Fuming Warren Gatland removed Wales captain in dressing room as players gasped

Former Wales international Tom Shanklin has revealed exactly what happened in the dressing room after Wales infamously drew with Fiji in 2010.

The result led to Ryan Jones being stripped of the captaincy on the spot by Warren Gatland, with hooker Matthew Rees taking up the role. It was a huge deal at the time, with Wales failing to beat a side that had barely been together for two weeks, further adding to their humiliation.

Speaking on BBC Scrum V 'The Warm Up', Shanklin explained that the players had a "hammering".

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"I remember Ryan jones gave a penalty away right at the last minute," said Shanklin. "And Fiji kicked for goal and we ended up drawing the game. I remember the emotion after the game.

"Normally after a game, Warren Gatland comes in win, lose or draw, he's normally quite calm, quite quiet, thinks about his words. But there was just pure emotion.

"It was the worst I've ever seen him, I think. He was just hammering everyone."

"Doing a Mike Bassett?," asked fellow Wales icon Jonathan 'Foxy' Davies.

"Yes, exactly like that! It wasn't the best way to deal with the situation, I don't think. But, he just said: 'You', and he pointed at Ryan Jones: 'Will not be captain next week, that's for sure. And the captain against New Zealand will be Matthew Rees'.

"Everyone is like this (gasps), they've got their head in their hands like this, and there's heads down, no one wants to look up and then I've gambled, and I've looked up, looked around. And there's Matthew Rees, and he's like that, thumbs up (smiling excessively).

"Couldn't believe it, it was the first time he captained Wales. It was a massive occasion for him, but it was brutal. That's the emotion of sport that comes out."

Jones conceded a penalty for not rolling away in the dying stages against the Flying Fijians, with former Cross Keys player Seremaia Bai knocking over the score-levelling points. Jones apologised to the players in the dressing room before Gatland dropped him as captain.

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Speaking to the media after that calamitous match, Gatland's frustrations were clear to see. "I am embarrassed by the display," he said. "We let the supporters down. It was a game we should have won. The strongest teams are ruthless and put these sides away."

In the days afterwards, Gatland explained that the decision to remove Jones as captain was made days before the Fiji game. "Whether the timing was right or not I wanted to make that announcement after the Fiji game to give Matthew the opportunity to take control from a leadership point of view to bring the team together," he said.

"I can understand people would assume it was a reaction from the disappointing performance and Ryan was made a scapegoat but that wasn't the case."

Wales face Fiji at 1.40pm at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Sunday, November.