Rugby
ESPN staff 8y

Wales coach Warren Gatland to stand down after 2019 Rugby World Cup

Warren Gatland will step down as Wales head coach after the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Gatland is keen to lead his side through to the next tournament in Japan but has confirmed he will head back home to New Zealand thereafter.

"I am here until 2019, the plan then is to come home for a period," Gatland told New Zealand broadcaster Radio Sport.

"If I am then involved in Super Rugby or provincial rugby then great, or I may have to go to the beach for six months or 12 months, put my feet up and take a break.

"But that's the plan. I have been away for long enough. I am 52 so hopefully I have plenty of years left coaching. But in 2019 the plan is definitely to come back to New Zealand."

Were he to stay until 2019, Gatland would become the longest serving Wales coach of the modern era.

During that time the Kiwi has also been involved with the British and Irish Lions, going on the 2009 tour of South Africa as an assistant and leading the team to a series win against Australia four years later.

He remained coy on whether he will return to the post for the 2017 trip to New Zealand, however, describing a packed tour schedule as "crazy".

"Whoever agreed that schedule from a Lions point of view...well, it's crazy," he added.

"I don't see how you can win it.

"You are playing five Super Rugby sides, New Zealand Maori, three Tests and another game (against a Provincial Union XV), all in a five-week period, it's so tough.

"Having been involved in South Africa and leading the Lions in Australia in 2013...it was a great experience.

"If I got offered the opportunity it's probably something I could not turn down.

"If I did not get the chance, looking at how tough it is, it probably would not bother me, I would probably enjoy watching it as a spectator."

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