The Albany Gazette - Gatland bats off criticism over lop-sided World Cup quarters line-up

The timing for the current tournament in France was made in December 2020 and has come in for criticism because of how much rugby’s global landscape has shifted since then.

It means this weekend's quarter-finals see defending champions South Africa playing joint favourites France, while the other co-favourites world number one Ireland take on three-time winners New Zealand.

While France are ranked second in the world, the All Blacks third and the Springboks fourth, there's a different look in the other half of the draw which sees Wales take on Argentina and England playing Fiji.

The English are ranked sixth, Wales seventh, Argentina eighth and Fiji 10th.

"I just say to the other teams that they should have done better in the last World Cup, shouldn't they?!" Gatland said ahead of his team's showdown with the Argentinians in Marseille on Saturday.

"That's where the draw came from. It's not our fault that it's happened.

"If teams had got better performance and results from the last World Cup they'd probably be in different draws."

Gatland said "You didn't hear us complaining in 2015" when Wales were drawn in the same pool as Fiji, Australia and England.

"We never complained about that. You're dealt a hand, you've got to deal with it," he said.

"I understand there's been a lot of complaining and I agree with the sentiment that potentially the draw may have been done too early, as it was done too early in the past" for the 2019 World Cup.

"Whether the people in control of that can put the pools together a little bit later, that's up to them, we can't change what's been done."

Wales were drawn in a tough pool this time around, facing Australia, Fiji, Georgia and Portugal, the latter drawing with the Georgians before pulling off a spectacular win over the Pacific Islanders in their final match.

- Play what's in front of you -

"We're happy with the progress we've made, considering a lot of people... said we wouldn't get out of the pool. You can only play and do what's in front of us," sid Gatland.

"I thought our group was the most even group, probably the only group with no minnnow in there that had 60-70 points put on them.

"That's set us up nicely for the quarter-finals."

The last team from the Six Nations to win the Webb Ellis Cup was England in 2003, when an extra-time drop-goal by Jonny Wilkinson sealed victory in Sydney over an Australian side coached by Eddie Jones.

Since then, the trophy has remained firmly in the South Hemisphere: South Africa won in 2007 and 2019, while New Zealand triumphed in 2011 and 2015.

But for the first time at a World Cup, all four pool winners in France were from the Northern Hemisphere: France, Ireland, Wales and England.

"That's never happened before so that's a real positive for the game considering how much the Southern Hemisphere has dominated World Cups in the past," said Gatland.

Thoughts of a possible all-Northern Hemisphere line-up in the semi-finals was "not really front of our minds", the Kiwi said, before adding: "I can only see that as being positive for the game if that happened."

(T.Martin--TAG)