It’s unusual for a national coach to stop a World Cup news conference to reveal that his players are not as well-behaved as has been reported. Gatland did just that on Thursday.
He said rumors about the Welsh team’s good behavior during the Rugby World Cup had been exaggerated. There was no truth, he said, in reports of alcohol bans, rigid curfews and monklike self-denial.
“I think we want to put a few things straight. There has been a lot made of us that we’ve been like monks,” he said. “There’s been an alcohol ban ... that’s completely untrue. There’s been no alcohol ban in this squad.”
Wales’ 23-year-old captain Sam Warburton is teetotal and Gatland said some Welsh players had chosen to limit if not entirely forego alcohol during the World Cup in the hope of giving themselves the best possible chance of winning the tournament.
On some occasions, players had chosen to pass up the opportunity of having a few beers to stay at the team hotel for choir practice.
“Some of the stuff has been self-imposed by players themselves,” Gatland said. “A lot has been made that we’re whiter than white. We definitely are not.”
The New Zealand-born coach said he felt sympathy for the England rugby team and the way in which its off-field activities had become a focus for the media throughout the tournament. England’s World Cup campaign was punctuated by tabloid reports of player misbehavior.
Center Mike Tindall, who recently married the Queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips, was photographed with an ex-girlfriend in a Queenstown bar.
Three England players were reprimanded for making lewd comments to a female hotel employee and 20-year-old center Manu Tuilagi was briefly detained by Auckland police after jumping off a harbor ferry.
“As a coach I don’t take satisfaction whatsoever or any pleasure in the criticism that has been heaped on England,” Gatland said. “I know what it’s like to be on the wrong side of the media in the past.
“As a fellow coach, and there are a lot of good friends of mine in that English setup, I don’t take any pleasure and I’m sure the Welsh team don’t take any pleasure in all that criticism that has been heaped on England.”
Wales had no off-field incidents at the World Cup to match England’s but Gatland said that didn’t mean his players weren’t enjoying themselves.
“I’d just like to say we’re no monks,” he said. “We’ve had our problems in the past (but) these guys have been great ambassadors in this campaign and that’s what’s important.
“There’s been a sea-shift in terms of the professionalism (in the Welsh team). Being here we realize all the hard work that’s gone in and these guys have known right from day one that we were in pretty good shape heading toward this World Cup.
“We thought if we looked after ourselves both on and off the field we could make an impact and I think we’ve done that.”
