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Former Wales head coach Warren Gatland(Image: YouTube\/Dom Harvey)<\/p>\nThe latest rugby news from Wales and around the worldFormer Wales head coach Warren Gatland(Image: YouTube\/Dom Harvey)<\/p>\n
Here are your rugby headlines for Tuesday, September 30.<\/p>\n
Gatland calls media outlet \u2018trash\u2019 in stinging attack<\/p>\n
Warren Gatland has launched a scathing attack on the New Zealand Herald, branding the newspaper that depicted him as a clown \u201ctrash\u201d and vowing never to work with them again.<\/p>\n
The former Wales head coach was speaking on The Dom Harvey Podcast<\/a> when he revisited the infamous \u201cclown-gate\u201d saga of 2017<\/a>, when the Herald depicted him as a clown during the British and Irish Lions tour.<\/p>\n Gatland later hit back by arriving at a press conference wearing a red clown nose.<\/p>\n Reflecting on the incident, Gatland accused the paper of running a campaign against him and claimed journalists were fed inside information to unsettle him.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what they [New Zealand Herald] were trying to do, but definitely it was a concerted effort by some people to put me off my stride and upset me during that tour,” he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a journalist who had written a lot of stuff but never asked a question in a press conference. It\u2019s one organisation I would never deal with again. I\u2019d never ever do a story with them again.<\/p>\n \u201cI just think they are trash, where I thought Sky was great in terms of the way they covered stuff. They were fair, and they were other outlets that I thought were pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n By contrast, he praised broadcasters such as Sky for what he called \u201cfair and balanced\u201d coverage.<\/p>\n Gatland admitted the saga never broke his resolve but acknowledged the personal impact of hostile media coverage, not just on coaches and players but also on their families.<\/p>\n “You have got to be careful,” he added. “I\u2019m a little thicker-skinned than most people. I\u2019m pretty strong, but it\u2019s the impact it has on\u2026 I have seen it with players, and then it\u2019s also their partner and then their mum and dad and brother and sister and wider group, they can take that stuff more to heart.<\/p>\n \u201cWith that clown stuff, there were times when my son and daughter wanted to go on and say something, and I said, \u2018Just let it be\u2019.<\/p>\n “But I can understand why people won\u2019t deal with certain journalists or outlets because of what\u2019s happened, and I fully understand and respect that I have been in that same situation myself.\u201d<\/p>\n World Cup viewing figures officially released<\/p>\n The 2025 Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup<\/a> has officially smashed records, becoming the most-watched tournament in the sport\u2019s history.<\/p>\n England\u2019s 33-13 win over Canada in the final at London\u2019s Allianz Stadium capped a remarkable competition, with a world-record crowd of 81,885 watching the decider live.<\/p>\n Across the tournament, 444,456 tickets were sold \u2013 92% of all available seats \u2013 with almost half a million fans attending matches.<\/p>\n The demand translated to TV too, with the final peaking at 5.8 million viewers on the BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n That figure made it not only the most-watched women\u2019s rugby match ever in the UK, but also the most-watched rugby match of any kind this year.<\/p>\n