew from Friday’s game due to “personal reasons”, it was announced shortly before kick-off in Brisbane.
Gatland’s decision to make the 32-year-old skipper, which sparked a negative reaction on social media, was revealed on Wednesday, when Hill told reporters that he regretted an incident that happened three years ago and publicly apologised.
https://twitter.com/BBCScrumV/status/1814344458990989810
Hill was named among a group of individuals that damaged a woman’s house in May 2021. He was not charged by police and he apologised at the time through a representative.
“Cory came to me and said for personal reasons he was pulling out of the match, so I had to respect the decision he made to do that,” Wales head coach Gatland (above) said, in his post-match press conference.
“Look, I put my hand up and say I probably shouldn’t have put him in that position.
“What he’s been doing out here in terms of experience, it was a rugby decision that I made.
“It probably doesn’t help when you do get some negativity thrown at you. It makes things difficult.
“I probably could have negated that by not selecting him in that position. I need to hold my hand up in terms of that.
“What I can say is that he has been absolutely brilliant since he has been out here in terms of his leadership, his experience, how he has helped and worked with the young players.
“I probably looked at it from a rugby decision and didn’t appreciate there was going to be some negativity about making that call. I probably underestimated some of that.
“There are a lot of sportspeople in the past that have had similar situations and for whatever reason are back in the fold.
“I think you need to realise that I thought he was brilliant on Wednesday, that he was genuine in his apology for something that happened over three years ago.
“The facts are that he wasn’t arrested, he wasn’t charged, but he has put his hand up and was genuine about the fact that he had made a mistake.”
Wales coach Warren Gatland admits mistake over Cory Hill captaincy decision https://t.co/7V3RJEPICn pic.twitter.com/4PEAyNivZN
— Indy Sport (@IndySport) July 19, 2024
Wales recorded their first win this year, beating the Reds 36-35, after eight successive defeats that included a Six Nations wooden spoon and 2-0 Test series loss against Australia.
But they needed a Kieran Hardy try one minute from time to see them a home after they let slip a 17-point lead midway through the third quarter.
Regan Grace marked his first Wales appearance by scoring a try, with the former St Helens rugby league star producing a fine 18th-minute finish in only his third game of union since switching codes.
Prop Archie Griffin, Grace’s fellow wing Rio Dyer, flanker Christ Tshiunza and centre Nick Tompkins also scored, with fly-half Sam Costelow kicking three conversions.
A late withdrawal as Cory Hill who was named captain has pulled out for ‘personal reasons.’ https://t.co/LIqrS0t1Yk
— WRRAP Podcast (@WRRAPodcast) July 19, 2024
Queensland hooker Richie Asiata, meanwhile, collected a hat-trick and wing Mac Grealy touched down twice. James O’Connor converted all five tries as the Reds pushed Wales to the brink of defeat in a thrilling contest.
“Regan finished the try exceptionally well,” Gatland added.
“The thing that impressed me about him is you can see he has played at the very highest level because he made some really good decisions defensively and some good reads as well. I think he will only get better as a rugby player.
“They kept coming back at us, but the players showed some real character. I believe this is going to be a good team, we just need a little bit of time together.”
No one was more relieved to see Kieran Hardy dive over for Wales’ sixth try in Brisbane to clinch a 36-35 victory at the death than acting skipper Gareth Davies.
He had been on the field when Wales went 17 points clear early in the second half and must have thought the job was done until two tries from Mac Grealy edged Queensland Reds into a 35-31 lead with nine minutes to play.
https://twitter.com/scarlets_rugby/status/1814244216056197184
Having not tasted victory since they beat the Barbarians in a non-caped match in November last year, the Welsh side were desperate to taste success again having lost eight internationals matches in a row in 2024.
“At least we’ve got that monkey off our backs now. It has been a tough couple of months after the Six Nations and through these summer games,” admitted Davies.
“We’ve played some good stuff in parts and let ourselves down in some other critical parts in those games. That nearly happened again tonight, although we came out on the right side of the result.
“Hopefully we can keep on building as a group into the autumn internationals. It has almost been a 14-month season given we had the World Cup training camps.
“It really has been a long old season. It was a tough run with the Scarlets as well, and now I’m looking forward to a couple of weeks off to recharge the batteries before getting going ahead of next season.”
Wales are wearing black today!https://t.co/Wn0xh9wGG2 pic.twitter.com/D4Tf782diR
— WalesOnline Rugby (@WalesRugby) July 19, 2024
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