2019 was the year that Wales climbed to the Number 1 spot
in the world rugby rankings for the first time ever, knocking the All Blacks
off the top for the first time in 10 years. It was also the year of the first
Rugby World Cup to be held in Japan,
and the year that Wales’
respected and much-loved Head Coach Warren Gatland’s period in charge came to
an end. Gatland’s Last Bow: Wales in Japan 2019 is the inside
story of Wales’
campaign at the Rugby World Cup, as witnessed by ITV journalist Richard Morgan.
At the end of the competition, Warren Gatland summed up his
time with Wales:
“The biggest thing I’m proud of is that we’ve earned respect
from the rest of the world... I’m not sure that was there before.”
“‘Respect’ and ‘Welsh rugby’ were not words you’d have heard
uttered in the same sentence 12 years ago, when Warren Gatland started coaching
Wales,”
says author Richard Morgan.
However, in under 12 years at the helm, Gatland has guided Wales
to four Six Nations Championships, including three Grand Slams, a Championship
and two World Cup semi-finals. He’s overseen a record-breaking 14-match winning
streak, five of only six Wales
wins ever over South Africa,
and the first back-to-back victories against Australia since the 1970s.
The book talks in detail about the build-up to and playing
out of each Wales match at
Rugby World Cup 2019, and includes insights from inside the Wales camp, with Richard Morgan
interviewing players, the coaching team and big-name pundits as they prepared.
Richard also gives a glimpse into the strange quirks and beauty of Japan,
as he travelled the country reporting on the matches, and sampling the culture
at the same time. He saw first-hand how Wales fans coped there and what the
locals made of them!
“Everyone said Japan would make a good job of
hosting the World Cup, and they didn't disappoint. I expected the organisers to
run a slick show, but what really elevated the experience was the unbelievable
warmth and omotenashi (hospitality) of the Japanese people. On the
field, Japan’s
national team went way beyond expectation and did the country proud, giving the
gift of rugby to a whole new swathe of fans. And ̶ despite
the ultimate disappointment ̶ Wales can be proud of their
efforts, too. Their never-say-die approach summed up the Gatland era, which
will be remembered as a golden time for Welsh rugby,” says Richard Morgan.
This is a story of hope and heartbreak, of giving it all
you’ve got, and of standing dumbfounded as 15,000 Japanese fans in a remote
corner of the country sing ‘Hen Wlad Fy
Nhadau’ in word-perfect Welsh. It’s also the story of how, in the face of
the biggest typhoon they had experienced in 60 years, the Japanese people came
together to stage the biggest and best rugby tournament so far, and to give Wales
probably the warmest welcome they’ve had in any World Cup ever.
The book features a foreword written by ex-Wales
International and record try-scorer Shane Williams, who says of the book:
“If you were lucky enough to be there, I hope this book
brings back happy memories of Japan.
If you weren’t, I hope it gives you an idea of what it was like.”
