Warren Gatland: Wales head coach ‘absolutely’ wants stay in role as he makes changes for South Africa game

Wales head coach Warren Gatland stressed he “absolutely” wants to continue in the job but said “decisions could be made outside of my control”.

Wales’ 52-20 home humbling to Australia on Sunday meant that Gatland has overseen a record 11 successive defeats during his second stint in charge.

He appeared to suggest he was considering his future in charge of the team in the immediate aftermath of the Australia defeat and was asked, ahead of a meeting with world champions South Africa on Saturday, if he had a strong desire to stay in the job.

“Absolutely,” Gatland answered. “We’ve been pretty clear in terms of the plan we’ve had. We know we’ve got a group of young players that need a bit of time.

“We have asked for a little bit of time but whether we get that time, we’ll have to wait and see.”

A 12th straight loss against South Africa would see Wales going an entire calendar year without winning a Test for the first time since 1937.

“I’m being pretty honest in saying I understand the pressures of international rugby, on performances and results,” Gatland said.

“We can only continue to work as hard as we’ve done. But I’m aware of the pressures and that decisions could be made outside of my control.

Asked if he expected to still be in position after the match against the Springboks, Gatland said: “It’s not something I’ve even thought about.

“I’m just focused solely on preparing the team for this week to do the best job we can.

“If you start thinking about other things, it’s a distraction you don’t need.”

Quizzed further of whether he would resign if he felt it was in the best interests of Welsh rugby, Gatland replied: “If I thought it was in the best interests, absolutely.”

Wales make four changes for South Africa

Gatland has made four changes to the starting line-up for Saturday’s game against South Africa and one positional switch, with Blair Murray moving to full-back.

Rio Dyer features on the wing for his first start of the Autumn Nations Series, Sam Costelow starts at fly-half, Christ Tshiunza is named in the second row alongside Will Rowlands after injury to Adam Beard, while Taine Plumtree comes in at No 8.

Murray, meanwhile, switches to full-back instead of Cameron Winnett, with Tom Rogers completing the back three.

There are also two changes among the Wales replacements: Freddie Thomas, who joins the bench as second row cover, is in line to win his first cap for Wales. Josh Hathaway joins Rhodri Williams and Eddie James as the back line cover.

Both Gareth Anscombe nor Aaron Wainwright will feature against South Africa, having been left of the 23-man squad.

Wales: 15 Blair Murray, 14 Tom Rogers, 13. Max Llewellyn, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Ellis Bevan; 1 Gareth Thomas, 2 Dewi Lake (c), 3 Archie Griffin, 4 Will Rowlands, 5 Christ Tshiunza, 6 James Botham, 7 Jac Morgan, 8 Taine Plumtree

Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Tommy Reffell, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Eddie James, 23 Josh Hathaway